The Healthy Forest Program partners with local communities to recruit, train, and support volunteer stewards to lead forest restoration projects in priority parks. Ultimately, the county aims to build a strong culture of community stewardship, leadership, and partnership to support a healthy urban forest for everyone. The county's program relies on a network of individuals, non-profit organizations, businesses, schools, and county staff.
So far, we have:
- Assessed forest health conditions of the identified 1,000 acres of parks and natural areas.
- Reached out to the community to guide project prioritization and implementation.
- Developed a 20-year plan to share the forest health assessment results and establish goals and strategies for forest restoration and community engagement efforts.
- Implemented on-the-ground projects at eight different parks, with a volunteer program to organize local community groups to plant trees, remove invasive plant species, and meet restoration goals.
- Field's Riffle
- Kayak Point Regional Park
- Lake Stickney Community Park
- Lord Hill Regional Park
- McCollum Pioneer Park
- Meadowdale Beach Park
- Picnic Point Park
- and Southwest County Olympic View Park