Topic: Environment
This essay explores the impact of the Ice Age floods on Washington state. It was written and curated by Cassandra Tate, and made possible by a grant from the Peach Foundation. Glenn Drosendahl provide...
Jay Inslee is the 23rd governor of Washington State. He was born in Seattle and went to Ingraham High School, where he was an honor student and standout athlete, and where he met his future wife. He e...
Irrigation has been the single most crucial element in the Walla Walla Valley's agriculture since 1836, when pioneer missionary Marcus Whitman (1802-1847) dug the first irrigation ditch near his Walla...
Ecologist, trails advocate, hiking legend, tireless volunteer, author, and University of Washington public policy administrator, Ruth Ittner is most remembered for her work with Volunteers for Outdoor...
Henry M. (Scoop) Jackson was one of the most successful and powerful politicians in the history of Washington state. Jackson was born and died in Everett, Snohomish County, the rough-edged industrial ...
The Jefferson Park Golf Course opened in May 1915. It was the first municipally owned golf course in Seattle and the third golf course in King County. The course is located at 4101 Beacon Avenue S in ...
Juanita Beach Park, located along Juanita Bay in Kirkland, has been a popular summer destination for most of a century. Originally settled by Dorr and Eliza Forbes, the park blossomed as a resort in t...
Kettle Falls, on the upper Columbia River about 40 miles south of the Canadian border, was once one of the most important fishing and gathering places for Native Americans in the Northwest. Salish spe...
Open space, or green space, has long been recognized as an essential part of a livable community, first as a place to escape urban noise and pollution, and later as a means to shape land use and to pr...
King County's Farmland Preservation Program protects farmland and open space in the rapidly developing county by using tax money to buy development rights on farms. It is one of the oldest such progra...
In 1936, King County undertook a major property survey, the King County Land Use Survey, which was financed by the federal Works Progress Administration (WPA). The project greatly added to the county'...
King County's parks and recreation division was created in 1938, and initially oversaw the development of 150 acres of small parks and playgrounds. Since then it has grown to encompass 26,000 acres of...
In the Richmond Beach neighborhood of Shoreline north of Seattle sits a quiet, four-acre refuge from the urban scene, one enjoyed by both the birds and humans who know how to find it. The roots of the...
Kubota Garden, located in southeast Seattle at 9817 55th Avenue S and operated by the Seattle Parks and Recreation Department, combines native Northwest plants with traditional Japanese garden designs...
This is a tour of Seattle's historic South Lake Union neighborhood, including the Cascade neighborhood and portions of the Denny Regrade. It was written and curated by Paula Becker with the assistance...
The Lake Washington Ship Canal's opening was celebrated on July 4, 1917, exactly 63 years after Seattle pioneer Thomas Mercer (1813-1898) first proposed the idea of connecting the saltwater of Puget S...
Lakeridge Park occupies more than 35 acres of Taylor Creek and Deadhorse Canyon in southeast Seattle. The park is located south of the intersection of 68th Avenue S and Rainier Avenue S just inside Se...
Utilizing the Cedar River as Seattle's watershed was the work of City Engineer R. H. Thomson (1856-1949). In 1899, the City called for bids to create headworks, later named Landsburg, upstream from th...
Larrabee State Park was established in 1915, and bears the distinction of being Washington's first state park. Located along and near Chuckanut Drive in Whatcom County south of Bellingham, the 2,683-a...
Estella Leopold, daughter of famed conservationist and writer Aldo Leopold (1887-1948), earned her own renown through her pioneering work as a conservationist and scientist. As a conservationist, she ...
The first church in Seattle was the Methodist Episcopal or the "Little White Church," located downtown on 2nd Avenue and Columbia Street. The White Church Cemetery, next to the church, was Seattle's f...
Luther Burbank Park, located on the northeastern tip of Mercer Island, was once home to the Luther Burbank School, a parental school for delinquent youths. The school closed in 1966, and the property ...
The deactivation of the Sand Point Naval Air Station on Lake Washington in Northeast Seattle set off a years-long, bitter debate over uses for the land. Eventually, 195.6 acres were transferred to the...
Warren G. Magnuson ("Maggie" to constituents, Warren to family and friends) represented Washington in the United States Senate longer than anyone else and used his seniority and persuasive skills to e...