(left to right, Councilmember Tom Rasmussen, Carol Schultz, Cindi Barker, Kay Thode, Parks Superintendent Tim Gallagher and Mayor Nickels)
With a snip of the giant ceremonial scissors, Orchard Street Ravine in Gatewood was officially dedicated this afternoon. But this was no ordinary park dedication — it came after years of volunteer work and controversy, among other things — and just a week after Parks Department managers unveiled a new plan for a controversial connection through the ravine (WSB coverage here). All photos/video in the in-depth report ahead are by its author, WSB contributor Christopher Boffoli:

By Christopher Boffoli
WSB contributing reporter/photojournalist

About 40 neighbors, city officials, and media turned out today at Orchard Street Ravine for a ribbon-cutting ceremony with Mayor Greg Nickels. The event was intended to celebrate years of ongoing volunteer efforts to reclaim a forgotten ravine where Orchard Street dead-ends, transforming it into a small sanctuary for neighbors, wildlife and native plant species.

The impetus for the project came when local residents learned that the city was looking at a proposal for developing the area into eight private home sites. Volunteers organized a petition to preserve the ravine for public use, first under the city’s Open Space Plan and later with funds from the Pro Parks Levy. Even to those who endorsed the idea of saving the space, it took a great deal of vision to see the potential in an area that was initially completely overgrown with invasive plants, mostly non-native blackberries. But the group found an ally in then-Seattle Parks Superintendent Ken Bounds. Carol Schultz, one of the group’s early organizers, said, “Ken came out to the site, saw the Madrona trees and some of the other features, and recognized the potential to preserve the ravine as a natural area.”

According to Schultz, Bounds regarded the project as being perfectly aligned with the notion of connecting neighborhoods and considered it to be in sync with the green crescent work fostered by Cindi Barker and the Morgan Community Association (MoCA):

An immediate challenge, however, was that available funding only provided enough support for a trail. Schultz added, “It didn’t make very much sense for us to go to the trouble of building a trail that only led to a blackberry patch.” The group sought additional funding through grants but also credits Bounds with his significant support in helping to secure funding for both a trail and a restoration of the area.

Though a major groundswell of neighborhood activism brought the project to the front burner of the Parks Department, supporters of the Orchard Street Ravine experienced their share of controversy and discord. Various neighbors had strong ideas about the project and just how the plan for the area should be implemented. Schultz added, “It was because of the controversy that Ken Bounds invested significant resources in studying just where the trail should go.” Bounds hired independent engineers who studied the site exhaustively. At the urging of various factions, they studied the viability of trails leading down the hill from both 36th Ave SW as well as 38th. Apparently, neither route was a strong option. Engineers and geologists found the steep terrain to be unstable and generally unsuitable for a trail. Decades of carelessly discarded yard clippings contributed to the instability of the ground, some of which has seen periodic slides over the years. Few engineers were willing to sign off on the plans.

Over the past two years the Orchard Street Ravine project experienced significant delays, and its momentum suffered from staff changes within the Parks Department. That tens of thousands of dollars were spent on planning, seemingly without tangible results, caused some to criticize the project as emblematic of government bureaucracy and waste. But some close to the project said that the Parks Department is not solely to blame. They allege that it was actually the rancorous disagreements among neighbors that factored into the delays. Repeated calls for additional study and further meetings went well beyond what the Parks Department had budgeted.

The contention did not come as a surprise to West Seattle-residing City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen, long a proponent of preserving green space in Seattle.

Rasmussen knows it comes with the territory. He said today, “When I was on the staff of a City Councilmember years ago, Janette Willams who chaired the Parks Committee, we worked to save a number of the greenbelts in this area. That was back in the mid to late ’80s and those were very controversial. Even Pelly Place, which is south of here, was controversial.” (Rasmussen now chairs that same committee.)

Neighborhood resident, architect and former Design Review Board member Vlad Oustimovitch thinks the breadth of the neighborhood divisiveness over this project in particular has perhaps advanced the capacity of the city and the Parks Department to bring neighbors together.

Oustimovitch added, “One thing I’ve noticed with great optimism that there has been a significant change in how the Parks Department really is approaching the public process and I’m just delighted that the community is coming together again after what had been at times an acrimonious debate about how to deal with this area.”

Schultz added, “I think it is unfortunate that the neighborhood was divided on this issue. Sure, that slowed our progress. And the Parks Department did drop the ball on this project. But despite the disagreements and the mistakes the Parks Department, [current Parks Superintendent] Tim Gallagher ultimately made good on their promises. They studied the heck out of it to make sure it was right and they gave us the extra funding to make it was all possible. In the end we have both a trail and a restoration and that’s both something that’s better for the community and better for the environment.”

Studies and funding were an essential part of seeing this project through to where it is today. But so too was the time and energy invested by neighborhood volunteers. For two years an average of 15-20 volunteers have been showing up every second Saturday of the month and investing several hours of their time. The group cleared vast areas of invasive blackberry, clematis and other non-native species, as Susan Madrid describes:

They have replanted native species, replanting every autumn as needed. They have watered plants through the summer, stewarding them until they are eventually able to sustain themselves. The area is on a vegetative management plan from the Parks Department to ensure that plants are in successive bloom to provide a constant stream of food and habitat for native wildlife. Many volunteers have already seen increased traffic of birds and other animals in the ravine. Schultz said, “All of this new planting is much more conducive to wildlife and it will provide much better food and habitat for them over the long term as opposed to just blackberries.”

Though some features of the lower portion of the project, such as trails and stairways, have been complete for some time, work on the upper edge of the ravine continues. The Parks Department last week began cutting a switchback through a thicket of blackberries. As reported here after a meeting discussing that revised plan, a trail of crushed stone will eventually connect 38th Avenue SW with the lower potion of the site. But volunteers stressed that the work at the Orchard Street Ravine will be ongoing and they encourage volunteers from West Seattle and across the city to join them for future second Saturdays.

Schultz said, “There are two big benefits that have come out of this: A lot of participants have learned a great deal about native plants and as such have become more connected with the environment. But we’ve also learned a lot about our neighbors. With our hectic city schedules we normally wouldn’t take the time to get to know each other. But though this project we’ve made connections and built a sense of community.”

In his comments to the crowd gathered today for the ribboncutting ceremony, Mayor Nickels spoke of his work on bond issues 20 years ago as a County Council member. Those bonds were used to buy up open space in the foothills of the Cascades and also to acquire sites similar to Orchard Street and Pelly Place Ravines. Nickels related those early efforts to the work being fostered by the neighborhood today. He said, “Everyone came together and worked together and I think now you can take incredible pride in preserving this place for future generations. It has been great to see what that investment twenty years ago has brought about.” Former area resident Kay Thode, who now lives at The Kenney, helped cut the ribbon:

Rasmussen singled out the legacy of residents in West Seattle for the kind of activism demonstrated on this project and others. He said, “The people of West Seattle have been real leaders in preserving wildlife habitat and open space… And all of that was started by people like you. By people from West Seattle who wanted to preserve what’s best about our community. The streams, the open spaces, some of the ravines. And you’ve been able to do that and this is yet another example of your leadership so thank you for your persistence and your ability to work together because you can see what the result is.”

The new trail from 38th was expected to take less than a month and a half to build, according to what Parks Department managers said at the ravine last week, which means it could be open by Thanksgiving.