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It’s coming up soon! Here are the details:

The June work party of Friends of North Beach Park will happen on Saturday, June 27, 2015. The location will be the South Plateau, at 88th St. and 27th Ave NW. The work party will run from 9 a.m. to noon. Your host will be Drexie Malone.

We’ll be providing after care to the native plants reintroduced to the South Plateau in the last couple years. This will include removing competing plants that can hinder their growth or completely choke them out.

We’ll provide tools, gloves, and guidance. Please wear weather appropriate layers than can get dirty. The temperature is currently forecast to be in the upper 80s, so please be sure to bring plenty of cold water and take frequent rest breaks. It would help to drink some extra water before heading to the park, as well as bringing extra with you. Because of the presence of stinging nettle, long-sleeved t-shirts and long pants are recommended. Having said all that, the South Plateau is very shady and the work planned is not very strenuous.

To get to the South Plateau: From the intersection of 24th Ave NW and NW 85th St., head west on 85th St (Our Redeemer’s Lutheran Church will be on your right). At the intersection of 26th Ave and 85th St., turn right (North). Drive north on 26th Ave. for a long block until the intersection with 88th St., which will be on your left. Turn left onto 88th St. and look for parking. The entrance to the South Plateau is about half a block north on 27th Ave. The #48 bus line stops at 85th and 26th; the #40 bus line stops at 85th and 24th. Check http://metro.kingcounty.gov/#plan-a-trip for exact details.

If you have any questions about the work party or Friends of North Beach Park, feel free to write lukemcguff@yahoo.com for further information.

Mirrored from Nature Intrudes. Please comment over there.

The weather forecast was for warm temperatures and “decreasing rain” — we had no rain at all and perfect temperatures.

We had a great crew of fifteen people, including forest stewards and students from the Delta Tau Delta fraternity at the UW.

We planted 75 plants, spread over the South Plateau.

(This is looking into the South Plateau, which is the largest flat, dry area in the park.)

We planted four Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii), more than eleven Ocean Spray (Holodiscus discolor), and about 15 each dwarf Oregon-grape (Mahonia nervosa), sword fern (Polystichum munitum), bald-hip rose (Rosa gymnocarpa), and Nootka rose (R. nutkana). All these plants are under-represented in the South Plateau and have been reintroduced by restoration planting (although not this time). They’ll help to stabilize and buttress slopes and add more visual texture to the currently open and bare area.

Here is an “after” picture of the hearty crew:

All in all, this was a pretty easy-going work party. We had plenty of time for some ivy and herb robert removal and even some attempts to help slow the water flow down.

The next work party for the Friends of North Beach Park will be February 28, at 9 a.m. We’ll be planting shrubs in the main body of the park. Please sign up here if you’d like to join us.

Mirrored from Nature Intrudes. Please comment over there.

We’ve set up the first batch of work parties at North Beach Park — come join us for invasive removal, planting, meeting people and sharing good work.

All events start at 9 a.m. and run until about noon, rain or shine. All events are on the fourth Saturday of the month, with specific dates below. Please sign up in advance so we know you’re coming!

We welcome all ages, but children must be accompanied by an adult. High-school aged people should have a Youth Waiver Form signed when they arrive. The form is on the sidebar of the event page.

Please wear weather-appropriate layers that can get dirty and closed-toe shoes that can stand up to a little mud. We provide tools, gloves, and guidance. Bring water and snacks as you need them, but there are no facilities at the park.

For events in the main body of the park, parking is available on 90th St. east of 24th Ave. Parking near the South Plateau is more limited, as the nearest public streets are residential. The #40 and #48 buses stop within a couple blocks of the park. Check Metro Trip Planner for details.

Alright! Now onto the event-specific information:

South Plateau Planting Work Party

January 24, 2015

This is the third of four planting parties in North Beach Park during this planting season. We’ll be installing upland trees and shrubs in the South Plateau area of the park. The entrance is located at 27th Ave NW and NW 88th St. If we have time or enough people, we’ll also do some invasive removal.

Directions: From the intersection of 24th Ave. and 85th St., head west to 26th Ave. Turn right onto 26th Ave. and continue north to 87th St. Turn left onto 87th St. and look for parking. The entrance to the park is a half block or so up 27th Ave., which looks like an alleyway at that point. The South Plateau is below street grade, but the work party should be easily visible.

