Template revised April 12, 2018.
COMMISSION
AGENDA MEMORANDUM
Item No.
11b
BRIEFING ITEM
Date of Meeting
April 13, 2021
DATE: April 5, 2021
TO: Stephen P. Metruck, Executive Director
FROM: Andy Gregory, Sr. Program Manager, Environmental Engagement
SUBJECT: ACE Green Cities Program Update
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Port of Seattle contracted with non-profit Forterra in 2017 to launch Green City Partnership
Programs in Burien, Des Moines and SeaTac as part of the Airport Community Ecology (ACE) Fund.
Forterra conducted urban forest canopy assessments in the three cities to identify priorities for
forest restoration and enhancement. Forterra then developed Urban Forest Stewardship Plans
for each city to guide the work over the coming decades.
This year marks the close of the Port’s contract with Forterra, set to expire in December. In this
final year of implementation, the Port and Forterra are piloting a green jobs pathway program.
This is a first for the entire network of 15 Green Cities and Counties. It leverages investments
from the Port’s Opportunity Motion and South King County Fund to create paid positions for
immigrant youth through Partner in Employment (PIE). Additionally, Forterra will focus on
supporting city parks staff to implement on-the-ground improvements including volunteer
recruitment and management, tree planting, invasive species removal, and maintenance of
restoration areas. Next steps beyond 2021 will depend on each city’s ability to identify funding
sources to build staff capacity to carry the work into the future.
BACKGROUND
In 2016, the Port of Seattle Commission allocated $1 Million in funding to support environmental
improvements in the near-airport cities of Burien, Des Moines and SeaTac. The funding was split
between a Small Matching Grants Program ($550,000) and a contract with non-profit Forterra to
implement Green City Partnership (GCP) programs in each city ($450,000). The Small Matching
Grants Program has contracted with 42 recipients for a total of $385,000. Collectively the
recipients have planted 880 trees, recorded 21,567 volunteer hours, and accounted for
$2,507,305 in total matched funds- a value 6.5 times the Port’s investment! As several projects
are still under open contracts, these figures include both final reports and pre-project estimates.
The goals of the GCP program are to improve urban forest and natural area health, galvanize an
informed and involved community, and ensure long-term sustainability. There are currently 15
Green Cities/Counties in the Puget sound region, serving more than 1.6 million people. Since
COMMISSION AGENDA – Briefing Item No. 11b Page 2 of 4
Meeting Date: April 13, 2021
Template revised September 22, 2016.
2005, over 1.5 million volunteer hours have resulted in more than 3,360 acres restored and 1.5
million trees and shrubs planted across this network of Green Cities.
Previously formed Green City Partnerships traditionally focused on establishing community-
based stewardship programs focused on restoring forested parks and natural areas. The Port
funding provided an opportunity to replicate this model in SeaTac, Burien, and Des Moines, and
do more. In addition to forested parks and natural areas the ACE funded Green Cities took a more
comprehensive and inclusive approach by also looking at how to support and enhance urban tree
canopy citywide across all public and private land. This included a forest health assessment of
parks and natural areas and a land cover classification. The land cover classification and analysis
identified and mapped where tree cover exists in relation to other socio-economic factors that
highlight disparities in community access to green space. The results of these assessments along
with community input were incorporated into an Urban Forest Management Plan, creating a
framework and roadmap to accomplish forest restoration and canopy enhancement priorities
over the coming decades.
RESULTS AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Data from the Urban Forest Canopy Assessments shows Burien has 30% canopy cover, Des
Moines has 29% canopy cover and SeaTac has 25% canopy cover excluding the area of SEA, (the
city’s canopy cover is 21% when the footprint of SEA is included). These data were then used to
develop targeted goals and outcomes for increasing canopy, stewarding and maintaining urban
forests, engaging the public through volunteer opportunities, and identifying long-term sources
of funding.
Each city chose a document that was right for their goals and resources, with some choosing a
plan and others a guide. This flexibility provided by Forterra allowed each city to right-size the
document that fit their needs.
Building the Green City Partnership programs in Burien, Des Moines, and SeaTac is an investment
in a long-term plan and framework to support healthy forested parks, natural areas and urban
tree canopy. As the implementation phase began to ramp up, the global pandemic hit, and the
programs had to adapt quickly to think of new methods for community engagement and getting
the work done. Some program accomplishments include: training 10 Forest Stewards that have
been working individually or in small teams; established relationships with more than 15 new
partner organizations; the first of two tree distribution events aimed at increasing tree canopy;
hosting several COVID-safe small volunteer events, with attendance by several City
councilmembers; working with PIE to support a new paid youth training crew to do forest
restoration work in local parks; ongoing program promotion and engagement through social
media and monthly newsletters; and leveraging the Port’s investment nearly 1:1 with several
COMMISSION AGENDA – Briefing Item No. 11b Page 3 of 4
Meeting Date: April 13, 2021
Template revised September 22, 2016.
project grants, donations and including a partnership with WA State DNR, Forterra, Highline
Public Schools to implement student-led canopy enhancement project on or near school grounds.
