holyoutlaw: (me meh)

It was rainy for the 10th annual Green Seattle Day, but this was hardly the worst weather I’ve experienced. There were about 16 events all over the city; I went to St. Mark’s Greenbelt. We had 300 plants to put in and ably met the task. There are five forest stewards at St. Mark’s, some of whom have been working there as long as ten years, some only a couple.

Low Oregon grape, sword fern, salal, and some other plants ready to be installed.

Low Oregon grape, sword fern, salal, and some other plants ready to be installed.

There was a good crowd of people, about 25 to start with.

Getting to work

Getting to work

The rain never got too hard to be soaking, but it did give all the plants a nice thorough drink as we planted them. We installed Douglas and grand fir, tall and low Oregon-grape, sword and deer fern, nootka and bald hip rose, cascara, and a few others. In preparation for the planting, invasives had been removed over the summer and the work area covered in burlap. When my coworker pulled the burlap aside once, we found two different kinds of insect eggs, I have no idea what kind.

Two kinds of insect eggs.

Two kinds of insect eggs.

Getting all the plants in took less than the allotted time. A number of people took off before we had the chance for a group photo, but here are the stalwarts.

About half the workers.

About half the workers.

The fun wasn’t over yet, though, as we set to removing ivy that had grown up into the canopy of a few nearby trees.

They could sure use it.

They could sure use it.

Attacking the problem.

Attacking the problem.

Result!

Result!

Two important clarifications: (a) The two people in the second-to-last photograph were not the only ones who worked. (b) There were several more trees worked on than in this photo.

By this time, almost everyone but the forest stewards and four or five die-hard volunteers had left. There was still the all-important “must be present to win” raffle. I even think it went to the hardest-working volunteer.

Angel, with the backpack donated by REI.

Angel, with the backpack donated by REI.

One thing I like to do when volunteering at Green Seattle Day or Duwamish Alive, or any other large planting effort, is think about all the people all over the area (the Green/Duwamish watershed or the city of Seattle) who are pitching in to help make the future a little better, and how all our work connects together.

Mirrored from Nature Intrudes. Please comment over there.

holyoutlaw: (picture icon iv)

As we begin our third year of restoration in North Beach Park, it’s nice to get an overview of what we’ve done so far.

But first: Don’t forget the 4th Saturday Work Party, THIS Saturday, April 27th, from 9 a.m. to noon. We’ll meet at the main entrance to the park, 90th St. and 24th Ave. NW. We’ll provide tools, gloves, and guidance; you wear weather-appropriate layers that can get dirty, and bring snacks and water as you need it. Have a question? Email lukemcguff@yahoo.com or leave it in a comment here.

Now back to the statistics. If anything, these numbers are low — I know I’ve sometimes skipped reporting some work I’ve done, and that sometimes planting parties don’t quite count accurately.

 
Work Parties
North Beach Park Workparty
First work party (photo by Drexie Malone).

Since we began, we’ve had 53 “work log events” — which includes school groups, work parties, and the days when a couple of the forest stewards got together to hang out. This accounts for 379 adults and 165 youth, for a total of 1276 hours. And let’s not forget the 16 paid staff, for 48 hours — they do work that volunteers can’t, such as clearing fallen logs and removing woody invasives.

 
Plants of all kinds
Wetland plants and shrubs.
Wetland trees and shrubs

We’ve planted more than 322 trees (conifer and deciduous), 189 shrubs, and 125 herbaceous plants; in many cases, these were native plants reintroduced to the forest. We’ve greatly increased the diversity of native plants, while we’ve been DEcreasing the diversity of the invasives. The first planting party was March, 2012. That’s pretty late in the planting season, but we had a long, cool, wet spring that year, which gave the plants plenty of time to establish before the long drought later that summer. This meant we had a pretty good establishment rate — lots of those plants are rebudding quite prettily.

 
Survival Rings
Successful ivy ring
Successful Ivy Rings

One statistic that doesn’t show up in the report is the number of survival rings we’ve put around trees that are being choked by ivy. A “survival ring” involves cutting through the ivy roots at about four feet off the ground. The roots above the cut are left in place; they’ll die. The roots below the cut are pulled back off the tree, and pulled up from the ground as much as possible. If it’s feasible, a 6′ ring is cleared (and then mulched) around the tree. The Ivy Ring Crew has removed ivy from more than 50 trees. This is sometimes quite an arduous process; it’s the hardest physical job we do in the park — other than hauling out large trash items.

