Use the following information gathered by the KEC Working Group to inform your own comments (Public Involvement section) here: PROS Plan Public Comment Form

Stewardship Roles

The park Stewardship Program has operated for decades as community-based groups of concerned citizens organized to maintain and enhance the county’s heritage parks, often acting independently addressing approved park projects. This system worked well with little expense or staff time from Parks and was recognized in the 2018 PROS Plan. Park users frequently express appreciation of steward’s efforts. Over the last four years, this system has been gutted leaving stewardship groups without a role in planning and accomplishing projects in heritage parks. As a result, many park stewards have left to pursue more productive and rewarding roles. Now, the 2025 draft PROS plan formalizes a new system where park stewards become park volunteers under supervision by parks maintenance and operations employees. In order to replace the thousands of volunteer hours given annually by volunteer stewards, the Parks department will need to drastically increase staffing levels and use of tax dollars. The knowledge and skills of these stewards is irreplaceable.

 The importance and independence of this stewardship program was recognized in the 2018 PROS Plan on page 37: “The Stewardship Program creates a formal partnership with interested parties who work cooperatively with staff within designated park areas. These Stewardship organizations develop and implement approved, annual work-plans. The organizations contribute to overall park stewardship plans, trail planning, construction and maintenance, natural restoration projects, invasive species removal, interpretation programs, mapping, and fundraising to support park functions and facilities. Within the large-scale parks, stewards handle much of the park maintenance, including landscaping and natural vegetation, and trail maintenance. They work with Park staff guidance and training, but often act independently, addressing approved park projects.”

Stewards include community members with advanced degrees in various fields of biology, geology and engineering. Many Stewards have become trained and certified in stream stewardship, forest stewardship, first aid, chainsaw and other tool safety. Some Stewards became certified Washington State Naturalists. Some Stewards are certified as wetland specialists. Some are surveyors and GIS experts giving freely of their time and talents. Stewardship groups have done an amazing variety of important tasks. They maintain trails and remove invasive plants, but also conduct many larger projects including planning and creating new trails, removing derelict vehicles and other trash, decommissioning logging roads, and culverts, maintaining parking lots, creating park stewardship plans, and forest stewardship plans based on steward-led wetland surveys, thinning of overstocked forest stands and underplanting thousands of seedlings for forest diversity. Another benefit of volunteer stewards working in the park is their role in community engagement, inspiring other park users to get involved and providing interactions to get ideas for improvements. All this work has been accomplished at nearly no cost to the county. These stewards have spent thousands of hours each year planning and accomplishing projects to enhance the natural beauty and health of the parks they love. 

The Parks Department has decided, without Commissioner approval or Steward input, to supervise volunteers with staff in the Maintenance and Operations group, rather than  a cooperative relationship with Parks Dept. 

There are two differences between an average volunteer and a steward. Stewards are much more committed to and knowledgeable about individual parks. Secondly, stewards are typically eager to be involved in planning future park improvement using their knowledge and experience. Furthermore, this change in supervision seems to contradict Objective 2.2: Conservation and Stewardship.  “Establish & enhance comprehensive stewardship programs to protect and manage natural resources within parklands.” 

The 2025 Draft PROS Plan relegates volunteer stewardship to a very limited role in parks as evidenced by the following quotes on pg. 43-45: “Volunteers may lack the professional expertise and experience of paid staff, which can affect the quality of work performed. Ensuring high standards may require additional oversight and quality control measures.” “They provide residents with opportunities to engage with their local environment, develop new skills, and give back to their communities. However, to ensure their long-term success, these programs require dedicated staffing and structured oversight.”

These statements and the statements and actions of park management reflect a disregard for the work and accomplishments of the various park stewardship groups and an apparent effort to do away with these groups. The 2025 PROS Plan doesn’t support the 2018 PROS or Comprehensive Plan regarding stewardship groups. Over the last four years, Parks has systematically downgraded and marginalized stewardship groups.  If the 2025 PROS Plan and the vision of the KC Parks department is to throw away this valuable resource of park stewardship groups and relegate stewards to the role of trimming trails and pulling invasive weeds under park staff supervision, it would be a waste of talent and resources!

Use this information gathered by the KEC Working Group to inform your own comments (Public Involvement section) here: PROS Plan Public Comment Form

> Return to PROS Plan 2025 – Overview of KEC Comments Listing