Before the University arrived at its current site on the shores of Union Bay, the 600+ acres comprising the Seattle campus were blanketed by a virgin coniferous forest. Lake Washington’s waters sat nine feet higher than their current level, and the wetlands now known as the Union Bay Natural Area were underwater. 

Since 1895, the lands occupied by the University of Washington have undergone significant changes. From 1904 until 1934, students and faculty participated in an annual Campus Day, during which they would form workgroups to help with tasks such as cutting trails, clearing trees, weeding, and planting. In 1916, the Montlake Cut was created and opened. It created a waterway connection between Lake Washington and Lake Union that offered significant economic advantages but severely and irreparably disrupted the watershed and its dependent ecosystems.

Over the decades, campus landscapers introduced hundreds of non-native plant species to campus, diversifying flora but significantly reducing fauna (animals). Today, approximately 480 species of trees inhabit the UW campus, just twenty-eight of which are native. Recent years, however, have seen a resurgent interest in the planting of native species: new landscaping has increasingly included efforts to incorporate local species, and the SER-UW Native Plant Nursery has planted more than 1,000 native plants in restoration sites on campus since 2013.

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