Frink Park Meadow Site Landscape Rehabilitation

A Project led by UW students in EHUF 482: Field Practicum in Plant Selection and Management (Fall 2002)

This quarter we worked at Frink Park, on a site designated Frink #3—The Meadow Site—by the fall 2001 EHUF 480 students, who created this design plan (pdf). This site is located at the corner of 31st and King St., adjacent to last spring’s project site, and bordered by a grassy meadow, the two streets, and a gravel footpath. Before we began, the site’s vegetation consisted of a mix of ornamental and native species, dominated by invasive species such as English ivy (Hedera helix) and cherry laurel (Prunus laurocerasus). Herbaceous native species and conifers of any kind were nearly absent from the site. The mostly deciduous canopy made for a site that was fairly sunny in the winter and mostly shady in the summer. The soil on the slope is mostly well-drained sandy loam atop a clay-sandy loam, while the soil at the edge of the grassy area is a poorly drained clay (a remnant of the tennis court that once existed on the site).

Fall quarter students in EHUF 480—working with Friends of Frink Park and the Seattle Parks Department—created a management plan and design scheme for the site. The goal of the design was to make the area more inviting to visitors while also enhancing the ecological health and integrity of the urban forest. The design seeks to strengthen connections between humans and the rest of nature by improving the vegetation and increasing visibility of and access to the site, including adding a trail. The plan also calls for increasing native plant diversity and installing terraces and woody debris to stabilize the slope. The site was divided into ecological zones, and appropriate plants selected for each zone.

Below are pictures from our weekly work parties. Click on any image to see a bigger version.