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On the eastern edge of West Seattle, sandwiched between Riverview Park and Highland Park Way, lies the West Duwamish Greenbelt.
In years past, I’ve always stayed clear of this area, because I thought it was off limits to the public. Or, if not exactly off limits, then at least sketchy. The kind of place my Mom would have worried about me playing at — if only she knew.
Well, in last year, I’ve noticed new trailheads appearing at various points along the perimeter of the woods, and have begun tentatively venturing into the woods along those. I’d never actually seen any work being done on the trails until just last month, when I stumbled across a crew working for AmeriCorps and then again last Friday, when I ventured into a different crew working for an outfit called the Youth Green Corps.
There were about a dozen young people scattered out along a quarter-mile section of trail Friday. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get them all together for a group photo, but I did get this shot of one crew:
They are, from left to right: Jacobo Jiminez (team leader), Tia, Saroeut, John.
The Youth Green Corps is a public-private partnership co-organized and funded by Goodwill and Seattle Parks and Recreation. According to an offical document:
YGC is a partnership between Seattle Parks and Recreation and Seattle Goodwill that educates and trains young adults (18-24) through a mix of classroom experiences and outdoor forestry restoration.
It’s a 9-Month program that consists of 11 Corps Members. Members split time between Goodwill, Forest Restoration and Trail work in Seattle Parks for educational and career training. Participants are ages 18-24 and receive a $1,200 per month stipend.
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Another big contributor to the this project is The Nature Conservancy, which helped buy the land — which was slated for development — and set it aside for public use. Huzzah!
Rather than me blathering on about how great the Youth Green Corps is, why don’t I just show you a few pictures I took while I was tra-la-la’ing down the trail . . .
According to a poster I found on an abandoned lightpole, there was once-upon-a-time going to be a highway running right where I was standing.
Whew! Sure glad that never came to pass. Tunnel running under it would’ve been ok, though.
r/b: wink/wink
Above is a rock abutment (one of two so far) that crews had just finished when I came along. The compacted gravel trail runs right over the top of it.
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