King County acquired an interesting piece of property on Squak Mountain recently. The 226 acres are adjacent to Squak Mountain State Park and Cougar Mountain Regional Wildland Park (King County Parks) is being converted from a privately held trails and RV campground- it even features a lodge, which will be interesting to follow the development of. The terrific Trust for Public Land is temporarily purchasing the property to halt the logging planned, so that the County can arranged the funds to purchase it.
Stewardship Squad transplanted native sword ferns / Polystichum munitum alongside new trails created by the Washington Trails Association and in the middle of old trails being decommissioned due to poor design (drainage, grade, etc.). It was a lovely end of summer day, just after a heavy downpour, so the plants and soil were hydrated enough to transplant- a bit risky until fall rain is steady. We helped them along by filling our hardhats with water, hauling them up the hill and watering them in. Great fun!