 
Trash
Rite of Passage Group
Rite of Passge

This is my favorite picture of a trash pile. No, the kids aren’t trash. They’re an 8th grade class from a University District alternative middle school. This was the largest single trash pile we got out of the park, and it includes tires, wheels, shopping carts, bags of cans’n'bottles, and more. It was large enough for more than 20 8th graders to pose on, after all. Other notable finds have included water heaters and oil tanks, a vacuum cleaner, a washing machine body, a couch, a playhouse for dolls, and tires. Lots of tires. In a more densely populated area of the city, the trash would have been much higher.

The amount of trash that comes out of the park on an average work party is visibly decreasing. We used to send groups into the park just to get trash; nowadays we might not find anything.

All this is just “a good start.” There are still many trees with ivy growing up into their crowns, still lots of blackberry, still plenty of areas of the park we haven’t gotten to — and might not for a few years.

The work is great fun, and we hope you can join us. It’s physically demanding and psychologically rewarding. Plus, shared work is a great way to meet people. If you can’t make it to North Beach Park, go to Green Seattle Partnership’s website and find an event near you.

Mirrored from Nature Intrudes. Please comment over there.

holyoutlaw: (picture icon iv)

4th Saturday Work Party
Saturday, March 23, 2013
9 a.m. to 12 noon
(see fine-print details below)

Join us for our monthly work party and welcome spring to the park with invasive removal. See what’s budding, what’s blooming, and listen for the birdsong. Well, we might be too noisy to hear much birdsong. Here are some pictures.

If you haven’t been to the park for a while, you’ll see many pink with black polka dog flags, indicating new plants of many types. And you’ll see how last year’s plants are doing. You’ll also see how much more open the park is, with the holly and laurel removal done by the Natural Area Crew in February.

Gigantic Piles of Laurel and Holly
Large piles of laurel and holly.

There’s still plenty of work to do. We’ll be concentrating on working between the main trail and the stream, pulling ivy and working downstream. Another crew will go into the Central Valley to put survival rings on trees (this work can be physically demanding). We have a good long stretch of time of invasive removal before next planting season, so let’s keep up the good work!

The March work party of 2012 was the first major planting party since restoration started. In the year since, we planted more than 600 trees, shrubs, and ground covers, including many that were being reintroduced to the park. Help us make plenty of room for the 2013 planting season!

And now, the fine-print details:

  • Meet at the main entrance to the park, 90th St. and 24th Ave. NW.
  • Wear weather-appropriate layers that can get dirty and MUD BOOTS.
  • Parking available on 90th st. east of 24th.
  • We’ll provide tools, gloves, and guidance. Bring water and snacks as you need them.
  • All ages welcome, children must be kept under supervision of guardian or responsible adult.
  • This work qualifies for community service credit.
  • Register online at Cedar.

If you need more information, contact Luke McGuff at lukemcguff@yahoo.com.

If you can’t make it to the workparty, consider donating to support North Beach Park at the Seattle Parks Foundation. Your tax-deductible contribution will go towards hiring Natural Area Crew to work in volunteer-inaccessible areas of the park.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Mirrored from Nature Intrudes. Please comment over there.

holyoutlaw: (picture icon iv)

For the presentation at Antioch, I made up a resource list of organizations working to clean up Seattle’s parks and forests and a “further reading” list. Then I forgot to hand them out. So you get them now, with the added benefit that the various links are live. (Also, explanatory verbiage.) Tomorrow will be the further reading list.

Organizations working to restore Seattle’s forested parks.

Green Seattle Partnership
GSP provides training for forest stewards, coordinates logistics on a city-wide basis, and has a great calendar of events. The Green Seattle Partnership model is being developed in other cities — Green Kirkland Partnership, Green Tacoma Partnership, and Green Everett Partnership among them.
EarthCorps
Earthcorp’s motto is “Local Restoration, Global Leadership.” The sponsor events around the city and the Sound. They have a summer program that brings youth from around the world to work in this area, who then go home to share their knowledge.
ForTerra
ForTerra used to be called the Cascade Land Conservancy, but as the importance of the work they do with Green Seattle Partnership has risen, they changed their name. ForTerra provides the manpower for much of the GSP work.
Seattle Parks Foundation
Among other things, the Seattle Parks Foundation provides fiscal sponsorship for parks seeking grants or donations. Go here, fill out the form, and select “Friends of North Beach” from the Designation drop-down list.

More information about native plants.

Washington Native Plant Society
They have chapters all around the state — Seattle’s chapter is the “Central Sound” chapter. They’ve done much research into what is and isn’t a “native” plant, where they live and so on.

King County Native Plant Guide
Photos, planting and landscaping guides, common and scientific name listings — just about everything you can use to find out about growing native plants.

More information about weeds and invasive plants.

IvyOut
A handy little website produced by the WNPS. There is a page listing ivy-free nurseries.

King County Noxious Weeds
If you’re feeling down in the dumps, browsing this page will cheer you right up.

Mirrored from Nature Intrudes. Please comment over there.

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