Narration: A CENTURY OR SO AGO, TALL CEDARS, HEMLOCK AND FIR TREES DOMINATED THE HILLY LANDSCAPE OF NORTHWEST SEATTLE. THEN CAME THE LOGGERS, WHO CARTED OFF THE BIGGEST TREES. DAIRY FARMERS FOLLOWED, ATTRACTED BY THE CLEARED LAND. THEN AS THE BURGEONING CITY SPREAD NEAR THE AREA, CITY OFFICIALS declared the area a park. THEY NAMED IT CARKEEK AFTER ONE OF THE LAND-OWNERS. They let the cleared land reseed itself, and a deciduous forest grew in its place. But this forest is now nearing the end of its life span, SAYS BRIAN GAY, THE PARK’S NATURALIST.

Brian Gay: If we left it as is and let it evolve we end up very shortly with all of the deciduous trees that surround us here falling because they all grew up at the same time, it is an even aged stand essentially and they will all die at the same time and we will have a big open space again.

Narration: INSTEAD, CARKEEK IS UNDERGOING...
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Promo: In our next Tales from Urban Forests, we visit a park in Seattle where they’ve come to realize that “fish grow on trees.”

Intro: In nature, salmon and forests go together. Trees provide shade for salmon-bearing streams, and dying salmon provide fertilizer for the forest. But when wild forests become subdivisions, both trees and fish suffer. SOUNDPRINT’s Gordon Black has this report on how the city of Seattle is embarking on an ambitious effort to restore a forest and a salmon stream.
Outro: Large urban areas often mean more industry and businesses. In our next Tales from Urban Forests, we head to Seattle where researchers have found that trees can mean business too. This program is part of the ongoing series, Tales from Urban Forests. The series is produced by the SOUNDPRINT Media Center, and supported in part by American Forests and the U.S. Forest Service. For more information on the series, please visit trees.soundprint.org.