From Director True: Producing lasting results under extraordinary circumstances
Protecting and restoring the natural environment in one of the fastest-growing metropolitan regions in the nation is always challenging, even under ideal circumstances. Producing lasting results during an ongoing pandemic is even more difficult.
Yet the 1,800 professionals at the Department of Natural Resources and Parks delivered on every front in 2021, advancing King County’s environmental priorities for the people, fish, and wildlife that call this spectacular corner of the country home. You can now track our progress countywide with this new interactive map.
Many of our accomplishments – particularly climate action, connecting people experiencing homelessness to jobs and housing, strengthening the local food economy, making ownership of green homes more equitable, confronting racial inequities that intensify during extreme heat events, promoting healthy, resilient forests, restoring habitat, and expanding regional trails – produce benefits that are easy for people, families, and communities to see and experience firsthand.
Then there are accomplishments that are less visible but just as meaningful. That’s particularly true for our Solid Waste Division, which continued to provide outstanding customer service even as the pandemic created unprecedented challenges for our staff and partners. Our Wastewater Treatment Division, meanwhile, started a decade of improvements at West Point Treatment Plant that will better protect the water quality of our region for generations to come.
Environmental stewardship is not something you ever complete. It is an eternal commitment, one that requires persistence by our staff, strong community partnerships, and resources funded by the people we serve. We will continue to work hard each day to maintain that level of public trust so we can achieve even more next year.
In the meantime, I invite you to take a moment to watch a brief highlight reel of the accomplishments we achieved together.
Happy holidays!
Christie True
Director, King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks
