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Heather Swift, founder of Cohabitats opened with “In King County, growth is happening at the expected rate, but not in the expected PLACES.” I never really thought about it that way, but it is obvious especially in King county.

She said there are some trends presenting themselves now, including something called Biophilia – the desire to be with nature.

“What’s good for the wildlife is good for all.”

As a Wildlife Tracker Heather is really able to know and explain what animals are currently on a piece of land (example: a mother bear and two cubs) tells the residents they need to secure garbage, put the bird feeders really high, and maybe make the cat an indoor cat (she showed a slide of Lost Cat posters on power poles – very sad).

Speaking next is Cory Parker of

Jones and Jones Architect and Landscape Architects.

His presentation was titled “Art of relationships between building and landscape.” I am filming these segments, but it is of the speaker and not the slide presentation that will be available later.

He said structures require a lot of energy because as soon as you put them up they begin to decay. Even you can see this on your annual tax assessment statement – typically the land value goes up but you will see the building value go down (this is me talking, not Cory).

The goal is to reveal the natural order, an integrated building and landscape.

Is this marketable?

He says yes – people are contacting them asking for green buildings. But it’s not for everyone. There is a niche for it. People are interested in blending the indoors with the outdoors.

Speaking last is Ellen Southard of Site Story for Salmon Safe, founded by Pacific Rivers Council, a 501(c)3. Sometimes called a “salmon safe evangelist”, she explains that Salmon Safe is about certifying land management so that it protects watersheds. Salmon Safe standards are designed to integrate with other local green building standards such as Built Green and LEED for Homes. Certification is phased over five years along with the project (development, building, community).

Salmon Safe has a very entertaining public awareness campaign going right now, tongue-in-cheek even along with other Seattle-centric tourism campaigns. Tag lines such as See.Sip.Stay.Spawn.

She closed with showing the video about Sal the Salmon – here it is via YouTube.

Final piece of advice that comes from Ellen in response to a question from the audience. Everyone loves those free wildflower seed packets that are given away by some environmental organizations. DO NOT PLANT THEM unless they are sourced with Washington local wildflowers. Many of those packets contain plants from Texas or another state and allowing these plants to get a hold here totally goes against “right plant right place.”

Time for lunch!