Wetland Trees and Shrubs

February 28, 2015

Join us for the final planting work party of the planting season! We’ll be planting trees and shrubs appropriate for wetlands and streambanks. They’ll add a nice mid-canopy layer to the wetland stretches of the park. These trees and shrubs were purchased as part of a stewardship grant from the Washington Native Plant Society.

Spring is Bustin’ out all over

March 28, 2015

March is the start of the really pretty days for North Beach Park. Several herbaceous plants and many shrubs are already in bloom and all the deciduous plants are leafing out. If you visit the park sometime when no one else is there, you might be surprised at the amount of bird song you can hear. (During a work party, it might be too noisy to hear much.)

April Work Party

April 25, 2015

This is the last work party of the winter and spring series. Just about everything that can be in bloom will be at this point, and everything is fully leafed out. If the weather is gorgeous, but you can’t quite clear your schedule to get out of the city, come join us in the woods.

That’s it! We take a break in May for a couple reasons. The first is that it’s too close to Memorial Day weekend, and everybody has more fun things to do (I mean, WE think pulling ivy in the park is fun…) The second, and more important, is that it’s the height of nesting season, and we don’t want to disturb the ground and shrub nesting birds that make North Beach Park their home.

And as ever, if you can’t attend a work party, your financial support is more than welcome. Just visit the Seattle Parks Foundation’s North Beach Park page and make a tax-deductible donation. All funds will be used for purchase of materials, supplies, and plants. Thank you in advance!

Mirrored from Nature Intrudes. Please comment over there.

Description

The South Plateau is an isolated upland with a separate, unofficial entrance. From the main body of the park, it is only accessible via a steep social trail that is slippery in the winter and friable in the summer. If you think of North Beach Park as a boot, the South Plateau is the heel. The floor of the plateau is surrounded by steep, short walls.

The South Plateau, at 25,000 square feet, is also the largest flat area in the park. As explained in “Park and Restoration History,” the South Plateau was intensively cleared in the summer of 2012 by an independent forest steward.

For more than a year, the only work done in the South Plateau was by Parks Department Natural Area Crew. In the summer of 2014, forest stewards watered and did some after care for the plants in June and July, and there was a work party in September.

The South Plateau has less than 1% conifer cover, but at least 75% deciduous cover.

The target forest type for the South Plateau is Tsuga heterophylla – Pseudotsuga menziesii/Polystichum munitum – Dryopteris expansa (Western hemlock – Douglas fir/Sword fern – Spreading wood fern; TSHE-PSME/POMU-DREX). The reference ecosystem is Mesic-moist conifer and conifer-deciduous mixed forest.

Water Flow

During the rainy season, water accumulates from NW 85th St. and 26th Ave NW (310 feet) (all elevations from Seattle DPD GIS map). It runs to the north uninterrupted by any green scape or drainage system the length of 26th Ave. to 88th St., where it turns to the west. Once at 27th Ave., it turns again to the north and enters the park. The floor of the South Plateau is at 250 feet, giving this run about a 5% grade.

Figure 1: Path of water flow into the South Plateau.

The blue line indicates path of water, which flows toward the top of the map, from 85th St. to the South Plateau. (Source: Seattle Department of Public Development DPDGIS map.)

Before clearing, the dense ivy and blackberry cover dissipated a lot of the energy of this water flow, spreading it out over the surface of the plateau. However, invasive removal caused a serious erosion problem was caused.

The Parks Department has installed rip rap and forced meanders into the water flow using plantings and fascines (water barriers made of bundles of salmonberry live stakes).

Figure 2: Water flow in May, 2014

Looking up towards the entrance of the park (the gray rocks in the upper right.) This is from about the middle of the fascines.

There is still some water flow control to be done on the South Plateau, and it will have to be studied during rain events of different sizes during the fall and winter.

Water control can be improved in this area by adding meanders to the downstream end of the storm runoff, maintaining the existing meanders and fascines, and working with the stream to slow it down and let the water percolate through the plateau.

During the summer drought, the South Plateau has no water source. This leads the soil to dry and harden, becoming very compact. Plant establishment is very slow, but improving.

