Published on August 2, 2018
Seattle City Light and the Mountains to Sound Greenway are planting native trees from warmer climates on 154 acres along Stossel Creek. If Western Washington’s climate warms up in the next half-century, could our trees stand it? As an experiment, Seattle City Light and the Mountains to Sound Greenway have embarked on a test to plant native trees from warmer climates on 154 acres along Stossel Creek, which flows into the Tolt River.
Seattle City Light has a responsibility to protect endangered salmon and other species in this part of the Tolt River watershed. The city-owned utility generates some of its power from the Tolt River below. The once private forest land, last logged in 2012, was never replanted with trees, but plenty of bushes, shrubs, and invasive species have taken over. It all presents an opportunity to conduct a long-term experiment.
“Thirty to 40 years from now, summers may be too warm and too dry,” said Crystal Raymond, looking at a Douglas fir seedling growing naturally in what was a clear-cut. “It might be smaller; it might grow slower.”
Raymond is with the University of Washington Climate Impacts Group and also helped pioneer this project when she was at Seattle City Light.
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Originally posted on K5 News by Glenn Farley