Five years after the Pacific Northwest Heat Dome that led to 34 heat-related deaths in King County, our staff continues to work with partner agencies and communities to better prepare our region for extreme heat.
Guided by King County’s Extreme Heat Mitigation Strategy, we’ve made progress on multiple fronts to help people stay safe and promote more equitable access to healthy tree canopy.
Cooling the places where people live and connect
The climate staff at our Director’s Office launched the Energize Program that provides energy-efficient heat pumps and weatherization tools for homes and other buildings throughout the Central Puget Sound region. The program is available for single- and multi-family homes, adult family homes, family home childcare providers, and community spaces.
Energize – profiled by The Margin – has so far installed more than 250 heat pumps in South King County, including 80 in adult family homes and in-home childcare facilities. Over the next three years, we will deploy about $10 million in additional projects at adult family homes and in-home childcare facilities throughout the region.
“We know many vulnerable community members don’t have access to cooling, so the Energize program focuses on installing heat pumps to provide cooling for residents who otherwise couldn’t afford it. We prioritize projects in heat islands and in buildings without cooling,” said Buildings and Energy Manager Terry Sullivan. “We’ve focused investments where children and seniors live and gather, since they are most at risk from extreme heat.”
Promoting equitable access to healthy tree canopy throughout King County
Our new Urban Forestry Program is studying forest cover in unincorporated areas, which will inform actions we take with communities to promote equitable access to healthy tree canopy.
The project team is studying 34 square miles, which includes urban unincorporated communities and the unincorporated rural towns of Fall City, Vashon, and Snoqualmie Pass.
“From reducing heat islands to cleaning our air and water, trees are essential to the health and livability of our communities,” said King County Executive Girmay Zahilay. “King County has promoted healthy, resilient forests in rural areas for decades, an inspiring achievement for environmental stewardship. Now we’re applying a science-based, community-informed approach in urban unincorporated areas so that more kids and families can experience the benefits of healthy tree canopy.”
To make sure the trees we plant with partners will be resilient to climate impacts over the next century, we’re planting native tree seedlings acquired from warmer, drier climates as part of a long-term study.
Based on climate modeling that predicts conditions at the end of the century, our foresters sourced tree species native to our region that also grow in Southwest Washington, Oregon, and Northern California, and grew seedlings to plant locally. Forest specialists selected four planting locations throughout King County that have different site conditions and will monitor the trees’ survival compared to trees grown with locally sourced seed.
Healthy urban greenspaces where people can stay safe, cool, and connected
Our Parks and Recreation Division is contributing to solutions as they increase access to healthy greenspaces in urban heat islands.
Glendale Forest is a five-acre park in North Highline we opened in 2021 to serve a community where most kids and families don’t have yards or convenient access to greenspace. Today, the transformed park – featured by KUOW – is a healthy urban forest where neighbors can stay safe, cool, and connected when the heat becomes dangerous.
With funding generated by the King County Parks Levy and our Conservation Futures program, we’re accelerating the acquisition and restoration of more urban greenspaces, both in unincorporated communities and cities.
The King County Parks Levy is also building new water features that help kids and families cool off during the hottest days. We’re providing support for cities to install splash pads at Judkins Park and Playfield in Seattle and Uplands Playfields and Spray Park in Kent in addition to installing a spray park at King County’s Petrovitsky Park in Renton.
“We’re fortunate to have a team of trusted climate experts working alongside our operations and capital project teams to better prepare our region for extreme heat events like the one we experienced in 2021,” said Mo McBroom, Interim Director of the Department of Natural Resources and Parks. “We’ve made progress over the past five years by partnering with communities, though we must and will build on our momentum to keep people and families safe.”
Contact
Doug Williams, Media Relations Coordinator, 206-477-4543
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