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Greenprint for King County

Photo by: Jones and Jones

King County enjoys a large network of parks, trails and protected open spaces. In addition to providing recreational opportunities, this network supports a wide variety of land and water conservation objectives, including the preservation of working farms and forests, the protection and restoration of fish and wildlife habitat, the management of floodplain resources, the safeguarding of water quality, and the enhancement of the general quality of life.

The Trust for Public Land (TPL) was hired by the department to develop a Greenprint for King County, as part of TPL's regional conservation initiative called the Greenprint for Puget Sound. Greenprinting is TPL's smart growth strategy that emphasizes land conservation to ensure quality of life, clean air and water, recreation, and economic health.

Download the Greenprint for King County (15M PDF)

If you are unable to download the report, please contact TPL's Seattle office, (206) 587-2447, to request a copy on CD.

In creating the Greenprint for Puget Sound, TPL is working with governments, cities, non-profit organizations, foundations, and landowners to develop a land conservation strategy in a 12-county area comprising the Puget Sound watershed with the goal of improving public access to the shoreline and protecting and restoring the sound's near-shore habitat. The Greenprint for King County is intended to accomplish the following objectives:

1. Gain a better understanding of the county's needs to conserve its water and land resources;
2. Ensure that limited resources are directed to the highest priority lands; and
3. Help prioritize the competing demands for limited funds from individual programs.

King County's Department of Natural Resources and Parks (DNRP) manages this network of parks and open space guided by its mission to "be regional steward of the environment and strengthen sustainable communities by protecting water, land and natural habitats, safely disposing of and reusing wastewater and solid waste, and providing natural areas, parks and recreation programs."

Like other municipal governments around the country, King County is facing the increasing challenge of providing for the public's park and open space needs in a time of growing populations, increased development, and limited budgets. Given the significant conservation and fiscal challenges confronting the county, DNRP managers identified the need to develop a comprehensive acquisition strategy to coordinate, integrate, and prioritize the land acquisition and conservation programs within the department.

Updated 8/2005