Urban Forestry          Dr. José Rizal Park          Lewis Park          The Jungle          Cheasty Greenspace

The Woods

Forested areas on Beacon Hill include Seattle Parks & Recreation (green), Seattle Dept. of Transportation (light blue), and Wash. State Dept. of Transportation (pink) property. There's a scattering of significant trees on private property. The greenbelts run further south along both sides of the hill.

Restoration

These natural areas are habitat to a native and exotic mix. Much of the forest canopy is dominated by big leaf maples, many near the end of their years or threatened by English ivy and clematis. English holly, laurels, and trees of heaven compete with evergreens. Blackberry thickets can be 100 feet wide and 8 feet high.

Several projects along east and west Beacon Hill are restoring forest habitat. Significant trees - Douglas fir, western red cedar, white pine, dawn redwood, western hemlock, and sequoia - have been planted, plus Indian plum, salal, kinnikinick, and other native shrubs and ground cover.

Also see: Seattle-based EarthCorps trains young adults from around the world in conservation practices

Species

Coyotes, raccoons, opossum, squirrels, rats, feral cats, human beings and the occasional dog live in the woods. A deer has been spotted on the Jefferson Park Golf Course, and the woods have been fox habitat in the past; 49 species of birds have flown over and through these woods.

Call of the Wild

Coyotes have been spotted along Beacon Hill ever since there was a Beacon Hill. They hunt our cats and dogs, squirrels, opossum, rats, voles, field mice, moles, birds, snakes, bugs and beetles, stray canines and feral felines, occasional arachnid or invertebrate, carrion and questionably edible trash.

Some yip, others don't. Where you see one, expect good parents with extended families. If you see a coyote, others see you. To discourage "God's dog," as Native Americans call the coyote, feed your cats and dogs inside, and get them in at night. Bring water bowls in at dusk - to keep raccoons away.