For more recent observations on South Plateau water issues, please see Water Flow: South Plateau Street Runoff.

Vegetation

At the start of restoration, the South Plateau was a mix of Acer macrophyllum (Big leaf maple) and Alnus rubra (red alder), with a shrub layer almost exclusively of Hedera helix (English ivy) and Rubus armeniacus (Himalayan blackberry). Other notable invasives included Lamium galeobdolon (Yellow archangel) and Clematis vitalba (Wild clematis).

There is still a fair amount of remnant and resurgent Hedera helix (ivy). Calystegia sepium (bindweed), Lapsana communis (nipplewort), and Geranium robertianum (herb robert) have also made inroads.

A forest monitoring plot following the Green City protocol was established in the South Plateau in July, 2012, and revisited in August, 2013. Note the difference, in Figures 3 and 4 below, in regenerative invasive trees. This is what happens with overclearing followed by neglect.

Figure 3: Invasive regenerative trees, South Plateau, 2012.

This was the extent of invasive trees in 2012, when the South Plateau was just starting to be cleared. (Source: EarthCorps, 2012)

Figure 4: Invasive regenerative trees, South Plateau, 2013.

The South Plateau was cleared aggressively in 2012 and early 2013, and then neglected.

Invasive Removal and Restoration Plan

Figure 5: South Plateau.

A: Accessible to volunteers. B: Contract or Natural Area Crew. (Source: GSP Reference Map on ArcGIS.com)

Subarea A

Subarea A (outlined in blue in Figure 5, above), at 13,000 square feet, is the largest and driest flat area of the park and the most volunteer friendly. Even though it’s surrounded by Subarea B, it can be accessed by walking carefully down some rip rap. This was the area the independent forest steward and her crew worked in.

The over-clearing followed by neglect has left the South Plateau with a plant community that is still very much out of balance. It’s in better shape than when the ivy and blackberry dominated, but it’s still at risk of an invasive-only plant community.

There is still a lot of invasive removal in Subarea A, including annuals such as Lapsana communis (nipplewort). Subarea A could use a lot of wood mulch, both around the establishing plants, and in large areas of relatively bare ground. In the long term, this would ease the compaction of the soil and aid in plant establishment.

Suggested tasks for Subarea A:

Mulch around existing plants, and spread mulch to a depth of at least 4” in bare areas of South Plateau.
Monitor water flow during rain events. Adjust and repair fascines as necessary.
Add meanders to further reaches of South Plateau. The goal is to slow and spread the water, so it stays on the South Plateau and percolates into the soil.
Investigate mycelium inoculation as a means of improving soil conditions.
Forest stewards continue working in South Plateau one day a month for after care and weeding.
Have two work parties a year (one for planting, one for invasive removal and/or after care).

Subarea B

Subarea B is the walls surrounding the plateau part of the South Plateau. It measures approximately 12,000 square feet. The walls are nearly vertical, making it only available for work by the Parks Department Natural Area Crew. There is a rim of the plateau accessible from 27th Ave NW, but it is so narrow that the best approach is to have the Natural Area Crew work on the rim, and the forest stewards or volunteers do aftercare.

Either the Parks Department Natural Area Crew or the volunteers in the summer of 2012 (or both) have done some work on the western slope. On the eastern and southern slopes of the wall, property lines might be an issue.

Further work on Subarea B will be done by the Parks Department Natural Area Crew. Some of the work could be done at the same time as working on the South or West Slopes (see below).

Suggested tasks for Subarea B:

Remove resurgent invasives and increase density in cleared areas.
Remove ivy and put survival rings on trees on the northern edges of the South Plateau.
Coordinate work on the northern edges of the South Plateau with work done on the South Slope.

References

Department of Planning and Development. 2007. City of Seattle Department of Planning and Development GIS map. http://web1.seattle.gov/dpd/maps/dpdgis.aspx (Dates of accession various.)

EarthCorps. 2012. North Beach Park South Plateau Baseline Report. (unpublished document). EarthCorps, Seattle.

EarthCorps. 2013. North Beach Park South Plateau Monitoring Report. (unpublished document). EarthCorps, Seattle.

