Magnolia wears a lovely necklace of parks, one prize gem of which is along Magnolia Boulevard. We walk its length, drive our visitors to see it and proudly note tour buses promoting its views. To make a gem stone sparkle, an infrequent buffing is sufficient; a park of living foliage requires greater labor to reveal its full beauty. Renewed attention, by many hands, is just what our boulevard park is getting.
Reverence for the scenic bluff has existed more than a century. In 1903 the famed fathers of Seattle's park system, the Olmsted brothers, described a route for a proposed "Magnolia Bluffs Parkway," which they asserted would be the crown jewel of the network of parks and boulevards around Seattle. Seven years later the city acquired land for it. Notably, in the 1930s and later in the 1950s residents united to assert their influence on the form of the boulevard and adjacent park. Later, in the 1990s Magnolians' concern for the health of the madrone trees led to citizens funding a multiple-year professional study. The product was a treatise on intricacies of nurturing and planting madrones, a species of trees not easily amenable to either effort.
Additionally, Seattle's park department in concert with boulevard and other residents developed Magnolia Boulevard Vegetation Management Plan (or "Plan"). The Plan reflected a consensus and was officially adopted by the city in 1998. It addressed protecting and regenerating madrone groves; improving the many potential views; and acting to avoid erosion on the slide-sensitive areas of the bluff. The Plan outlined an implementation strategy that focuses city resources to the lower (i.e., the steep) slope and directs community efforts and funds to the upper (i.e., the flat) portion of the bluff. A five-year planning horizon was chosen to gradually alter the slide-sensitive areas so as to not exacerbate slope erosion.
In summary, the Plan outlines a five-year city-community effort to achieve a desired balance of increased scenic views with groves of madrone trees by reducing obscuring shrubs, removal of invasive plants and replacing obscuring slope trees with soil-holding trees maturing to shorter heights.
Per the Plan, dozens of new madrone seedlings were placed in strategic locations. Not unexpectedly, the results were disappointing, for madrones are notoriously difficult to propagate and replant. Experience gained, the approach to future plantings will be altered.
Other aspects of the Plan were not acted upon due to citywide demands overwhelming the resources of the park department.
Concerned, the Magnolia Community Club, via a public meeting last fall involving the park department, reaffirmed the neighborhood's desire to realize the Plan and reconstituted a committee to work with the city. These led to commitment, cooperation and accomplishment.
Few things can withstand the onslaught of aroused Magnolians and their community club! In just one day last May, under city supervision and cleanup, more than 70 people, residents and their hired day workers, toiled to remove a huge quantity of brush. That opened some views and expanded the walkable areas of the upper bluff. The many who participated in May's work party enjoyed the day enhancing the bluff's appearance and vistas.
Subsequently, the committee and the park department have defined the lower-slope work that the city will address this month over several days. Also, specific upper-slope sites are identified for citizen volunteers and community-hired laborers to tackle on a work party next month.
That work party, scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 29, will focus on continued brush removal and height reduction. Because we all enjoy the boulevard regardless of where we reside, our community club invites each Magnolian to assist by one or more ways:
■ Volunteer for the work party on Sept. 29 at 8 a.m. at the boulevard (city tools will be provided);
■ Hire and transport day laborers, and/or
■ Contribute funds via Roy Robinson (1602 Magnolia Blvd.), who will again hire and oversee transporting day workers.
Next year, the city will cut another 20 percent of unwanted or too-tall, non-madrone trees on the lower slope. Later, many will be replaced by other trees of a preferred mature height. Also, spring and fall volunteer work parties will be held. Less brush removal will be required; instead, emphasis will tend toward removal of roots and planting shrubbery of a desired maximum height.
Yes, we now have momentum by both the city and residents. We are on a roll that in only four more years will make our boulevard the best it can be. Help us. Mark your calendar to join the community's boulevard enhancement party Sept. 29.
For additional information contact Mark Meade, Senior Urban Forester, 684-4113 or Roy Robinson, 948-2277.[[In-content Ad]]
