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GSA 2017 ANNUAL MEETING & EXPOSITION

LUNCHTIME ENLIGHTENMENT

SEATTLE

David B. Williams

The Protean City: Reshaping the Seattle Landscape

Monday, 23 Oct., 12:15–1:15 p.m.

Since settlers first arrived in Seattle, the city’s citizens have altered the landscape with an unrivaled
zeal. We have regraded hills, which required moving more than 11 million cubic yards of sediment;
reengineered tide flats, which led to the making of more than 2,200 acres of new land; and re-plumbed
the second largest lake in the state, which completely altered its drainage. The goal of these projects was
to provide better locations for business and easier ways to move through the challenging topography.

Seattleites are still at it, though now we also understand that earthquakes and rising sea levels have the
potential to change us as much as we have changed the land.

Based on his book, Too High and Too Steep: Reshaping Seattle’s Topography, David B. Williams’ talk
will explore the myriad ways that Seattle has reimagined and reengineered its landscape.

Williams is a naturalist, author, and educator whose award-winning book explores the unprecedented
engineering projects that shaped Seattle during the early part of the twentieth century. Previous books
include The Seattle Street-Smart Naturalist: Field Notes from the City and Stories in Stone: Travels
through Urban Geology, which was nominated for a Washington State Book Award in 2010. He has writ-
ten for EARTH, Smithsonian, and National Wildlife and maintains the website GeologyWriter.com.

The Denny Regrade neighborhood in Seattle. 13
Photo by Asahel Curtis, ca. 1910.

community.geosociety.org/gsa2017