Location: Northwest Seattle
Address: 24th Ave. N.W. and N.W. 90th St.
Acreage: 9.6
Some parks in this city are designed for recreation and others are set aside to preserve green space. An example of the latter, North Beach Park is one of 30 green spaces the city designated in 1993 with a new preservation policy.
The park’s access is one narrow path that follows the ravine through the center of the park. Other than that, the park has stayed mostly untouched and is probably pretty unused. It’s worth a walk through the park to take in the tall trees that line both sides of the ravine. A small stream also runs next to the path.
Even its neighbors may not be aware of this park as a neighborhood asset, but the city was smart to target undeveloped parcels such as these for preservation.
A good example is the group of great blue heron nests that were spotted a few years ago in North Beach Park, according to the city.
You likely wouldn’t find wildlife like that in one of Seattle’s more developed–and more heavily used–parks.
#31 (Visited 9/26/09)