Help us Find

The Last 6000

a civic campaign to locate Seattle's remaining majestic trees

Just over 6,000 majestic trees remain in Seattle.

Will you help us find them?

In 2015, the city hired the University of Vermont to use aerial technology to measure tree canopy. It used a technology called light detection and ranging, or LIDAR, in which a sensor-equipped plane collects data to create a three-dimensional model of the Earth's surface and surface characteristics, such as trees. One result of that study was the discovery that there were only 6,338 trees with a trunk diameter of 30 inches or greater left in the city. In this campaign, we refer to these trees as "majestic." 

There is no street-level data from that study or studies done after for most of our majestic trees. The Seattle Department of Transportation has been gathering limited street-level information on street trees in recent years. Therefore, we need a better picture or current data on what species these majestic trees are, their state of health, and where they currently live in our city.

This information is essential for the future of our large trees as the city currently relies on aerial canopy studies alone to assess the size of and the gains and losses in our urban forest. We believe reducing the tracking of our urban trees to just tree canopy measurements is an incomplete and misleading approach that needs enhancement by a thorough, on-the-ground assessment. For example, an eight-foot-high Rhododendron hedge can have the same canopy size from an aerial view as a large Douglas Fir tree. Yet the qualitative differences in environmental benefits, impact on wildlife habitat, and impact on human health and happiness are not comparable. (We do like Rhododendrons, though.)

Through this campaign, we aim to invite our citizens and communities to locate and document majestic trees in our city to capture a current count, a census.

Follow us on Social!

The Art of Activism, a concert to benefit The Last 6000 campaign, proudly presented by Cornish College of the Arts @cornishcollegeofthearts and Majel Connery @majelconnery. Involving environmental artists, thinkers, and creators from the Seattle are
Giant Sequoias, very mindful very demure. Are you signed for up email announcements from our website? We don’t send out a lot of email but when we do, it has valuable tree information that we would love to share with you!
We have exciting news!!! We are so proud to announce that @majelconnery will be in Seattle for her upcoming Elderflora tour, and she has graciously connected with The Last 6000 to co-present a benefit event. This is what Majel shares; “One of
The last 6000 needs volunteers. Did you know every week on our website, we update trees that are being filed for removal through permits in the city. Often, we are finding errors with some of the permits, such as tree location, type, or even size. Tr
CORNISH COLLEGE OF THE ARTS @cornishcollegeofthearts & MAJEL CONNERY @majelconnery PRESENT: The Art of Activism A CONCERT TO BENEFIT THE LAST 6000 CAMPAIGN Save the Date! 09.28.2024 3-4:30pm
Save the Green Lake Giant Sequoia On Friday evening, a neighborhood gathering was held by @treeactionseattle to save the Green Lake Giant Sequoia. There were well over 100 concerned community members in attendance. It was an impressive enough turn
Losing a Last 6000 tree from our database is heartbreaking as we understand clearly the benefits that these large mature trees provide for cleaning our air, clearing our soil from stormwater runoff, providing a habitat for urban wildlife and for redu
The Last 6000 is often alerted by the community about trees that are at risk of being removed. We do what we can to research and determine if the removal has gone through the proper legal channels. We also help provide guidance to help the community
Today’s cooler temperatures remind us that autumn is just around the corner and we will soon start to see Seattle’s deciduous trees turn shades of red, yellow and orange. This hornbeam at Golden Gardens Park becomes a spectacular golden
Last year, The Last 6000 was honored to have a poem dedicated to the trees we try to protect. We wanted to highlight another poem from the book “Walk With Me”, by Janette K. Conger, “ALL ONE LIFE” Stand under a tree. Look u

Have you located a majestic tree, or a few, in your neighborhood or around the city? Share them with us! We will count them and present the information in community forums.

The simplest way to send us your tree information is to enter it directly via our Google Form:

If you need to send your data to The Last 6000 via email instead, download and complete the Input Form via button below. Then send it to us here.

The Cause

Large Trees & Quality of Life
Majestic trees play a unique and important role in our urban environment, but Seattle doesn't have a true and current record of how many, what species, how healthy and where they are. We want to create a census!

How You Can Help

We invite you,
fellow citizen, to help us build a tree census and map. Take photographs of and gather data on the large trees you encounter, then send us the details. We will map them!
Join us!