The City of Burien’s Green Burien Partnership is working to shift the narrative around green spaces, with a specific focus on Hilltop Park, the only park located in the northeast corner of the city. Our approach? Engage the community in short-term and long-term decisions and actions to improve natural spaces.
What is the Green Burien Partnership?
The Green Burien Partnership brings together community members and private and public agency partners to restore and care for Burien’s parks and urban forests. Healthy forested parks and green spaces have the power to strengthen neighborhoods, provide safe access to nature, and provide many benefits to the environment. Without a coordinated effort to restore and care for our forests, we are at risk of losing many benefits of these forests and natural areas. Learn more on the Green Burien Partnership project page.
Project Partners
Why is this work important?
Hilltop Park is the only park in the northeast corner of Burien. One of the ways that the City of Burien incorporates its commitment to racial equity is through environmental justice. The Green Burien Partnership plans forest restoration across City properties with an understanding that steps toward environmental justice are only achieved when everyone enjoys the same degree of protection from environmental and health hazards, and equal access to the decision-making process to have a healthy environment in which to live, learn, and work.
Hilltop Park and the Boulevard Park neighborhood are disproportionately impacted by Sea-Tac International Airport. The work at Hilltop Park represents the City of Burien taking actionable steps toward environmental justice. Over 100,000 square feet of the park is natural area, meaning it is not a grass field. This space has the potential to be a healthy forest. Before our work began at Hilltop Park, this natural area was largely covered in a thicket of weeds.
In addition to the environmental restoration work happening at the park, in 2023, the Burien Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services department began the process for developing a plan for the vision of Hilltop Park. Learn more about the Hilltop Park Vision Plan. The Green Burien Partnership work at Hilltop Park is a long-term, ongoing project.
The Hilltop Park Story
The Hilltop Park Activation and Reimagination Project involves working with the community to remove blackberry plants, establish native plantings, conduct ongoing park improvements, and develop future park plans at Hilltop Park.
If you walked through Hilltop Park in the spring of 2021, you would have noticed several things: forested areas, edible plants and fruit, a grassy field made for playing, and blackberry.
One of the patches of blackberry is where our journey starts.
Our mission is to remove blackberry plants and other weeds to restore harmony in this section of the park. Check out the before pictures below.
Read more about the work that has happened at Hilltop Park:
Updated October 17, 2024