Green Seattle Partnership, 2014. GSP Reference Map on ArcGIS.com. http://www.arcgis.com/home/webmap/viewer.html?webmap=9be9415001144aa383e5b86e481d2c45&extent=-122.5312,47.374,-121.7945,47.7577 (Dates of accession various.)

Mirrored from Nature Intrudes. Please comment over there.

(This the first of two posts about street runoff in North Beach Park.)

There are two ways that water enters North Beach Park. The main way, which lasts all year long, is by numerous, broad, horizontal groundwater seeps. Most of these come into the park from the south wall of the ravine; some enter the park from the base of the 24th Ave. slope. These provide a steady flow that has lasted through record droughts. The seeps move very slowly, and do not form channels.

The other way water enters the park is through flashy events triggered by rainstorms. We’re still investigating these water flows. This water enters the park from two locations, the South Plateau and a culvert from 24th Ave. located at the southeast corner of the park.

The first we knew of is the water flow from the South Plateau. The water accumulates for several blocks before it enters the park; by then, it is a narrow, fast flowing stream. Before the South Plateau was cleared, this water hit a dense mat that was a mixture of blackberry and English ivy. It might be that this dense mat dissipated the energy enough to avoid channelizing and erosion.

In the summer of 2012, volunteers cleared the South Plateau in a series of weekly work parties. They also installed a stairway, hoping to create a native plant demonstration garden. The stairway was at the very point that the street runoff entered the park. When we found out how much water was flowing into the park, the project was abandoned and the South Plateau was neglected by forest stewards until the summer of 2014.

The photo above is from October, 2012, and shows the runoff sheeting over the steps.

The photo above is from December, 2012. You can see how straight the channel is already. There had been little planting so far, and no attempt had yet been made to control or slow the water.

In the spring and summer of 2013, Parks Department crews installed rip rap at the entrance to the park. They dismantled the staircase and replaced it with a series of coir logs forming terraces. Past the rip rap and the coir log terraces, the crews installed meanders and fascines into the channel, to slow the water down and give it more opportunity to percolate into the soil.

On October 31, 2014, two forest stewards (Luke and Tad) visited the South Plateau at the tail end of a rain storm. It had rained nearly 1 3/4″ in the previous 36 hours according to a rain gauge in Tad’s back yard. This part of the post incorporates Tad’s notes from our visit.

Most of the street runoff was flowing into the park via the rip rap. Some flowed past the rip rap and was absorbed by a large wood chip pile. (However, this is a temporary feature.)

The above picture shows the flow as the rain was tapering off. The flow is much slower for various obstructions and meanders, but does not stay on the plateau long enough to sink in.

At the west end of the plateau, the water runs underneath some wattles the three of us installed in May. It flows down to the main body of the park. We still need to observe the runoff in the main body of the park during a heavy rain.

We also saw standing water or slowly moving water in many places in the South Plateau that were relatively far from the street runoff channel. Is there a clay layer near the surface? Is there something else that prevents water from percolating into the soil?

We still need to explore the South Plateau and North Beach Park during heavy rain. There are a couple places where we might be able to divert the street runoff to flow over the plateau and sink in before flowing over the edge. We also need to understand where the pooling water is coming from: Another runoff we don’t know about yet, or just rainfall?

Mirrored from Nature Intrudes. Please comment over there.

A bulleted list! So you know it’s precise! Considering each HMU where we did some work in 2014, starting with the South Plateau:

South Plateau

Had been neglected since project dropped by previous forest steward.
Neighbor complaints caused us to return to working on it.
Water flow appears to be under control. One forest steward has examined it in the rain and observed that most of the water was flowing into a wood chip pile.
Personal contact was made with two neighbors of the South Plateau, and a homeowner engaged in a gutting and refurbishing of a house. All contacts were positive.
There was one work party in 2014, clearing and planting prep with SPU students.
Issues:

Ivy, holly, blackberry, yellow archangel resurgence.
Nipplewort, wall lettuce, other annual weeds.
Water flow seems to be under control, but still needs to be inspected regularly during heavy rain.
Establishment and after care for already established plants.
Maintain neighbor relations.

2015 Plans:

January: Planting work party, 128 plants.
September: Clearing and prep for planting with SPU students.
Forest stewards will continue to work approximately one Monday a month, to maintain cleared areas and prevent reinfestation. We will also attempt to spread seeds of native plants as appropriate, particularly Dicentra Formosa (Pacific bleeding heart).

