It was a super muddy and fun day of play, exploration and restoration work at the old clay pit mine on Cougar Mountain with King County Parks. We planted native trees and shrubs, such as big leaf maple, Douglas fir and hardhack/Spirea douglasii in the former mine. One can still find brick remnants on site.
Certain native plants will grow roots when live stakes (sections of fresh branches) are driven down into the soil during the dormant season. We used an awl to create a shaft two feet deep into which the willow stakes were inserted. The bud-eyes along the stems will switch to root-output after some time in wet soil.
Click on the 'clay pit mine' tag at the bottom of the post or at the right to read more about the fascinating history of this site, which created the bricks for Red Square at the UW. There is also an impressive beaver dam on the (closed to public vehicles) road you can take on foot to hike into the overlook of the site, where there is also signage.