Trees for Rail is a collaboration between Sound Transit, the City of Shoreline, and King Conservation District (KCD) to re-green the Lynnwood Link light rail corridor with native trees and shrubs as it passes through the City of Shoreline. The program offers free native trees and plants for qualifying City of Shoreline residents. KCD will offer free consultation and installation of up to 2 trees, 4 shrubs, and 8 groundcovers in your backyard.
*This program is currently set to do plantings through winter 2023-24 and until project funds are depleted.
Who Qualifies?
To qualify for the services offered, participants must reside at a qualifying address in Shoreline. Starting July 2022, the qualifying list of properties is expanding! The updated list includes almost 2,400 properties in the Echo Lake, Ballinger, Meridian Park, North City, Parkwood, and Ridgecrest neighborhoods. See if your home is pre-determined to be within the impact area of the Lynwood Link Extension light rail project in the City of Shoreline. To see if your property qualifies for the Trees for Rail project, please use the map below. If you think you’re property should qualify, but it doesn’t appear on the map, please reach out to TreesForRail@kingcd.org.
Qualifying properties are identified on the map with green icons. You can either zoom and scroll to your property to confirm that it shows a qualifying green icon, or use the search function. The search will return the nearest qualifying property. If the search does not return your property, then it does not qualify for the program. You can reset the map with the 
button.
If your property is not included in the Trees for Rail project, you can still access helpful resources provided by KCD and the City of Shoreline in the next section.
Having trouble deciding if you qualify? Please email TreesforRail@kingcd.org.
Qualified Landowners Sign Up for Follow Up
Other Programs to Help Shoreline Residents
KCD Native Plant Sale
King County has many options for obtaining native plants for home landscaping. KCD offers a Native Bareroot Plant Sale every year with a wide selection of beautify, hearty, and affordable native plants.
Soil Testing
KCD offers free soil testing to residents in King County. Each resident is eligible for a total of five free basic soil nutrient tests for properties they either own or rent.
Urban Shoreline Services
KCD offers aquatic area enhancement services to help urban landowners protect and improve the health of creeks, streams, rivers and wetlands by enhancing and restoring vegetated riparian buffers. Buffers along water bodies can improve water quality, stabilize shorelines and create fish & wildlife habitat.
Soak It Up Rebate Program
The Surface Water Utility offers rebates up to $2,000 for Shoreline home or business owners to install a rain garden or native vegetation landscaping on their property. These features are part of a natural approach to managing rainwater flows and seek to mimic forested conditions by allowing rainwater to soak into the soils.
Native Plant Resources
Trees for Rail Plant Selection List
KCD Backyard Forest Stewardship Homeowner’s Guide
7 Reasons to Plant Conifers
Backyard Forestry in Western Washington
King County Going Native Brochure
Project Background
Trees for Rail is a collaboration between Sound Transit, the City of Shoreline, and King Conservation District (KCD) to re-green the Lynnwood Link light rail corridor with native trees and shrubs as it passes through the City of Shoreline. Eligible residents along the corridor can receive native trees and shrubs installed by KCD experts, free of charge. KCD will help maintain the plantings for 3 years after installation. KCD is a non-regulatory natural resources agency that works with landowners on a voluntary basis to steward their natural resources.
The project originally focused on three City of Shoreline neighborhoods (Ballinger, North City, and Ridgecrest) where on-site planting of landscape screening buffers is limited. In 2022, the project service area was expanded to include almost 2,400 properties in additional neighborhoods (Echo Lake, Meridian Park, and Parkwood). In these areas, trees, native shrubs, and groundcovers will be made available to corridor-adjacent homes to develop buffers on selected private property.
The project will deliver native plant landscaping, residential yard habitat enhancement services, and in some cases, street tree planting for private homeowners in the impacted neighborhoods. Establishment of native plants for habitat enhancement in residential yards will be facilitated through basic landscaping consultations in combination with voluntary agreements that lead to installation of selected species.
Maintenance and survival monitoring of landscaping investments will be performed by KCD through a combination of guidance documentation and direct support to assist homeowners with maintaining plantings and ensuring survival.
*This program is currently set to do plantings through winter 2022-23 and until project funds are depleted.