Thank you to the Green Seattle Partnership and longtime local Forest Stewards for hosting Squad! The blog is on summer holiday for one post– back next time!
Stewardship Below Beautiful Mt. Si in the Three Forks Natural Area
Squad has worked in many gorgeous locations but the Three Forks Natural Area in Three Forks Park, maintained by King County Parks, has to be one of the prettiest! It was a hot day and our crew leaders did a lovely job of finding us a mostly shaded work site where we pulled weeds from around young native trees, which are protected from destructive animal browsing by little nets.
After lunch we rewarded the kids by finishing early and heading to the awesome swimming hole on the Snoqualmie River, which has a fun mix of shallow, mellow, fun current, island, sun, shade and or course-the view of Mt. Si! The kids spotted a fish hanging out in shallow water which appears to be a type of sculpin. A little internet research turned up several possibilities for freshwater sculpin in King County (see bottom of page).
The helpful King County Parks staff mentioned that their online Park Finder interactive map has useful layers for trails, parks and public spaces to help you locate natural areas to enjoy, have a look!
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!
Pritchard Island Beach Native Plant Rescue
Pritchard Island Beach is always a fun restoration visit with the kind and knowledgeable Forest Stewards, Kathy & Catherine of the Green Seattle Partnership. The property's past life is fascinating–check out some history of the park area, including how it used to be an island before the construction of the Ballard Locks dropped the level of Lake Washington.
There was wonderful salmon art as well, done by an artist and local school children who reused aluminum beverage containers. The Native American style (sans the bamboo) fish weirs, stood vertically, made for attractive and informative markers. When placed horizontally in the water, the fish swim into them but the current prevents them from exiting.
Unfortunately for the ecologically sensitive restoration efforts, there is now an an active encampment cut out of the shoreline vegetation that has eliminated years of volunteer efforts. There are chopped plants, trash and debris on the water's edge in the restoration zone such that we decided to work elsewhere at the site. We briefly touched on the basic idea that sometimes people disagree about ownership, environmental significance and best uses for particular spaces–that while we may consider this a community natural area, someone else consider's this their personal home and it is a complex issue to be addressed on another occasion. We were there for ecological stewardship and stuck to pulling noxious weeds, climbing trees, water play and spreading mulch.
Riverton Creek Blackberry Round-Up
What a wonderful stewardship event on Riverton Creek with families and employees from the local Target store! A terrific amount of blackberry was cleared-between playing and exploring the creek of course. This revealed even more fun site features (a mini-hill to be queen of!) as well as native alder trees in sore need of rescue from noxious ivy.
The Green Tukwila Partnership is blossoming beautifully, one if its pursuits it is cultivating community volunteerism out in nature, which provides extensive social and environmental benefits- from civic engagement to healthy salmon habitat, outdoor play and natural beauty.
The massive stands of noxious Japanese knotweed on the site are a real threat to environmental health, this invasive species will have to be tackled by professional crews. In the meantime, hardworking volunteers have dug blackberry crowns, hacked noxious holly, pulled bindweed and cut ivy as thick as bottle.
We look forward to continuing the exciting momentum transforming this neat riparian site from a dumping ground and noxious weed gallery to a pocket play park featuring nature-play for the diverse neighborhood as well as high quality habitat. We hope you'll join in!
