Frequently Asked Questions

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General Information

Q. How many parks in Seattle?
A. Seattle Parks and Recreation maintains 397 Parks and open areas. Find out more fun quick facts!

Q. What is your biggest park?
A. Discovery Park is 534 acres, including urban wilderness with four distinct habitats and 11.810 miles of trail.

Q. What can I do to help Parks?
A. Get involved! Find out about volunteering, getting involved with the Park Board, Parks Projects and Planning, and supporting your local parks through the Seattle Parks Foundation.

Q. Where can I stay when I visit Seattle?
A. Please visit the web site for Seattle's Convention and Visitors Bureau

Q. What is the length of the path around Green Lake?
A. The inner path around Green Lake is 2.8 miles. The outer perimeter path near the road is 3.2 miles.

Q. Where can I find the Park Code?
A. The Park Code is Chapter 18.12 of the Seattle Municipal Code (SMC). It includes, in a single chapter, all City ordinances pertaining specifically to parks and park property.
You can find the Park Code on the City Clerk's web site. It is updated quarterly.

Park Use:

Q. Where can I have a camp fire?
A. Enjoy a campfire on the beach at Golden Gardens Park in northwest Seattle or at Alki Beach Park in West Seattle. Please light a fire ONLY in designated fire pits, available at both parks on a first-come, first-served basis. Burn only clean firewood (NO pallets please!), and douse your fire completely before you leave.

Q. Can I bring alcohol into a park?
A. City law prohibits alcohol in city parks. The only exceptions are for special events approved by the Superintendent.

Q. Where can I go fishing?
A. Seattle Parks and Recreation has fishing spots located across the city.

Q. Where can I go jogging or running?
A. Seattle Parks & Recreation has a wide range of facilities for runners and joggers, ranging from rough trails to Cintrex-surfaced tracks.

Q. Where can my dog run around without a leash?
A. At designated off-leash areas, your dog is free to run, roll over, meet new friends, work out, play with you and socialize with canine friends.

Q. Can I camp in a Seattle Park?
A. Camping is not allowed in city parks. The only exception is the 10 rustic cabins at Camp Long in West Seattle. For information on camp sites near Seattle, please try camping.about.com/ or www.koa.com/where/wa/

Q. Can I get a permit to be a vendor in a park?
A. Seattle Parks and Recreation allows vendors for certain special events and for certain concessions. Vending associated with a special event is authorized through the permitting process.

Vending on a longer-term basis is authorized through a concession contract approved by the City Council or through a concession use permit, a short-term (less than one year) administrative permit issued by the Superintendent. For more information, please call 206-684-8008.

Employment

Q. How do I get information about jobs at Seattle Parks and Recreation?
A. Visit our Jobs web page. For information about summer recreation jobs, click on our summer employment brochure.

Reservations & Permits

Q. Do I need a permit for an event in a park?
A. A Park Use Permit is required to reserve a playingfield, facility, stage or performing arts area, or to use a park for a gathering of a large number of people.

Q. How do I reserve a picnic site?
A. Start with our picnic guide for information about sites, fees and reservations then call (206) 684-4081 to make your reservations or to ask questions.

Q. How do I reserve a park for a wedding or other ceremony?
A. Start with our Ceremony Guide for more information about sites, fees, and reservations then call (206) 684-4081 to make your reservation or to ask questions.

Athletics

Q. Where can my team find a field for practice?
A. View our athletic field list, which includes contact information for both league and individual field scheduling.

Q. How many playfields do Parks maintain?
A. There are over 200 Seattle Parks athletic field that can be scheduled for various sports and activities throughout the year.

Q. How do I know if my game is rained out?
A. Call the Rainout Hotline at (206)233- 0055

Q. Where do I find sports scores?
A. Many sports team report their scores to us - and we post them on the web site on the Sports Scores page. If scores are missing, they were not reported. Please call the center where the game was played.

Maintaining Parks

Q. What is your budget?
A. Our 2004 budget is $106,093,598. Find out more fun quick facts!

Q. Does Parks work with community groups?
A. Yes! We could not do what we do without you! Parks works with "Friends Of' Groups across the city to expand programs and take on projects we could not otherwise do. Our Volunteer Coordinators can help you find a "Friends of" group near you.

