Earth Day in the urban jungle

Here in Washington, we live amongst active volcanoes, fortress-like mountain ranges, rainforests, prairies, a glacially-carved fjord estuary, dramatic coasts, and big sky deserts. If we’ve learned anything from our countless nature stories, it’s that we–the people, plants, animals, and fungi of the Pacific Northwest–are all connected.  

We gathered a few videos this Earth Day to spark your curiosity about your friendly neighborhood flora and fauna (a little urban safari, if you will). Local folks study, support, and interact with these city species in ways that might surprise you. Ready to join them? 

Hermits of West Seattle

Considering how big moon snails are, it’s surprising we don’t see them more often. Urban naturalist Kelly Brenner shows us how to identify the signs of the somehow-sneaky-despite-being-hand-sized moon snail, and miraculously spots one for us with her expert eye. It boggles the mind to think we live so close to these prehistoric-looking gastropods, and quite frankly, it’s an honor. 

Whale tales in Puget Sound

Humpbacks love an entrance. After coming dangerously close to extinction a century ago, these breaching, tail-slapping crowd-pleasers have rebounded along the West Coast, growing from about 500 whales to more than 5,000, with plenty now making appearances in local waters, including Elliott Bay. We’re thrilled to have them back. Our boaters just need to avoid turning a comeback story into a cautionary tale.

Stealth mode in Seattle

Cooper’s hawks have basically pulled off the ultimate Seattle relocation, trading deep woods for city life and thriving here in the process. Their population has tripled over the past decade, making them Seattle’s most common medium-sized woodland hawk. The funny part: these stealthy raptors are so good at keeping a low profile, most of us have no idea they’re even here.

Urban howlers

Speaking of stealthy, ever hear something rustle in the bushes while walking through the Washington Park Arboretum? Trust your instincts. You may have just crossed paths with one of the city’s other stealthy residents: the coyote. These urban predators have been around for decades, and we’re digging into how they survive, what they eat, what their calls mean, and what to do if one gets a little too close.

Dinos of Ballard

Meet the dinosaurs of Seattle, the colony in the clouds, the beaked and clawed and absolutely unbothered great blue herons (and the humans who study them). We’re usually talking salmon at the Ballard Locks, but come spring, it’s bird time, baby. The growing group of herons live in the trees near the locks and don’t seem deterred by all our jogging, dog walking, paddling and chattering. On the contrary, we should be seeing new chicks in those nests in the next month! Time to keep an eye on the sky. 

Athletes of Carkeek Park

Okay, now we actually are talking about salmon–but not at the locks. Wait till fall and you’ll get a chance to cheer them on as they leap through Piper’s Creek in Carkeek Park. They make their way to freshwater spawning grounds from the Puget Sound each November, surprising hikers as they go. Scientists and community groups began trying to reintroduce salmon in the ‘70s after human interference took population numbers way down. Learn more about what we can do–as their relatively new neighbors–to support their return.

Something fishy is happening in the Sound

Spring is not just for cherry blossoms and longer days. It is also herring season, or at least it used to be in a much bigger way. After years of major decline, there are hopeful signs these small but mighty fish are returning to local waters, and that could mean good things for the entire marine ecosystem.

Forests in the sound

Kelp provides food and shelter to countless marine species and serves as an indicator for the overall habitat health of the Puget Sound. The sound’s kelp populations have dropped dramatically in the last 50 years, endangering those who rely on it. Experts aren’t totally sure why, but they are trying to help the keystone species make a comeback. They’ve even enlisted the help of Xbox-controller-driven robot ROV Nereo.

Bringing back the bivalves

Once upon a tide, Olympia oysters and Pinto abalone were doing big work in Puget Sound, feeding Indigenous communities and helping create thriving underwater habitat for all kinds of marine life. Then pollution, overharvest, and habitat loss came along and wiped out much of that abundance. Now, efforts are underway to bring these small but mighty species back, and give the marine ecosystem a much-needed boost.

Treasure hunters of the sky

Ah, the caw-smopolitan crow, one of Seattle’s most interesting neighbors. Their intelligence, memory, and unique ways of interacting with humans set them apart from other urban animals. Producer David Albright decided to learn how–and why–that is. Poe, eat your heart out.

Carpets of the Pacific Northwest

Moss. The underdog of the forest, nature’s carpet, the décor on your front stoop. It’s also a source of employment for a Bloedel Reserve moss gardener. He spotlights one of the Pacific Northwest’s more than 700 varieties of moss, and another moss lover takes us on a journey “Magic School Bus” style to the complex microscopic world within its fuzzy borders. 

Scientists of Seward Park

Sticklebacks are here to teach us about reverse evolution. Actually, Kelly Brenner is doing most of the teaching, but the fish really bring the lesson to life. The Lake Washington three-spined stickleback is one of the first known cases of reverse evolution, or a creature reverting to an ancestral trait. We’ll leave to details up to Brenner. Just know; it says a lot about our unknowing impact on the animals in our region. 

Just as the sticklebacks are evidence of reverse evolution, they’re also evidence of reverse-urban wildification. We did just make that term up, but we’re stickleback-ing by it. Human intervention took their habitat from bucolic to toxic and back again, and now there’s a thriving wetland right here in the city. It makes you wonder, what else can we un-do for the better?

We humans have a lot of influence on the environment around us, and we’re using more and more of that influence to live amongst our furred, fanged, scaled, and feathered friends, rather than pushing them out.