Central Valley:

Began 2014 with clearing about 800 square feet, down the trail from Knotweed Hill. The clearing happened on both sides of the trail, so it was in both the Central Valley and on the base of the 91st St. Slope.
The area was neglected during the summer months in favor of after care for plants in drier areas of the park – along the North Slope side of the main trail and along the 24th Ave. rim.
A three person crew worked on the area during the August work party.
This area will be planted in the November work party. There will be enough people there to do some clean up first.
Extensive planting happened in the seeps at the eastern edge of the Central Valley during the October work party.
2015 plans: Forest stewards and work parties will monitor cleared areas to prevent invasive resurgence and provide after care as/if necessary.

91st St. Slope:

In addition to the clearing mentioned above, a thicket of laurel was limbed by forest stewards early in the summer.
This thicket was given both E-Z-Ject and cut and paint treatments to kill the laurel.
Forest stewards will monitor this laurel thicket.

Knotweed Hill (Knotweed Hill is located at the border of the North Slope and the 91st St. Slope HMUs.)

Knotweed Hill was treated for knotweed in the summer of 2014.
There was some watering of the upland plants in the summer, but it has received no other attention.
It needs to be monitored for invasive resurgence and any after care.

Headwaters Bowl (“HWB”):

The narrow, western section of the HWB received about half the plants from the October work party. Some plants were put into bowl section as well.
The area between the north side of the streambank and the main trail received a lot of clearing in 2013 from EarthCorps and Parks Dept. contract crew. These cleared areas need to be regularly inspected to prevent resurgence and to provide after care for plants installed in 2013.
An area of the HWB that has received little attention so far was transected by two forest stewards (Luke and Drexie) in October. We started at the Two Cedars area (about 150 feet down the main trail) and crossed the HWB just west of a line of old Alnus rubra (red alder).
- North of the stream, we saw a large number of small Vaccinium parvifolium (red huckleberry). It was unclear whether they were planted or volunteers.
- Immediately south of the stream crossing the soil was very wet and marshy. There were many large Lysichiton americanum (skunk cabbage) leaves dying back. There was also evidence of Equisetum arvense (horsetail) from earlier in the season.
- Further south of the stream crossing, the ground rose slightly and was dryer. At that point, the Rubus spectabilis (salmonberry) became very thick.
- There was some Polystichum munitum (sword fern) and Athyrium filix femina (lady fern), but ground cover in general was relatively sparse.
- There was a thicket of Ribes bracteosum (stink currant) at the border of the wet and dry areas.
- At the base of the south slope we stopped to write down what we’d seen so far. In addition to the already mentioned plants, there were:
- Going up the south slope to the houses, we saw:
- We continued east along the base of the south slope towards the 24th Ave. Slope.
For 2015, we will work with the Parks Department to determine what can be the scope of volunteer work in the private property areas of the HWB, and then contact the neighbors to get permission for that work.

Mirrored from Nature Intrudes. Please comment over there.

Planting season has hit the Pacific Northwest, and restoration projects all over the place are getting their shovels dirty. No less is happening in North Beach Park — we have planting parties planned for the next FOUR work parties, October, November, January, and February!

October
The October work party happens Saturday, October 25, from 9 a.m. to noon. Please sign up here. The Friends of North Beach Park will be joined by international students from North Seattle College, volunteering with their I-CARE program.

October features wetland graminoids (grasses) and one forb. These plants will come from 4th Corner Nursery in Bellingham, and are purchased with monies from a stewardship grant from the Central Puget Sound Chapter of the Washington Native Plant Society. We also appreciate the support of our fiscal sponsor, Seattle Parks Foundation, for processing the money.

These will be planted in the Headwaters Bowl and Central Valley habitat management units of North Beach Park.

Scientific Name	Common name	Size	Form	Number
Carex amplifolia	Broad-leaved sedge	br	Gr	50
Carex stipata	Sawbeak sedge	br	Gr	100
Deschampsia caespitosa	Tufted hair-grass	br	Gr	50
Glyceria elata	Tall mannagrass	br	Gr	100
Juncus ensifolius	Daggerleaf rush	br	Gr	50
Scirpus microcarpus	Panicled bulrush	br	Gr	100
Veronica americana	American brooklime	br	Fo	100

Although this is 550 plants, they’re all pretty small.

