Nature Consortium hosts community picnic to celebrate Seattle's largest forest

Save Soundway!

Residents of West Seattle and the greater Seattle area are invited for a community picnic with live music, hiking, art activities, on Saturday, June 15, 10AM to 2PM in the south lawn of South Seattle Community College. Picnic in the Park will commemorate Nature Consortium’s the organization’s efforts to save a portion of the West Duwamish Greenbelt called the Soundway property from being sold to developers.

The Soundway property is a wooded area located in West Seattle just south of South Seattle Community College. Picnickers can enjoy lunch and live music in a nearby grassy field, then explore the woods on hikes guided by Nature Consortium staff. Nature Consortium and their volunteers have been working to restore habitat in Soundway since 2003.

The effort to save Soundway began when former mayor Greg Nickels planned to sell the seven-acre area of woods called Soundway West to housing developers. Community members including Nature Consortium rallied to save the property, citing the importance of the forest as public green space, as habitat, and as a filter of air pollution emanating from the Duwamish industrial corridor.

The “Save Soundway” campaign gained support from elected officials on the city, county, and state level. Seattle City Councilmembers Tom Rasmussen, Richard Conlin and Jean Godden, as well as King County Executive Dow Constantine were vocal supporters of the campaign. The effort on the state level was led by previous State Senator Erik Poulsen and State Representatives Eileen Cody and Joe McDermott (now with the King County Council).

After a six long years, the City of Seattle finally designated Soundway as a public park in January 2011. The designation included the original seven acres of Soundway West as well as 25 acres of adjacent habitat, which are now preserved as parks space in perpetuity.

The state earmarked $500,000 for preservation of the Soundway property, which eventually went to the City of Seattle. Nature Consortium has been collaborating with Seattle Parks and Recreation to steward and restore the property back to a healthy ecosystem.

Picnic in the Park will be a celebration of the community’s work to save the Soundway property, both legally and ecologically speaking. Nature Consortium will honor community members who saw value in the land and fought to preserve it, as well as the thousands of volunteers who have helped transform it from a wild, overgrown blackberry jungle to the vibrant forest habitat it is today. To commemorate the occasion, Mayor McGinn has proclaimed June 15 to be Soundway Day.

Since restoration has improved the quality of the landscape and trails over the years, Soundway has become a recreation destination for hikers, dog walkers, neighbors, and families in the area. Picnic in the Park will bring neighbors old and new together to celebrate this important local green space.