Rewilding Fort Lawton
The Vision for Discovery Park: Rewilding Fort Lawton
In 1968, Citizens for a Fort Lawton Park, now Friends of Discovery Park, was formed by a group of Seattle citizens with a bold vision: to transform the entire former Fort Lawton into a park for all of Seattle and the greater region.
For more than 50 years, that dream has been tended by thousands of hands. Through the shared efforts of Friends of Discovery Park, the State of Washington, King County, the City of Seattle, Seattle Parks, and countless volunteers, some 900 military buildings have been quietly dismantled. In their place, miles of trails were created, thousands of plants took root, and the land was gently coaxed back to life, rewilding Fort Lawton into the natural wonder and wildlife haven that is Discovery Park.
Today, Discovery Park is a living wonder. It is a place where river otters raise their young in quiet seclusion, and where you can catch the sudden, breathtaking sight of pileated woodpeckers, ravens, and owls — creatures you usually have to travel deep into the wilderness to find, yet here they are, right in our backyard.
The first deed the U.S. Army transferred to the City of Seattle in 1972 was 391 acres. Since then, each time the Army or Navy made additional portions of Fort Lawton available, Friends of Discovery Park has worked alongside mayors, city councils, and passionate community members to add the next piece to Discovery Park. Through those tireless efforts, the Park has grown to nearly 600 acres and has become a cherished refuge beloved for its natural wonders by generations of Seattleites and visitors alike.
As of 2026, only two parcels from the original Fort Lawton remain to be folded into the park and become part of Discovery Park. Friends of Discovery Park remains committed to working with a coalition of people, policymakers, and community partners to protect and rewild these final pieces, carrying the 1968 vision for Discovery Park forward across the finish line so that future generations will have a place to hear the owls, watch the otters, and feel the deep, quiet pulse of the wild right at the edge of the city. It is a vision that began with the citizens of Seattle in 1968, and one that we are honored to continue.
Learn more about the history of Discovery Park. at fodp.org/history.
How We Got Here
The story of Discovery Park is a love letter written to the land, written by a city that realized it was starving for green space. It began taking shape in 1964, when the U.S. Secretary of Defense announced that Fort Lawton was no longer needed and would be surplussed. Seattle wanted its shoreline and bluffs back, but the federal price tag was impossibly steep.
The people didn’t give up. In 1968, Citizens for a Fort Lawton Park (now Friends of Discovery Park) was established to both oppose a planned missile base at Fort Lawton and champion something far better: a place of refuge.
Citizens for a Fort Lawton Park found early, vital allies in the community. In 1968, the King County Forward Thrust Parks Bond included $3 million for a Fort Lawton regional park, and voters across King County voted in favor, making it clear that Discovery Park from the very beginning was always intended to be a regional park.
Still, the cost remained the biggest hurdle to getting the land for the Park. The federal government wants to sell the land at half of market value, a cost that was too high for the City. So, local government leaders and our early organizers looked to U.S. Senator Henry M. Jackson. He listened, understood the hunger for open space, and introduced the “the Fort Lawton bill” to provide surplus land at little or no cost for parks and recreation. Crucially, the bill included an important provision: if a state or local government had given land to the federal government for free, as Seattle had done back in 1898, , the federal government could return the land for free.
The Fort Lawton bill was signed by President Richard Nixon in October 1970. Communities across the nation would benefit from the bill, obtaining surplus federal lands for recreation and parks.
Momentum swelled. In 1970, the City of Seattle passed a resolution reaffirming its determination to establish a public park at Fort Lawton. Seattle Mayor Wes Uhlman created the Fort Lawton Citizens Advisory Committee, pairing Donald Voorhees of Citizens for a Fort Lawton Park as chairman with voices like future Governor Dixie Lee Ray. By September 1972, Patricia Nixon Cox, the daughter of President Nixon, delivered the deed for those first 391 acres to the City of Seattle.
In 1974, Citizens for a Fort Lawton Park officially became Friends of Discovery Park. Over the next fifty years, acre by acre, the organization worked alongside city leaders to restore the land. Today, Discovery Park spans nearly 600 acres of bluffs, forests, and shorelines where wildlife thrives alongside the city.
As of 2026, just two parcels of the original Fort Lawton remain to complete the park. It stands as a quiet testament to what sustained community efforts can accomplish, and it fulfills a promise made by the citizens of Seattle back in 1968: that the wild places belong to everyone, forever.
