Seward Park Audubon Center director on why urban canopy is important

Added: 2026-05-17

[00:00:00]But you come here in the summertime, like a day like today, late in the afternoon, there's going to be so many people here because a lot of people in Seattle just don't have air conditioning. And this is going to be 10 to 15 degrees cooler in this park. Even cooler than that on the water's edge.

[00:00:13]Exactly. Yeah. And so that's one of the cooling factors that old growth forest and trees in general support you with.

[00:00:20]>> Great horn owls, they definitely benefit and subsist based on old growth. Same thing for pi woodpeckers. They're actually a keystone species of a old growth forest. They provide homes for like 80 other types of birds and and other animals including bats. And so having them, those are really crucial to make sure you have a healthy old growth forest. All this tree line right here is all new. All this has happened in the last uh you know 10 or 12 years and it's with a lot of support from DNR.