Q. How do you manage and care for trees?
A. Seattle Parks and Recreation Department's Tree Maintenance Program maintains the health and safety of trees through out the City's park system.

Maintaining Parks

Q. What is Integrated Pest Management?
A. Pests are "injurious" insect species, plant pathogens, noxious or invasive vegetation, vertebrate animals such as rodents, structural pests or and other factors that create an unhealthy environment for landscapes and structures. Integrated pest management, or IPM, is a decision-making process to determine if, when, where and how pests will be managed.

An IPM program includes all potential pest control strategies but focuses on non-chemical controls whenever possible.

Q. What is Seattle Parks IPM program?
A. IPM is a standard operating procedure and a component of the Landscape, Horticulture and Urban Forestry Best Management Practices (1999) and the Environmental Stewardship Programs (ESP) for each of the four municipal golf courses.

Parks' landscape management integrates with pest management strategies. An IPM program begins with attention to plant care and culture, as healthy plants resist pests. When pests are observed, the facility use and landscape asset value is considered in determining an injury threshold for the particular pest. This philosophy allows staff to respond to both continuing pest issues and also new, unique or specific pest problems.

Q. What are some of the pest control strategies used in parks?
A. Parks IPM program includes cultural, mechanical, biological and chemical control methods. For example, cultural could mean planting the right plant in the right place, mechanical might mean hand-weeding, biological could be insect predators or bacterial products for mosquito control, and chemical might be a synthetic or naturally derived herbicide such as Round-Up or vinegar products.

Q. What are the most common pesticides applied in parks?
A. The most common pesticides used in outdoor parks are herbicides for weed control on hard surfaces and in shrub beds, while fungicide use for disease is more common in the Rose Garden and on golf greens. Insect pests and diseases are common in the artificial growing conditions found in Parks greenhouses, where insecticides and fungicides are used.

Q. How does IPM work in park management?
A. An IPM program considers the anticipation of potential pest problems to be an important component. Parks staff are knowledgeable, landscape maintenance professionals who understand the cultural plant needs and monitor landscape assets continuously in their daily work. Each park facility is vegetatively and aesthetically unique, which allows for differential determination of the thresholds for aesthetic and economic injury. If those thresholds are met and injury is imminent and unacceptable, a specific IPM strategy will be designed and implemented. Staff evaluate the success of the strategy over time and make adjustments as needed for long-term successful asset management.

Q. Who manages pests in parks?
A. Parks horticultural and grounds maintenance staff share responsibility for managing pest problems in 6,006 acres of parks; about 10% of the City's total land area. 2,300 acres of this is "developed" parkland. Staff who apply pesticides are required to have a public pesticide operator's license and attend continuing education classes in IPM on an annual basis.

The department also employs an IPM Coordinator who monitors overall programs, and insures that regulatory requirements are met, including tracking pesticide use. This coordinator works with staff to research and develop new pest management strategies, especially regarding pesticide alternatives. The Coordinator also sits on the citywide Grounds Maintenance Task Force, which reviews IPM programs annually, and is the department's liaison on pest management issues to a variety of stakeholders.

Q. How does the City of Seattle Pesticide Reduction Program fit into Parks IPM?
A. By implementing IPM and hazardous materials management programs, Parks has consistently reduced its pesticide use since the late 1970's. This has resulted in an estimated 80% drop in labor hours associated with pesticide applications. (Previously, pesticide application was tracked in labor hours. Today it is tracked in amounts applied.)

In 1999, as part of a commitment to manage public land in an environmentally responsible manner, the city developed Pesticide Reduction Strategy Goals which seek to achieve a 30% reduction in use of pesticides by quantity and phase out use of the most potentially hazardous products.

In the last 3 consecutive years, Parks has reduced its use of pesticides by implementing alternative strategies. The pesticide use reduction averaged 43% in parks and 13% for golf. Next steps include more targeted analysis of products and application data and more research for alternative strategies, especially for golf.