September 2025
Write us at info@defendersofhighlineforest.org

Support The Defenders mission of standing up for the preservation of this community’s forest. Consider supporting our important volunteer work with a donation. We appreciate your support.

1. Save Burien Port trees! Attend 9-8 Burien City Council, 9-9 Port meeting and Seatac City Council to submit public comment

2. Demand King County Tree Canopy Goal and Work Plan. Sign on by 9-6 and make public comment 9-8 for SCAP (Strategic Climate Action Plan)

3. Join Port meeting 9-9 to act on removal of the trees in the flight path

1. Is Your Life Impacted… by nearby SeaTac and/or local King County airports including living, working, or going to school under a flight path? And/or are you concerned about all those who do?

If You Answered “Yes”…Take Action TODAY!

The Port of Seattle plans to cut down more than 200 trees south and west of SEA (SeaTac airport) to address potential obstructions to flights taking off and landing. Review the Implementation Plan that maps the locations and lists the type of trees being removed. Please read the notice on the Port website and submit your comments.

The overall finding: "On August 21, 2025, as lead agency, the Port of Seattle determined the proposed action would not have a probable significant adverse impact on the environment. Therefore, an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is not required..."

The clock for the 15-day public comment is ticking, so please read the full report and email your comments by September 11th at 4:00pm.

Public and Agency Comment: No action will be taken on the proposed action until after the 15-day* public comment period expires on 4:00pm on September 11, 2025, after which the Port will:

(1) formally adopt this Determination of Non-Significance;

(2) clarify or review the proposal; or

(3) complete additional environmental analyses, as appropriate.

The Port will accept public and agency comments until 4:00 PM on September 11, 2025.

Please refer any questions relating to this determination or to the proposed actions to:

Steve Rybolt
Port of Seattle
Aviation Environment and Sustainability Department
P.O. Box 68727
Seattle, Washington 98168
Telephone 206.787.5527.

Email Rybolt.S@portseattle.org or the Port of Seattle electronic mail Internet address at SEPA@portseattle.org.

Include your mailing address when submitting comments to the electronic Internet address.

Of greatest concern to The Defenders

The Port will kill and remove 34 trees within the biodiversity area/corridor designated by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife as Priority Habitat Areas.  

• The Port will kill and remove over 200 trees in this program.

• The Port identified significant trees and/or a significant number of trees within two city parks, one at the north end of Des Moines Creek Park and the other at the north end of Mathison Park in Burien that they will kill and remove.

• The Port does not identify these tree deaths as significant and they fail to acknowledge let alone address the impact of their loss on the parks or the residents who use these parks.

• The Port will plant 15 trees to compensate for the 5 mature trees they are removing inside the north end of Mathison Park. This park is west and not aligned with any runways.  

• The trees are growing in frontline communities next to: 1) a heat and pollution-generating diesel truck toll road that is close to completion and 2) heat- and pollution-generating box warehouses that paved over thousands of mature trees formerly protecting neighbors from heat and aircraft pollution. 

• The Port will kill and remove up to 49 trees growing on City of SeaTac land, with NO TREE REPLACEMENT unless the City finalizes its tree code prior to the removal of these trees.  

Burien

The Port’s Tree removal plan in Burien affects Mathison Park. As reported in the B-Town Blog, the son of Mathison Park donors spoke out, urging the City of Burien, residents to block Port of Seattle’s tree cutting plan.

Take Action

Contact Burien City Council at council@burienwa.gov. Burien City Hall’s phone number is 206-241-4647 while the Parks Department’s number is 206-988-3700. City Manager Adolfo Bailon can be reached at adolfob@burienwa.gov.

Speak at the Monday, Sept. 8th Burien City Council meeting at 5:30 p.m. The meeting is held at city hall, 400 S.W. 152nd Street. I welcome fellow speakers on the subject or just come to offer support. You can sign up to speak one hour before the meeting or calling 206-241-4647. You can also sign up on the public comment form at council@burienwa.gov.

Mathison Park is located at 533 S 146th Street, Burien, WA 98168.

Port Meeting Tuesday, 9/9 at 12:00 PM

Take Action

Email, dial in or sign up to speak at the Port Meeting on Tuesday, Sept 9 about the removal of the trees in the flight path.

Meeting info: A regular Port Commission business meeting will be held on Tuesday, September 9, 2025, at 12:00 noon. See Port of Seattle Meeting Meeting Portal for agenda and details on participating in providing public comment.

You may also contact sandyh@defendersofhighlineforest.org for help making public comments about the Port destroying these trees.

1. Public comment options:

   1. Virtual (oral):

      • Email commission-public-records@portseattle.orgwith the meeting date and topic you wish to comment on by 9:00 a.m. PST on the day of the meeting.

      • You'll receive Microsoft Teams access instructions in advance. Port of Seattle

   2. In-person (oral):

      • Sign up on-site before the meeting begins—no prior registration required. Port of Seattle

   • Time limits: Typically 2 minutes per speaker, though the presiding officer may adjust as needed. Total public comment is capped around 45 minutes. Port of Seattle

   1. Written comments:

      • Email to [email protected], with subject or body clearly marked “Public Comment for Commission Meeting.”

      • Accepted from 3 days prior up until 9:00 a.m. on the meeting day.

      • Late submissions—no later than the day after the meeting—may still be included in the official record. Port of Seattle

Seatac City Council Meeting Tuesday, 9/9 at 6:00 PM

Speak out on the impact of the Port’s tree removal plan in Seatac.

