The Southwest Seattle Historical Society is getting the word out about a major award for the environmental historian who developed part of its closing-soon exhibit about the West Duwamish Greenbelt.You can see her work even without visiting the museum. Here’s the announcement:

Lisa Meoli, Senior Environmental Historian with the environmental consulting firm Floyd|Snider, has been awarded the David Douglas Award from the Washington State Historical Society for developing the interactive StoryMap, Trails Through Time: Contamination and Restoration in the West Duwamish Greenbelt. Meoli will be presented with the award at the Washington State History Awards this Saturday, April 25.

The David Douglas Award recognizes the significant contribution of an individual or an organization through projects, exhibits, digital presentations, or programs that inform or expand appreciation of Washington State history.

Trails Through Time tells the story of contamination and restoration of the Greenbelt, a culturally rich 500-acre forest that spans the Duwamish Peninsula from Puget Ridge to Westcrest Park, through an interactive website. Meoli compiled research gathered by the West Duwamish Greenbelt Trails Group, helicopter footage, geological surveys, environmental studies, interviews, photographs, on-foot videos, and additional resources to tell a new story about the Greenbelt. Visitors can explore the pre-colonial history of the lower Duwamish, view the dredging of the river in the 1890s, pinpoint locations of historic industry, identify cement kiln dust (CKD) contamination areas, and track Superfund clean-up sites.

The project was supported by the West Duwamish Greenbelt Trails Group and the Southwest Seattle Historical Society as part of the Seattle Forest: the West Duwamish Greenbelt exhibit co-curated by WDGT and SWSHS. The exhibit was installed at the Log House Museum in the fall of 2024 and will close at the end of next month. Meoli was a guest speaker for SWSHS’s Words, Writers, Southwest Stories free virtual speaker series in September 2025. You can watch her program here.

The StoryMap is viewable here and on the WDGT and SWSHS websites.

Today, the Duwamish Tribe, Ridge 2 River, West Duwamish Greenbelt Trails Group, among others, continue to advocate and caretake this forest. WDGT leads free guided hikes through the Greenbelt every third Saturday, April through November. Learn more and sign up here.

You can also find out about West Duwamish Greenbelt Trails at tonight’s HPAC meeting! And you can see the exhibit during the Log House Museum’s newly expanded hours, noon-4 pm Thursdays and Fridays, 10 am-4 pm Saturdays.