1/22/2009 10:48:00 AM In focus: Gail Gatton and the Seward Park Environmental and Audubon Center
Gail Gatton stands by the Audubon’s new Seward Park Center. Photo by Doug Schwartz
By Doug Schwartz
There is no mistaking Gail Gatton's enthusiasm about the goings on at the Seward Park Environmental & Audubon Center. As the director of the center, which opened in the park last April, Gatton has seen a level of public participation that far exceeds what had already been fairly positive initial expectations.
"It really has been amazing to see people embrace what we do here," she said.
With a lengthy environmental career Gatton is certainly well suited to head a National Audubon Society field office.
Gatton grew up in Wisconsin and moved to Alaska in the early '80s. Over the years she worked in a wide variety of environmental policy and lobbying jobs. She also was the state director of the Clinton/Gore campaign in 1996.
When she moved to Seattle in the late '80s, Gatton again worked for an environmental policy organization. While she enjoyed the work, there was an element of irony in the fact that she was doing environmental work in a downtown office building. When chance to work with the Audubon center came up it was an opportunity not to be missed.
"At heart, I'm a community-building kind of person. Alaska is a really tight-knit place, and I really wanted to create a sense of community here," she said.
After all, it's her community, too:
"I live nearby, and being able to bring environmental education to a wide variety of people who wouldn't normally get it is definitely rewarding."
The Seward Park Environmental & Audubon Center moved into its new Seward Park location in April. Its distinctive 1927 Tudor-style building, located at the eastern edge of the park, had been a private home, then a restaurant and later a location for Seattle Parks Department photo and naturalist classes through the '90s.
Through a Seattle landmark, the building had fallen into disuse and considerable disrepair. But money from the 2000 Pro Parks Levy helped get the renovation started. The interior retains a great deal of its original charm, including cowed ceilings and leaded windows. The slight slope upstairs also somewhat charmingly to the former house's age.
The refurbished building provides the center with classroom space, a natural science lab and a library. A staff of four, plus a great deal of volunteer contributions, keep the center up and running.
Affirmation
Public response to the center has been more than encouraging.
"We've been almost overwhelmed by the reaction," she said. "It's confirmed the belief that people do want to learn more about the environment around them."
Gatton said the center's Seward Park location is a tremendous asset for the organization. The park is one of the city's jewels and provides numerous educational opportunities in what is essentially the center's back yard.
The center hosts students from area schools, conducts field trips, leads nature walks and even hosts arts events. Kids have been coming by the busload. Gatton said the organization projects that 10,000 visitors will take part in 2009, a total that includes those who come for classes. And the center's educational staff is able and willing to give presentations at schools if the schools aren't able to come to Seward Park.
Gatton said that among her goals is developing stronger connections with some of the city's communities that don't typically take part in Audubon or environmental activities. Given the diverse groups of people who live in the South End, many of whom do not speak English, this has proved difficult in the past.
"Sometimes our biggest challenge is to educate people about nature in an urban center like Seattle. I want to connect with people who don't know much about Audubon," she said, adding that many South Seattle immigrants come from cultures that have a well-established respect for nature.
That the center offers winter botany walks, nature summer camps and forest ecology classes, visitors are sometimes surprised to learn that Audubon focuses on much more than our winged friends.
"Our motto is that we're about more than birds," she said. "In an urban environment like Seattle, we have to be more diverse. For one thing, foliage doesn't fly away and hide."
More information is available at http://sewardpark.audubon.org/
Doug Schwartz is the editor of the Capitol Hill Times. He can be reached at editor@capitolhilltimes.com or 461-1308.