November
The November work party will happen on Saturday, the 22nd. Build up that appetite and enjoy your Thanksgiving feast that little bit more, because you’ve done some good for Seattle parks! Sign up here. Friends of North Beach Park will be joined again by international students from the North Seattle College I-CARE program.

November will see more plants installed in the main body of North Beach Park. These plants are provided by Green Seattle Partnership. There will be one tree, one shrub, and two grasses and two forbs.

Scientific Name	Common name	Size	Form	Number
Acer macrophyllum	bigleaf maple	1 gal	Tr	6
Asarum caudatum	wild ginger	1 gal	Fo	20
Oplopanax horridus	Devil’s club	1 gal	Sh	10
Petasites frigidus	coltsfoot	1 gal	Fo	20
Scirpus acutus	hardstem bulrush	1 gal	Gr	8
Scirpus microcarpus	panicled bulrush	1 gal	Gr	8

For the first three years of restoration, we planted hundreds of conifer trees in North Beach Park. Now we’re going to switch gears for a while: Let the new conifers establish and get well-situated for the next three to five years, and do some replacement of the deciduous canopy.

We skip December, because the 4th Saturday falls between Christmas and New Year’s Eve. We hope you have a good holiday.

January
In January, we return to the South Plateau to plant the last of the plants provided by Green Seattle Partnership. The entrance to the South Plateau is at NW 88th St. and 27th Ave. NW. The January work party will happen on Saturday, the 24th. The event is not posted to Cedar yet, but it will have full directions and information. We DO know what we will be planting, though.

Scientific Name	Common name	Size	Form	Number
Holodiscus discolor	oceanspray	1 gal	Sh	11
Lonicera involucrata	twinberry	1 gal	Sh	7
Mahonia nervosa	dwarf Oregon grape	1 gal	Sh	25
Malus fusca	Pacific crabapple	1 gal	Tr	5
Polystichum munitum	sword fern	1 gal	Fe	25
Pseudotsuga menziesii	Douglas fir	1 gal	Tr	5
Rosa gymnocarpa	bald-hip rose	1 gal	Sh	25
Rosa nutkana	Nootka rose	1 gal	Sh	25

February
This will be our last planting work party for the 2014-2015 planting season. Well, that we’re planning on as we write (four months in advance). Who knows what the future portends?

This work party will feature shrubs and small trees, the second half of the stewardship grant purchase from the Washington Native Plant Society.

Scientific Name	Common name	Size	Form	Number
Fraxinus latifolia	Oregon ash	6-12″ br	Tr	50
Malus fusca	Pacific Crab Apple	3-6″ br	Tr	50
Physocarpus capitatus	Pacific ninebark	6-12″ br	Sh	50
Salix lucida	Pacific willow	6-12″ br	Tr	50
Salix sitchensis	Sitka Willow	6-12″ br	Tr	100

The February work party will be back in the main body of the park, and will happen on the 28th. As soon as the information gets posted to Cedar, we’ll link to it on Nature Intrudes.

We also plan to do a little experiment: Hold back some of the plants of each species, and keep them in a well-tended nursery for a year or two. The question is: Will the plants that get the extra attention have a better survival rate than the plants installed immediately?

That’s a little over a thousand plants altogether. Most of them are going into wetter areas of the park, which means they should make it through the summer drought fairly well.

Mirrored from Nature Intrudes. Please comment over there.

Saturday, September 27th was a beautiful day for a work party — and a good time was had by all!

Friends of North Beach park welcomed 16 students from Seattle Pacific University as part of their Cityquest program: Incoming freshman students are sent to locations all over Seattle for a little community service.

Two forest stewards had made elaborate plans for the group, and we were able to keep them busy for all four hours of the work party (FoNBP events are usually three hours). We worked on the South Plateau, which is a great place for a larger work party and needs a lot of attention.

