Learn how King County is creating a healthier landscape on tour of Island Center Forest

King County and the Vashon Forest Stewards have organized a walking tour on Thursday, Aug. 21 of Island Center Forest, where the county recently completed a stewardship project to improve the overall health of the forest.

The tour is set for 6-8 p.m., and will be led by Vashon resident and consulting forester on the project, Derek Churchill, along with King County forester Bill Loeber. The tour will start from the Cemetery Trailhead at 115th Avenue Southwest off Southwest Cemetery Road.

King County manages the 409-acre Island Center Forest as a “working forest.” The county recently thinned 38 acres of young, overcrowded Douglas fir and harvested 20 acres of mature and dying red alder.  

The current thinning and harvest project is the second major forestry operation undertaken since King County took over ownership of the former Washington State Department of Natural Resources land in 2004. The county previously harvested an area of dying red alder and thinned a stand of mature Douglas-fir infected with root rot disease in 2008.

For information about the site visit and project, contact Loeber at 206-477-4755, or bill.loeber@kingcounty.gov.