Des Moines Memorial Drive
As part of the ACE Green Cities effort, the Port and Forterra have worked collaboratively with the
Des Moines Memorial Drive Preservation Association to identify some tools and analysis that
Forterra could provide to support the implementation of the Des Moines Memorial Drive
Corridor Management Plan and the Association’s goals to plant more memorial elm trees and/or
install plaques along the Drive. As part of this project, Forterra is working closely with the
Association to create a mailer about the “living memorial” for the Association to use when
reaching out to landowners along the drive. Forterra also used land cover data to estimate the
amount of street-frontage area that is potentially suitable for planting commemorative elm trees
or for installing a commemorative sidewalk plaque for each parcel along the drive. An interactive
map with this data was created for the Association, City staff, partners and landowners to use
when looking for possible planting areas along the drive.
NEXT STEPS
This is the final year for the Port’s contract with Forterra, with several exciting implementation
tasks planned for the remainder of the year.
From Volunteers to Green Jobs Training
Volunteers have traditionally been the engine behind urban forest restoration, where cities work
collaboratively with a network of community members to accomplish the hours and hours of
time it takes to remove invasive species by hand and then plant and maintain restoration sites.
Volunteerism is however, an inherently privileged activity which targets community members
that have the time and resources to participate in unpaid labor. For many with these resources,
it is a rewarding leisure-time activity. But for those who are resource or access limited, it widens
the equity gap between those who can and cannot participate.
To reimagine this model, the Port worked with Forterra to develop a paid forest steward model,
the first of its kind in the Green Cities network. By leveraging startup funding from the
Opportunity Motion and South King County Fund, SeaTac-based non-profit Partner in
Employment (PIE) is creating green jobs pathways for immigrant youth of color from the near-
airport communities. Youth are paid as restoration crews making $15 an hour and learning both
hard and soft skills for future employment.
City Support and Transition Planning
The participating cities have noted that while they have begun to see changes both at the policy
level and on the ground, additional resources are needed to normalize the work within their
agency and to identify a sustainable path forward for the programs. With that in mind, the Port
and Forterra shifted implementation resources in the final service directive to provide 100
additional hours of programmatic support and transition planning to each city. This time will go
COMMISSION AGENDA – Briefing Item No. 11b Page 4 of 4
Meeting Date: April 13, 2021
Template revised September 22, 2016.
to support planting and maintenance activities as well as establishing systems for managing
volunteers. This includes an online platform customized for Green City Partnerships called
CEDAR. CEDAR is a one-stop shop to track volunteer events, registration, project tools and
materials requests, and collect volunteer data and restoration project outcomes for reporting.
Forterra will also compile a “toolbox” of best practices, marketing materials, and program
management tools for the city staff to access as a resource for the future.
Sustainable Models for the Future
The ACE program was unique in that the Port provided startup funding for the three cities to get
GCP programs off the ground. Now, as the contract with Forterra is set to expire, the question of
long-term program sustainability comes to the fore.
Specific challenges to overcome include building staff capacity and stable city funding to sustain
the Green City Partnership efforts long-term. As leaders of the GCP program regionally, Forterra
has seen many different approaches to sustaining these programs that have worked with varying
degrees of success over the years. Some cities can secure dedicated funding and staff to run their
Green City program in-house. Others secure partial staff support and retain Forterra and other
service providers to support the program.
While designed to leverage partner contributions, these programs cannot survive on piece meal
project grants alone. They need a stable dedicated funding source in place to keep the program
running. A stable funding source allows the program to maintain its core functions while adding
capacity through different project grants and opportunities. Some examples of funding
mechanisms that cities have used include general funds, stormwater/utility rates, levies, and
special-purpose district tax. These possible funding sources all take time to establish and garner
support.
The Port has proven itself a champion for regional forest enhancement in South King County and
can play a role sustaining these commitments for the long run by continuing to support, promote
and invest in program implementation to ensure success into the future.
ATTACHMENTS TO THIS BRIEFING
(1) Presentation slides
PREVIOUS COMMISSION ACTIONS OR BRIEFINGS
September 24, 2019 – The Commission was briefed on the status of the ACE program
including the Forterra Work
June 13, 2017 – The Commission authorized a Sole Source Contract with Forterra
November 22, 2016 – The Commission created a $1 million Airport Community Ecology Fund
(ACE Fund) to support projects and programs that improve ecological and environmental
attributes in airport-area communities of Sea-Tac, Burien, and Des Moines. 11/22/16
