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Who are the Defenders of Highline Forest?

The Defenders of North SeaTac Park are all who sign the Community Forest Consensus, which calls for permanently protecting all 220 acres of North SeaTac Park and for preserving and expanding the forest ecosystem within the park and in the surrounding Highline community. A healthy Highline forest is necessary to protect residents from the area’s high levels of heat, noise, and pollution, most notably SeaTac International Airport, that are shortening lifespans and are linked with a wide range of health problems, including higher rates of premature births and low birthweights as well as learning problems in children.

What is the Highline Forest?

The Highline forest is a portion of the Puget Sound region’s interconnected forest ecosystem that exists on both public and private lands within and bordering the communities along “The Highline,” now known as Des Moines Memorial Drive. The Highline area includes Burien, Normandy Park, SeaTac, and portions of Des Moines, Kent, and Tukwila, and unincorporated King County.

Our Vision

Preservation, restoration, and comprehensive stewardship of the forest ecosystem within the Highline community.

Our Mission

Through research, education and organizing, build community power to achieve:

1. Permanent preservation of North SeaTac Park;

2. Reversal of the ongoing crisis of deforestation and decline in the health of the Highline forest, especially near the airport, where pollution levels and health impacts are high and tree canopy is low;

3. The allocation of resources for implementation of green space and tree preservation plans already adopted by King County, the Port of Seattle, and other governments, and honoring the extensive community input gathered to create these plans.

Our Values

We believe that:

• All in our community have a right to the lifegiving benefits that adequate tree canopy provides, including cleaner air and cooler temperatures;

• All in our community, including governments, businesses, individual property owners, and the general public, have the opportunity and the responsibility to protect the health, integrity and beauty of the ecosystem in which we live;

• Protecting and restoring the Highline forest, especially in neighborhoods where tree canopy is low, is a matter of public health, environmental, and racial justice;

• Governments on all levels must align their policies and actions with commitments they have made to slow climate change and mitigate its impact on people and the environment. This includes the responsibility to invest in preserving and expanding healthy urban forest;

• The Highline forest advocacy movement must foster participation and leadership that reflects the diversity of the airport-impacted community;

• We honor and acknowledge that the Highline forest exists on the ancestral lands and waters of Coast Salish tribal peoples who have - since time immemorial - protected and been in relationship with the Salish Sea and these precious lands we know as Highline and our home. We acknowledge our region’s tribal citizens, their ancestors and descendants, and we honor their invaluable contributions to this community’s identity, economy, history, culture, ecological health, and future.

Steering Committee

Where is North SeaTac Park?

North SeaTac Park and its community are at the geographic center of a ten-mile zone surrounding SeaTac International Airport where Public Health Seattle-King County recommends increasing tree canopy and green space coverage in order to protect residents from airport-generated pollution that shortens lives and disproportionately impacts health. Click HERE for maps and more info.

What Trees are at Risk?

Multiple proposals and “site specific considerations” within the Port of Seattle’s Sustainable Airport Master Plan (SAMP) and Real Estate Strategic Plan (RESP) would commercially develop an estimated 112 acres of mostly tree-covered land near the airport, 31.5 of those acres within North SeaTac Park. Port officials have stated that the agency has no plans to develop within the park. However, the park is zoned for commercial aviation use and recommendations for 340,000 square feet of “aviation supportive use” inside the park appear in the Port’s Real Estate Strategic Plan, published in August, 2021. Click HERE for maps and more info.

What is Tree Equity?

Trees are critical infrastructure that provide benefits everyone should have. They clean and cool the air, reduce flooding, lower energy costs, and are associated with reduced crime, improved mental health, and local economic vitality. Tree equity would mean that all people would equally benefit from the presence of trees in their neighborhoods. But, in the words of American Forests:  “A map of tree cover is too often a map of income and race — especially in cities. That’s because trees are often sparse in socioeconomically disadvantaged urban neighborhoods and some neighborhoods of color. The inequitable distribution of trees exacerbates social inequities.”  A Factsheet on Tree Equity within two miles of SeaTac Airport is available in ENGLISH and SPANISH.

Media Coverage

Click HERE

Newsletters

• September 2024 Help save 500 trees in Des Moines; Our Impact in SeaTac: 80 emails to the Council; Bogs 101 and North SeaTac Park’s Tub Lake Bog

• August, 2024 Special Action Alert SeaTac City Council will deliberate on Aug 13 whether to take action to protect North SeaTac Park. Please urge decisive action

• August, 2024 Emerald green oasis near S. 216th St. in Des Moines threatened by plans for 400-spot parking lot and 400,000 square foot industrial building ; Public Records requests filed on status of Tub Lake: A prehistoric peat moss bog in North SeaTac Park

• July, 2024 Washington Conservation Corps continues work in North SeaTac Park, Tukwila, and Burien; Allen Lebovitz, candidate for commissioner of Public Lands, responds to Defenders question about the health of near-airport residents and our forest

• June, 2024  Congress reauthorizes the FAA - What that means for Highline’s forest canopy; Major environmental advocacy opportunity coming up in June

• May, 2024 Port approves Land Stewardship Plan without acknowledging extensive public input against replacing large areas of community forest with additional polluting sources; Shout-out to Riverton Heights, Online donations now possible

• April, 2024 Special Bulletin, Earth Day introductions of Defenders of Highline Forest

• April, 2024 Defenders’ concerns about Port’s Land Stewardship Plan are being heard

• March 7, 2024  Update on North SeaTac Park legislation; Port Land Stewardship Plan (March 12);  Action Opportunities: March 9 and March 12 (Port meeting on its Land Stewardship Plan)

• February 6, 2024 Defenders of Highline Forest believe that you deserve a healthy environment

• January 15, 2024 Defenders urge an outpouring of support for  new legislation to hold the Port accountable

• January 5, 2024 Defenders Expand their Mission, Port of Seattle Land Stewardship Plan

• December 9, 2023 Meet us at Pier 69! What is the Port’s Land Stewardship Plan? Big thanks to Seattle Tree Action and The Last 6,000

• November 17, 2023 Write to Port and city officials to ask for adequate public notice and consideration of public input for two important new Port policies

• November 7, 2023 Port’s online webinar on its new land stewardship policies, Burien Lions Club major tree planting project in the park, changes and opportunities for community forest restoration in North SeaTac Park

• October 20, 2023 Green SeaTac Day, Port invites input on tree policies on Nov 8, Crosscut article on North SeaTac Park and surrounding forest

• August 7, 2023 Error correction;  Action needed by tomorrow; Update on suit against Port; Tree removal causing deadly heat increase

• August 1, 2023  Important news and updates

• June 8, 2023 Aviation Town Hall; class action suit filed against Port; Port silence on issue of rezoning North SeaTac Park; upcoming forest rescues

• February 13, 2023 Come to an organizing zoom session, More about beavers, Upcoming forest rescues

• January 15, 2023 Don’t replace SeaTac’s forests with warehouses, Beaver in North SeaTac Park, UW interns join Defenders

• October 25, 2022 Port Listening Session and the Unfulfilled Promise of a Wetlands Preserve in North SeaTac Park

• October 5, 2022 - Tell the Port: “Put it in writing!”  

• August 18,  2022 - Happy Birthday North SeaTac Park

• June 19, 2022 - Defenders Show Up

• May 9, 2022 - Action Needed Tomorrow: North SeaTac Council to Vote

• April 2, 2022 - News & Action Items - Defending our Park & Community

• March 2, 2922 - Sign the Community Forest Consensus

• Jan 12, 2022 - This park needs defenders