April 2024 Photo Post - Cottonwood Corner

March 2024 Photo Post - Cottonwood Corner

Lake Washington Stewardship at Luther Burbank Park With the MTSG

Squad had another great summer stewardship event at Luther Burbank Park with the Mountain to Sound Greenway Trust. The restoration work has been progressing over the years- continued efforts to remove noxious species will always be needed (birds will always drop blackberry and ivy seeds from berries via their droppings) but a significant plateau of sustainability has been reached in our primary work area under the big Oregon ash tree.

Our task consisted of filling buckets of wood chips and hauling them from the great mulch pile to the restoration site. We sheet mulched by overlapping cardboard and thickly covering it with wood chips to kill weeds and protect growing space for native plants.

Naturally we had a wonderful swim in Lake Washington afterwards!

Views and Sheet Mulching at Duwamish Hill Preserve.

We enjoyed the full spring weather experience at the Duwamish Hill Preserve with moody skies, sunny skies and quick torrential downpours. The new section of the park showcasing a variety of non-forest habitats, such as prairies and wetlands is opening soon. Our task was to finish sheet-mulching the last corner. We picked trash, leveled ground, placed cardboard and hauled mulch.

You can go back on the blog and read more about the Duwamish Hill Preserve here. This gem of a park has views of both Mt. Rainier and Downtown Seattle, Native American history and fascinating geologic and fossil history. Not to mention fun trails and rock outcroppings to run around on.

Discovery Park Summer Finale.

Squad had a large group and perfect weather to celebrate the final weeks of summer at Discovery Park with Forest Steward, Matt and his experienced daughter (off school for the teacher-strike). He initiated the blackberry-removal & native planting project on his own volition quite a number of years ago and is now supported in part by the Green Seattle Partnership. We split up into teams to scoop/haul wood chips, dig blackberry and build a stick base to pile the brambles on to ensure they wouldn't reach the ground and re-root.

We had a great mix of new and experienced folks working together to tackle the big jobs, the teamwork amongst the kids was fun to see. One intrepid young volunteer spent 45 minutes between the pines to dig a monster blackberry root mass. Seasoned stewards know that it is imperative to get the crown out or the canes will just grow back. They can be irregularly-shapen but you get a feel for it after awhile.

mossy rose gall

The little fledgling roses hosted a number of mossy rose galls caused by the rose gall wasp. Eggs are laid on the rose, when the larvae hatch and start to feed, their chewing chemically-induces the rose to produce further tissue which builds up into the shape of the gall, in which they overwinter. Very fascinating. Our native roses also host the spiny gall wasp. 

After working hard, we hiked down to the swimming beach at the lighthouse to enjoy the sand, surf and sun. We passed a dead seal, gathered seaweed & enjoyed Mt. Rainier above the sparkling water.