Cats and Trails and Garden Tales
Musings on cats, travel, gardens and life
Tiffany Park Woods Revisited
Behind my house in Renton there are 22 acres of woods. You can see them through the fence in my backyard where they provide a wonderful backdrop of green making my own gardening efforts easier.
I have enjoyed their quiet beauty and the birds and wildlife who live in them. I’ve welcomed the deer who occasionally peer through the fence and let them prune my raspberry bushes when I forgot to close the gate.
Of all the friendly birds that have stopped by my yard (and there are many), my favorite was the red crested pileated woodpecker. I’ll never forget watching that giant bird with the bright red plume as he stopped for a drink and made my bird bath look small. I have never seen another one in the wild.
It has already been a couple of years since we learned the woods had been sold. At the time, neighbors voiced their complaints to the city and various hearings were held. Environmental studies were performed and inventories of wetlands, trees, birds and mammals were taken. But things being as they are it was only a matter of time until the clearing of the land and the building of the houses would begin.
I wonder how the trees feel about it? Do they know the white tag or the blue tag or the pink tag pinned to their bark determines their fate? Have the animals perhaps sensed what is coming and already relocated to more permanent homes?
Recently some friendly men came by and we asked them when work would begin.
“Soon,” they replied.
“But we have heard that for years,” we answered and laughed together.
But this time it really is soon. Their mission is to prepare the infrastructure to support the new homes. Tree felling will begin within weeks and utilities should follow after. The peace and quiet will be gone for too long a time I fear. I wish it was already over and done.
I thought I would take a final walk through the woods before the logging begins and photograph what will be lost. I follow the trail where young boys run and play and older boys walk their dogs.
I come across this comfy stool fit for a fairy.
and I find ferns with new spring fronds unfurling ..
The bleeding hearts are in bloom…
and the salmonberries are blossoming.
And of course there are the trees.
They are ordinary perhaps, these Tiffany Park Woods, nothing special except to those who live near them. Or in them.
I remember the first time I heard the deep hooting of the Great Horned Owl in the dead of night. I wondered at the size of an owl that had such a booming voice resonating in the woods. I got up hoping to catch a glimpse of him but of course it was too dark. Silly I know. There are other owls too but I don’t know what kind. I’ve tried to remember the rhythms of their calls so I could look it up the next day. But by morning I have usually forgotten. I will miss the owls.
I grew up next to woods in West Seattle and have fond memories of the many hours spent in them; running on the trails, making beds of the ferns, and playing the games of childhood. Maybe children don’t play in woods anymore. But I still believe there is value in having some patches of wilderness in urban spaces.
The woods in Tiffany Park will soon be gone but my woods in West Seattle still remain. For that I am thankful.
~ Susanne
Cats and Trails and Garden Tales 
Oh Susanne this makes me want to cry! I hate to think of those beautiful woods being cut down. 😢 Great photographs and writing though!
Thank you so much for your comment. (Sorry I made you sad but it makes me sad too.) Perhaps I am over dramatic but I always hate to see woods go.. woods that can never be replaced. By now I have gotten used to the idea since it has been in the works a few years. And fortunately there are still other patches of forest nearby so hopefully all those beautiful birds and critters will find a nice home there. 🙂 Susanne
What beautiful photos! That’s so sad you are going to lose such a beautiful forest. Sounds like you have some great memories.
thank you so much! 🙂
A real tragedy to lose this woodland literally on your doorstep. Over here, farmland is being sold off for housing development, and for use for the location of ‘solar panel farms’. I often feel quite content that I won’t live long enough to see every square inch of England built on, or developed in some way.
At least you have lots more magnificent scenery close by. We are running out of that at an alarming rate.
Best wishes, Pete.
I would hate to see the beautiful farmland and countryside disappear there too. Yes I am thankful for the scenery we have here that is protected or too difficult to build on.
This is a great tribute to a wonderful area – unfortunately, it will soon be a series of houses packed together, all looking the same…
thanks John… it will be hard to see the woods go… 90 plus houses will go in where they stand.. they’re supposed to leave some of the trees around the perimeter so hopefully it won’t look too different directly in back of us.. I don’t look forward to the process…
How beautiful, and how sad and wrong it seems to replace such natural old-growth beauty with tract homes. . . progress will always be man’s self-interested perspective.
I agree. Once the woods are gone they are gone forever..
Thank you for the link. You have done a wonderful job of recording that beauty that is on th edge of ruin.
thank you. ☺
Susanne –
Hello, and thank you so much for the photos on this. I grew up in Tiffany Park (20th Ct) and spent much of my early childhood in those woods, and have very, VERY fond memories of them. My family moved us to Colorado in the early 80’s, and after 30 years I’ve finally been able to move back home to Washington. I took a trip out to visit those woods a few weeks ago, only to find a gaping hole where they once were. I had no photographs of them, and could not find any on the net before stumbling across your site. Thank you very much for documenting, even if just a sliver, the wonderful woods, before they were gone.
Thank you Ryan for your comment. 😊 We have lived next to the Tiffany Park Woods for the past 8 years and really enjoyed their quiet beauty. I grew up in West Seattle, also next to woods, and spent countless hours in them; an important part of childhood I think. We were so sorry to see the Tiffany Park woods destroyed for development. I’m glad you enjoyed the pictures.