In 2018, with funding from the Port of Seattle Airport Community Ecology (ACE) Fund, the regional nonprofit Forterra began establishing Green City Partnerships in SeaTac, Burien, and Des Moines to restore and care for local urban forests.
One of the first actions taken by this new partnership was to develop the Urban Forest Stewardship Plan, a 20-year plan for restoring forests and increasing the amount of tree canopy in Burien that the Burien City Council adopted in 2020. Through that plan, they set a goal of increasing Burien’s tree canopy to cover 40% of the community by 2038.
Development of the plan involved assessing Burien’s current tree canopy and urban forest health condition in parks and natural areas and conducting outreach to the community to guide its development and prioritize environmental restoration projects.
In 2021, City staff assumed the sole lead in managing the Green Burien Partnership program. Since then, staff, stewards, and partners have supported over 100 environmental restoration events, hosted three Green Burien Day events, collaborated with several public and private agencies to provide green jobs training to local youth, supported a volunteer park stewardship program, and led environmental restoration plans and implementation in Burien parks.