Take Action

Registration deadline (for oral comments): By 2:00 p.m. on the day of the meeting.

How to register: Fill out the online Public Comment Sign-Up form to join the Speakers List—choose either in-person or remote (oral) participation.

If participating remotely, you'll receive connection instructions by 3:30 p.m. the same day.

If in person and you haven’t registered, you can sign up on-site just before the meeting starts. Each individual is limited to 3 minutes; groups of four or more get 10 minutes.

Written comments: You don’t need to register. Just email your written comment to publiccomment@seatacwa.gov by 2:00 p.m. on September 9.

Meeting details: SeaTac’s regular Council Meetings are held on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays at 6:00 p.m.—the September 9 meeting is scheduled from 6:00–9:00 p.m., hybrid (both in-person and remote).

Comment about tree code, need trees to address some of the hottest most polluted areas of the state, reference the Washington Health Disparities Map tied to Washington’s Environmental Justice Law (HEAL Act) and the need for trees around all the new developments at 200th.

Is Your Life Impacted… by nearby SeaTac and/or local King County airports including living, working, or going to school under a flight path? And/or are you concerned about all those who do?

If You Answered “Yes”… sign our PETITION TODAY!

• Sign On as an organization or business impacted by an airport click here

• Sign On as an individual impacted by an airport, click here.

Monday 9-8 at 9:30 AM.

King County is reviewing amendments this coming Monday, 9/8 to their 5-year update of its Strategic Climate Action Plan (SCAP). The Defenders of Highline Forest have reviewed the proposed changes and recommend that King County include additional protections for residents who are impacted by our airports.  

TAKE ACTION

• Please Sign On to our Revised Sign-On Letter TODAY!

• And give public comment by email, online or in person 9/8.

• Please review the recap below and sign our updated letter TODAY, share with your networks, and give public comment by email, online or in person 9/8 (more details on how to give public comment provided below).

Our Coalition's Focused Asks:

The King County Executive convene joint community, academics/scientists, governments, and relevant stakeholder task forces:

1) to develop land transportation and aviation GHG emissions health mitigation plan to be submitted to Council one year from the passage of the 2025 SCAP;

2) to revisit with the Joint Task Force all recommendations including government travel policies and public education for the final recommendation to Council within one year of the passage of the 2025 SCAP. For SAF, (Sustainable Aviation Fuels), utilize the Task Force guidance that King County should advocate for programs and strategies that ensure SAF production is sustainable and should verify GHG life cycle emissions reductions; and

3) to a) develop science-based and community-based tree canopy goals for urban unincorporated areas and establish incentives for south King County K4C city participation with a workplan and an implementation timeline, and b) engage K4C partners to establish their respective science-based and community-based tree canopy goals.

We ask that you sign the revised letter here by TODAY! and give public comment at the TrEE Committee Special Meeting on Monday 9/8 at 9:30 AM.

HOW TO PROVIDE PUBLIC COMMENT

Please see the below link for the full agenda containing details on joining the meeting including by Zoom.

TrEE Committee Special Meeting

You may provide oral comment on current agenda items during the meeting’s public comment period.

Join the meeting and participate in three ways by reviewing the information in the meeting agenda meeting agenda here and participating in one of the ways below.

HOW TO PROVIDE PUBLIC COMMENT:
The Transportation, Economy and Environment TrEE) Committee values community input and looks forward to hearing from you on agenda items.
There are three ways to provide public comment: 

1. In person: You may attend the meeting and provide comment in the Council Chambers.  King County Courthouse 516 3rd Ave, Seattle, WA 98104, USA Room 1001

2. By email: You may comment in writing on current agenda items by submitting your email comments to kcccomitt@kingcounty.gov. If your email is received by 8:00 a.m. on the day of the meeting, your email comments will be distributed to the committee members and appropriate staff prior to the meeting. 

3. Remote attendance at the meeting by phone or computer (see "Connecting to the Webinar" below). You may provide oral comment on current agenda items during the meeting’s public comment period.

CONNECTING TO THE WEBINAR: 

Webinar ID: 828 3304 6944 By computer using the Zoom application at https://zoom.us/join and the webinar ID above.

Via phone by calling 1 253 215 8782 and using the webinar ID above.

HOW TO WATCH/LISTEN TO THE MEETING REMOTELY: 

There are several ways to watch or listen in to the meeting:

 1) Stream online via this link: http://www.kingcounty.gov/kctv, or input the link web address into your web browser. 

2) Watch King County TV on Comcast Channel 22 and 322(HD) and Astound Broadband Channels 22 and 711(HD) 

3) Listen to the meeting by telephone – See “Connecting to the Webinar” above. To help us manage the meeting, if you do not wish to be called upon for public comment please use the Livestream or King County TV options listed above, if possible, to watch or listen to the meeting. 

Support the Defenders 

The Defenders of Highline Forest is at an exciting and pivotal moment of growth and opportunity and we are needing to significantly expand to our entirely volunteer run team to meet the community’s needs. If you wish to serve your community in a meaningful way through Tree Advocacy efforts, this is a great time to donate your time and/or join The Defenders Planning Team.

To join our volunteer committees in areas such as marketing communications, fundraising, advocacy campaigns and/or other various ways to lend your support, please contact info@defendersofhighlineforest.org.

Content Contributors

Content for this edition of your Defenders of Highline Forest newsletter was provided by Rick Harwood, Sandy Hunt, Barbara McMichael, Eileen Lambert and Clare Parfitt.