Our plan was to remove as much of the nipplewort (Lapsana communis) and herb robert (Geranium robertianum) as possible. It really got out of hand this year, and unfortunately, the nipplewort had already set seed. It’s normally very easy to remove — it’s a shallow-rooted annual, so just grasp at the base, lift, knock off the dirt, and drop it. But the seed set meant we had to remove it. I’m sure a lot of seeds got knocked off in the process, but it was still better than leaving it there. The herb robert is also easy to remove, but it needs constant attention. It can flower any time of the year, greatly outcompetes native groundcover, and even poisons the soil against other plants. It’s other common name is “stinky bob,” and it has a pungent smell when uprooted.

Our plan was to put down lots of burlap and mulch once the herb robert and nipplewort had been removed. To which end, we had a truck full of burlap.

And a big pile of burlap and a lotta buckets!

In fact, about lunchtime we went back and got more burlap. And we had a group of students moving mulch from another location, adding it to the pile above pretty much all day (okay, we fell a little short on the wheelbarrows).

Speaking of lunchtime, it gave us all a chance to sit down and for the students to get acquainted with each other a bit.

After lunch, it was back to the work: removing nipplewort and herb robert, putting mulch around already-installed plants, and building some ivy platforms.

Here is a group of volunteers in the basin of the South Plateau. When residents of Labateyah began working in the South Plateau in 2012, this was an impenetrable mass of blackberry and ivy that one forest steward thought it would take years to clear.

By the end of the day, we were definitely dragging. But we had enough energy to smile for a group photograph.

Morry (in the back left), Tad (on the right, in a white hat) and Wenny (first row right, in the fuschia hoodie) were from Friends of North Beach Park. Everyone else is form SPU!

Thank you, SPU and Cityquest! We look forward to hosting you again next year.

(As usual, there are some more photos on Flickr.)

Mirrored from Nature Intrudes. Please comment over there.

Welcome fall to North Beach Park! Some of the leaves are already turning and dropping. Now is the time we prepare for the planting parties in October and November.

Saturday, September 27: Work party at the South Plateau. Please note the time and location!

This work party will happen from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. (different time!) at the South Plateau, located at NW 88th St. and 27th Ave. NW (different location!).

Directions: To get to the South Plateau from the intersection of NW 85th St. and 24th Ave. NW:

Head west on NW 85th St. two blocks.
Turn north (right) onto 26th Ave.
Drive north on 26th Ave. to where it ends at 88th St.
Turn right (west) onto 88th St. and look for parking. PARKING MIGHT BE LIMITED.
The entrance to the park is about half a block north.

This is a special work party where we’ll be joined by students from Seattle Pacific University and their CityQuest Program. There will be about twenty students, so we should get a lot done.

We will weed, mulch, and prepare the site for January planting. We provide tools, gloves, and guidance. We recommend you wear weather-appropriate layers that can get dirty and closed shoes. Bring water or a snack if you need them. We’ll take a lunch break which will provide some socializing time.

Please register here so we know you’re coming.

Save the date for these upcoming work parties: October 25 and November 22 (in the main body of the park) and January 24, 2015, once again in the South Plateau (for planting). All work parties are on the 4th Saturday, and will run from 9 a.m. to 12 noon.

Blog posts. Every Monday, Nature Intrudes features another excerpt from the Restoration Management Plan for North Beach Park. The first two posts look at the history of the park, and show more than you might have thought was there.

History of North Beach Park.

History of the restoration efforts.

(Feel free to look at other posts on Nature Intrudes, of course!)

As always, if you don’t have the time to join us for a work party, you can support Friends of North Beach Park by making a directed donation to the Seattle Parks Foundation. All money donated will be used to fund the restoration efforts of North Beach Park.

That’s all for now, but we hope to see you in the woods soon!

Mirrored from Nature Intrudes. Please comment over there.

June Work Party with Friends of North Beach Park

January Work Party Report

Save the dates!

Uplands and Slopes: South Plateau

Description

Water Flow

Vegetation

Invasive Removal and Restoration Plan

Subarea A

Subarea B

References

Water flow: South Plateau Street Runoff

State of the Park and 2015 Plans

Planting Season!

September Work Party Report

September Work Party

Profile

June 2017

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Description

Water Flow

Vegetation

Invasive Removal and Restoration Plan

Subarea A

Subarea B

References

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Syndicate

Page Summary

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags