These kids worked hard on an 80 degree day in May! They hiked in a half mile through a meadow and hauled great big sword ferns to transplant alongside a new trail. It was very satisfying to return to the first location that Stewardship Squad ever worked on with our old pal Krista Dooley at the WA Trails Association. At just 2yo, Evans Creek Preserve is a unique new public park hosting a charming network of trails criss-crossing a large historic property of wetlands, forest and meadow, gifted to the City of Sammamish.
We reviewed what stinging nettles / Urtica dioica look like and wondered about all the fluff floating by. I knew it was too early for cottonwood and at the end I found the source- a willow species. My Salix ID isn't stellar, indeed a tricky genus with 50 sp in the PNW.....my best guess is Pacific willow / Salix lucida ssp. lasiandra.
