Case Studies
Selected Projects
Ballard Open Space Plan for Northwes
Working with Groundswell Northwest, Seattle Dept. of Neighborhoods, Seattle Parks, SDOT and SPU, Site Story lead a yearlong citizen’s engagement effort to identify priority sites for green infrastructure, urban ecology improvements, protection of open space and the creation of new parks in Ballard. The plan compliments the Puget Sound Regional Open Space Strategy (ROSS).
City of Shoreline Salmon-Safe Accreditation, Shoreline, WA
Working with Salmon-Safe, Site Story facilitated the first Salmon-Safe City Accreditation in the country focusing on city wide operations to improve the health of Puget Sound through stormwater management and requiring watershed friendly practices for the biological needs of salmon. In addition, our Principal, Ellen Southard worked closely with their Planning Department and Planning Commission to support their Deep Green Incentives Program.
Garden Hotline and Natural Soils Building Program, Seattle (a program of Seattle Tilth Alliance)
Since 2013 Site Story has provided public outreach for the Garden Hotline. Funded by Seattle Public Utilities, the Garden Hotline educators have been providing information and guidance at no cost to home gardeners and landscape professionals.Their goal is to educate the public on ways to reduce waste, conserve water and other natural resources, and minimize the use of chemicals in gardening
King County Green Tools
Site Story was an on-call consultant to King County GreenTools working on policy development, permit incentives and their green building ordinance. Our team led their Urban Rural Watershed Tours, participated in their Green Building Ordinance, and provided green building trainings for their Sustainable Cities and 4 Climate Change (K4C) programs. In addition, we developed green building case studies for their web site and education toolkit and provided technical services for the Counties Historic Preservation Plan.
King County River Safety Program
The 2015 River Safety focus groups were conducted to inform King County’s River Safety Campaign which is being run by their Parks and Recreation Division and will be launched in the spring of 2016. The River Safety campaign will promote safe river recreation practices with a target demographic of males ages 15 – 25 who have been identified as the most vulnerable at-risk population in King Count give data from the medical examiner’s office over the past ten years and is consistent with National and state wide statistics of river accidents and drowning incidents.
On-Call Consulting Stewardship Partners
Site Story served as an on-call consultant for Stewardship Partners from 2009 – 2016. Our work included strategic planning, support of the Salmon-Safe program, outreach for the 12,000 Rain Garden initiative; planning for the annual Green Infrastructure Summit as well as fund raising and sponsorship for their annual Feast on the Farm.
Seattle Greenbridges (a partnership of Clean Lake Union, The Nature Conservancy and Salmon-Safe) Seattle, WA)
Site Story is currently leading outreach and fund development for 12 green stormwater infrastructure projects at 6 bridges to improve water quality and salmon habitat along the lake Washington Ship Canal. Contaminated stormwater from Seattle’s Aurora Bridge and the other 5 bridges on the canal has been discharged untreated for over 80 years, impacting migrating salmon and resident orcas that depend on those salmon as a primary food source. The project is the first in the country addressing polluted stormwater off public bridges to be treated on private land.
PAST:forward Centennial Trail Interpretive Plan
PASTforward is a multi-media, multi-tool interpretive exhibit that depicts the history of the Centennial Trail from 1928 - 1959. The interpretive program is located along 29 miles of trail from Snohomish to the Nakashima Farm just north of Bryant, WA. The project was developed in collaboration with Snohomish County Department of Economic Development assisted by other county departments including Parks and Recreation, Transportation and the Snohomish County Tourism Bureau. The program reveals little known stories of local industries, women and minorities along the former rail corridor and amplifies the dark history of U.S, Japanese internment during WWII. SKL Architects was the design partner for the project.
Salmon-Safe
Site Story led the expansion of Salmon-Safe’s urban program in Washington. We served as primary strategist for outreach in Puget Sound since 2009. Our firm was instrumental in raising over $1 million dollars of Salmon-Safe’s operating budget since 2015. Other services include policy development for Salmon-Safe incentives in urban cities; producing tours, workshops and events; support in designing new certification standards, large scale contractor assessments and training; Salmon Safe workshops for green building professionals.
Wild Tension: How Design Impacts Outdoor Experience (Seattle Architecture Foundation)
In the face of radical population growth and large-scale building changes to our area, this 2018 exhibit showcased recent projects in the Puget Sound that protected, preserved, and celebrated regional beauty and history. The exhibit explored the inherent tension between the human desire for an “authentic” experience of the great outdoors with the reality of designed interventions which both subtly guide us and protect the environment. Project case studies illuminated how designers shaped the human experience of nature, including iconic lodges, trails and campgrounds, sites dedicated to environmental education, and parks created from the polluted slag of former industrial sites. The role of sustainable building rating standards was also an integral part of this exhibit.
“King County Parks chose Site Story because they share our perspective on the critical role that parks and trails play in our communities and because they understand the most effective ways of engaging people where they live and play. Their work has helped us develop a better understanding of our parks and trails users' needs and levels of satisfaction.”
Cristina Gonzalez, King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks