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Term Project Description

The urban matrix includes a wide diversity of habitats and organisms. The physical conditions of the habitat strongly influence which plants and animals are able to survive.

For the term project, you will be assigned to a group. If you REALLY want to work with a friend in the class, let us know. Also, if you live far from campus and/or have transportation issues, let us know. The group will choose three different sites, which you will observe, analyze, and contrast over the quarter. We will call these three locations the "plaza," "park," and "greenbelt." You will search for and identify the sites as a group, write up a proposal that describes each site, to be turned in for credit on 1/30 (see below for instructions) then observe the sites over several weeks and prepare a poster to be presented to the class on March 15 during the time scheduled for our final. A group paper (up to 5 pages) is also expected at this time - see below.

You should plan time to be at each site as a group, but each of you may spend time with at each site by yourselves, as well.

Sites

Sites may vary in size, but should be areas at least 5m X 5m.

Plaza. This will be a heavily urbanized location such as downtown Seattle, Red Square, or a plaza at University Village. It should have at least 75% paved surface. NOTE: intersections are not to be used for this. Some examples are:

• Red Square -- UW campus
• University Village Shopping Center -- Area near Ravenna Gardens store, area between stores in the main mall
• Washington Mutual Tower -- 1201 Third Ave., downtown
• Garden of Remembrance -- Benaroya Hall, downtown on bus #71, 72, 73
• Harbor Steps -- Across from Seattle Art Museum, downtown on bus #71, 72, 73
• Seattle Center fountain & various other spots -- Downtown
• Pioneer Square --Downtown on bus #71, 72, 73

Park. This is a mixed paved (no more than 40%) and vegetated area. Cultivated areas such as a residential yard with walkways or a city park or university area with sidewalks would be appropriate. Lawns count as vegetation. Some examples are:

• Seattle Tilth & Good Shepherd Center -- Wallingford, N 50th St & Sunnyside Ave.; take #44 bus
• The Quad -- UW campus
• Calvary Cemetery -- Bryant, 35th Ave NE & 55th St., on #67 or #74 bus
• Greenlake -- On #48 bus
• Volunteer Park -- Capitol Hill, take #7, #9 or #48 bus
• Magnuson Park -- Sand Point Way & 65th St., take #74 or #75

Greenbelt. This should have no paved areas and should have a varied structure of shrubs and trees, most of them native. You may want to portion it into the center and edge of the site and make separate observations. Examples include:

• Ravenna Park / Cowen Park -- 15th Ave. NE & Ravenna Blvd., or 25th Ave. NE & 55th St.
• Union Bay Natural Area -- UW campus
• Kincaid Ravine -- Under 45th St. viaduct in U-District
• Arboretum -- south part On #43 or #48 bus

Observations

To get an adequate feeling for each site each group member should plan to spend several minutes a week at each location, sitting quietly and recording your observations. You may wish to keep a journal. You should plan on trying to go at different times of the day. If you can't go every week, try to spend longer periods of time at each site less frequently. The point of spending time at the site over a period of time is not so much to view change through the quarter, but to adequately capture what happens at the site at more than just one point in time. You might want to plan some times when the whole group goes together and some times when you go alone or with one other person.

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