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Restore Harrison St.

  • The East Harrison Shoreline Street End is one of 142 designated Shoreline Street Ends managed by the Seattle Department of Transportation. This street end, with its unique and sensitive ecology, is a far cry from the lush image seen in the May 2019 photo compared to the image of the same area taken in January 2026.

    Help restore and save the East Harrison Shoreline Street End, a sanctuary for people and nature.

    It's a new year full of opportunity for those hopeful to restore EHSSE looking to protect this gem for all. Click here to go directly to our updates.


    We are ready for a productive 2026 working with returning and new Seattle leadership to strike the right balance between access and restoration of the site's fragile ecology and returning the EHSSE to what is has been until quite recently - a gentle, natural, public space where visitors can enjoy a peaceful lakeside retreat in the middle of a bustling city.


    • Councilmember -- Joy Hollingsworth was selected council president. The East Harrison SSE is in Councilmember Hollingsworth's district, and we are excited to work with her on all 142 SSEs in the city's Shoreline Street Ends program. Contact Councilmember Hollingsworth at: Joy.Hollingsworth@seattle.gov or D3help@seattle.gov

    • The new SDOT Director -- Angela Brady - is the immediate past Director of the Office of the Waterfront, Civic Projects, and Sound Transit where she led the completion of the remarkable transformation of the waterfront. Brady helped guide the delivery of an enormous public-private civic project that marries Seattle's innate environmental ethos to the needs of a modern, international city. We look forward to seeing her bring her experience to the oversight and management of the SSE program. Contact Director Brady at: Angela.Brady@seattle.gov

    • SDCI Director Brooke Belman is experienced in building livable neighborhoods and bringing community members, public officials, and corporate partners together.  We look forward to seeing how her experience will contribute to SDCI’s leadership on protecting ecological functions at the EHSSE and other SSEs.  Contact Director Belman at: Brooke.Belman@seattle.gov

    • Newly appointed Deputy Mayor Brian Surratt was most recently the CEO of Greater Seattle Partners. By all accounts, he is a well-respected pragmatist with an impressive record of civic engagement and achievement. We look forward to seeing how he and Mayor Wilson will protect fragile ecosystems, support livable neighborhoods, and encourage responsible recreation. Contact Deputy Mayor Surratt at: Brian.Surratt@seattle.gov

    Make your voice heard: all of us who love the beautiful urban oasis at the EHSSE should have their voices heard. We must let our city leaders know how we feel and encourage SDOT to actively and appropriately manage this special place -- and all the SSEs throughout the city. 

    Your voice matters. 

    Whether it's a note of congratulations or complaint, of encouragement or praise, please help us on this journey to restore East Harrison Shoreline Street End. Here are some ideas of messages to convey:

    • Until there is much tighter enforcement of city ordinances at EHSSE, more and more people will use it to avoid park police patrols, thus putting the natural areas and the adjacent neighbors - and neighborhood -- at risk. Please, make enforcement of city ordinances a priority at the EHSSE.

    • Please help protect the ecological functions of the EHSSE by installing more signage educating users of the critical areas at the site and reminding them what off-leash dogs are not allowed.

    • We need better management by SDOT to prevent worsening public safety conditions such as:
            •  growing number of off leash dogs,
            • illegal bonfires,
            • lighting of fireworks,
            • illegal and unsafe parking,
            • trespassing and vandalizing adjacent private properties,
            • trampling and eroding the right-of-way, and 
            • swimming near active docks and motorized boats.

    We hope our city leaders will work to bring community members together to chart a path forward for EHSSE - let's stop and reverse the degradation. We're not here to consume, but rather to steward.

    "The question is not what you look at, but how you look and whether you see."

                                                                                                                                                                                Henry David Thoreau

    Again, we look forward to a great 2026! See our New Year Update for recent ongoings at the EHSSE and our post about Salmon in Schools and East Harrison Shoreline Street End.

    The delineated wetland, wetland buffer, and shoreline at the East Harrison Shoreline Street End are being damaged and eroded.  The East Harrison Shoreline Street End is an important connection to nature in Seattle’s urban environment – one that Seattle cannot afford to lose in its mandate to achieve “no net loss" of wetlands and policy of combating climate change.  This is a call to stop the degradation, and help restore and protect the ecology of the East Harrison Shoreline Street End for the benefit all people and nature.

     

    Please join us in calling on our elected leaders and the Seattle Department of Transportation to protect the critical wetland ecology of the East Harrison Shoreline Street End now.


    Together, we can restore and protect this public space for future generations.

    Join Us

    How the East Harrison Shoreline Street End used to look:

    When asked in a 2021 survey "What do you like about Hidden Beach?" people answered:

    "Small size, relaxed, see old friends."


    "Quiet, beautiful views."

    "Quiet atmosphere, kind community."

    "The access to the lake. The gorgeous natural setting, and the kindness/camaraderie in the people I meet."

    "Private, hidden feel."

    "It's small, secluded, generally uncrowded, and always friendly and safe."

    "That it's hidden! And small, and well taken care of..."

    "Hidden Beach is an oasis of calm..."

    "Small green place."

    "The fact it's hidden and off the beaten path..."

    "Quiet local spot."

    Increasingly, the once verdant, natural and secluded spot has been trampled, dug up and the trees butchered.

    In the Fall of 2024, more vegetation was destroyed and trees cut down without permits along the shoreline and in the wetland ECA buffer.

    Mangled tree from unpermitted tree cutting.

    People were shocked and concerned citizens are saying:

    "Terrible; so destructive; it's not hidden beach anymore."

    "They butchered!!!!"

    "This is more than disregard: it's illegal!"

    "You can't make this up; it's so insane!!"

    "Unbelievable!"

    "Hope we find out who did this awful act."

    "The way the trees were pruned/butchered could not have been approved or permitted... also sawing trees down and leaving stumps is also illegal... this free wheeling cutting has got to stop! Hidden Beach has been ruined..."

    "Anyone looking at the pictures would agree that this is not caring for the treasure of "Hidden Beach."

    "It is not a beautiful place now...it used to be."


    "That looks like a reminder of a WWI battlefield in France."

    "I'm not an arborist, but I know a stump when I see it."

    Together we can save and restore this special place.

Join Us