A recipient of the 2026 Olmsted Network President’s Award, Donald Harris has championed Olmsted stewardship in his hometown of Seattle, WA, for more than four decades. He attended our founding meeting in 1980, served two terms as co-chair of our Board of Directors, and helped establish the Friends of Seattle’s Olmsted Parks—all while working for Seattle Parks and Recreation.
Harris began his time with Seattle Parks in 1971, but it was nearly a decade later when the department was notified of an upcoming meeting in Buffalo about a threatened Olmsted landscape. At the urging of Park Superintendent Walter Hundley, Harris flew across the country and attended what would become the inaugural meeting of the Olmsted Network—then the National Association for Olmsted Parks. Reflecting on that visit, he said:
“I think [Walter] understood that in Buffalo, NY, there was this jeopardy to an important historic park. The cry out came that this is a national legacy, and that we need to sort of band together so that we can help other cities where Olmsted parks are threatened.”
From there, Harris went on to help establish the Friends of Seattle’s Olmsted Parks (FSOP), a stewardship group supported by Seattle Parks and Recreation. After retiring from Seattle Parks in 2017—after 46 years of service—he formally joined the FSOP and served as its most recent Vice President.
Harris believes that responsible stewardship is essential to ensuring Olmsted’s landscapes and values endure for generations to come: “I think we have a responsibility to today’s park users to try to keep [Olmsted’s principles] out in the public eye somehow; [to tell them] that this isn’t just another park. This is a unique legacy that goes back over 100 years, from Frederick Law to the [Olmsted] Brothers, the whole thing. So that’s my goal.”
Learn more about Donald Harris’ work for Seattle’s Olmsted parks in the full interview here.
