Snow, Rain and Sun at White Center Heights Park!

Snow in April! Squad enjoyed the full gamut of springtime weather with sunshine, showers and snow as well. Fortunately we were peeling off layers after working up some heat digging blackberry and pulling ivy in the restoration area around the wetland pond at White Center Heights Park with King County Parks. This unique hidden gem has a lovely plaza, grassy areas, art and a cool bridge to top it off- after a recent property acquisition it will also feature a loop.

Urban wetlands face many pressures from development and population density, yet they are critical habitat elements for countless species from aquatic plants and amphibians to mammals and water fowl. They also provide crucial flood control for built environments- imagine your kitchen floor receiving a deluge of water…. wetlands are like damp sponges on the floor, soaking up the moisture, filtering and slowly releasing it- all while providing habitat and beauty. You can learn more about our amphibians from the Burke Museum’s educational page, including the long toed salamanders we found!

White Center Heights Park Stewardship.

The blog is taking a mini-break to accommodate some travel, but do enjoy a few photos courtesy of generous guest-photographers who captured Squad's latest stewardship at one of our regular sites, White Center Heights Park, hosted by King County Parks. The weather was extremely soggy but rain is good transplanting weather. We love this park and look forward to coming back, you can read more about it in posts tagged for this park. .

White Center Heights Park Planting.

White Center Heights Park was a pretty place to spend the afternoon planting. The damp forest edge has nicely growing native plantings which we added to with a smattering of native understory species.

Many muddy boots enjoyed the little creek network and some planting holes became quickly flooded with winter wetness, which salmonberries / Rubus spectabilis enjoys.

King County Parks maintains it, as White Center is still unincorporated. It has a charming assortment of features including a covered area, grass expanse with hill, edible beds, paving, paths and sculpture, plus a handsome bridge and pond.

We will keep this park in regular rotation, as it's always a pleasure to work here. You can peruse our past events there by clicking here.

1,000,000 Trees in 5ys! We are on it. With KC Executive Dow Constantine.

Squad was thrilled to participate hands-on with King County Executive Dow Constantine in planting the inaugural tree for the One Million Tree Initiative which is part of the County's response to climate change. We are proud of having already planted hundreds of trees in our five-year history and we are committed to helping the County plant the remainder in the next five years in support of their Climate Change Action Plan. We all know trees are an important part of our landscape from mental health benefits and property values, to carbon sequestration and habitat.

This carousel has some Squad highlights from the County's Flikr stream:

We enjoyed hearing from many local stewardship leaders as well as planting alongside local school kids at White Center Heights Park. After the speeches, we removed noxious blackberry and bindweed from the native plantings in the riparian zone. It didn't take much time before the kids were hauling in lengthy brambles dug from their tenacious root balls, the pile built up fast. After a stroll across the bridge and viewing of ducks and the harmful invasive American bullfrog (do nature a favor and eat or dissect it!) we visited our winter planting site which was thriving.

There were also articles on the White Center Blog and also the White Center Now blog. We look forward to continuing to be a part of the climate change solution!

Return to White Center Heights Park to Finish the Planting.

Squad planted and planted from mucky stream side to scenic pond side. White Center Heights Park delighted us once again. Despite the drizzle, the covered tables were hospitable for lunch and the tree cover kept us comfortable. The creek was flowing even more than last time and truly delighted everyone. Every kiddo should have a creek to both play in and take care of. The pond work site greeted us with subtle frog croaks, though we never found it.

King County Parks led our work party again and we even enjoyed a scavenger hunt during the second half. We planted 65 plants in an area previously blanketed in ivy- a big improvement for forest health!

Extra note on rain gear: For the first time I have seen (more) affordable PVC-free European rain bibs sets!... Abeko is on Amazon up to 9yo sizes. You can also buy PVC-free Grundens Zenith (larger sizes available) locally at Bootyland, Wallingford or on Amazon for twice as much. It is a tough call between supporting small shops, affordability and also supporting healthier materials. Now there are more choices, hopefully we can look forward to a greater PVC-free future as more folks join in.