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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.

In June of 2014, Friends of North Beach Park received a $500 stewardship grant from the Puget Sound Chapter of the Washington Native Plant Society.

The main body of this chapter was written in summer of 2014. The “Addendum” section, following “Plant List” below, was written in November 2014, after some work had been done.

Purpose of grant

The purpose of the grant is to help rebuild the wetland basins of the park into a scrub-shrub plant community, with trees surrounding the wetlands to stabilize the upland slopes. The planting pallet will follow recommendations for the reference ecosystem, riparian forest and shrubland.

The replanting will be done in phases, using obligate wetland plants to begin holding the soil, followed by reintroducing woody plants to build deeper root structures.

Timeline (projected)

The timeline below was written in summer of 2014.

• September: Invasive removal in the wetlands. This will be done by small groups of forest stewards. Care will be taken not to overclear an area and not to disturb the soil structure too much.
• Early October: installation of obligate wetland plants. This is done just prior to rain return, so the ground is relatively stable. The work will be done by experienced forest stewards.
• Late October: installation of facultative shrubs and woody plants at the wetland borders. This work can be done by volunteers during a regular Friends of North Beach Park work party.

For the timeline as the project is being executed, please see “Addendum,” below.

Plan

The work will be centered on the social trail dividing Headwaters Bowl Subarea B and Central Valley Subarea B. See Figure 1, below.

Figure 1: Area of work for the Stewardship Grant.

The stream will be the northern boundary. In the Central Valley, the southern boundary will be the south loop social trail. In the Headwaters Bowl, the southern boundary will be the wetland border established by Doug Gresham in 2011. This is the entire area referred to as “Central Valley Subarea B” and the western edge of the area referred to as “Headwaters Bowl Subarea B.” The actual work area will be smaller than illustrated above.

The planting is intended to increase diversity and density in three locations:

• Mixture of shrub and herbaceous plants streamside.
• Herbaceous plants in seeps.
• Shrubs at the toe of the slopes, above the seeps.

Headwaters Bowl Subarea B

Streamside

The substrate of the stream in this location is mostly silt and fine sand, with occasional patches of small cobbles where the channel has narrowed.

There is a large Thuja plicata (Western red-cedar) stump in the stream, covered with moss and hosting numerous Vaccinium parvifolium (Red huckleberry). This could host some Cornus canadensis (Canadian dwarf dogwood) but would be unlikely to support Tsuga heterophylla (Western hemlock).

Plants already growing streamside (based on a visual survey):

• Rubus spectabilis (Salmonberry)
• Lysichiton americanum (Skunk cabbage)
• Oenanthe sarmentosa (Water parsley)
• Carex amplifolia (Broad-leafed sedge)
• Polystichum munitum (Sword fern)
• Athyrium filix femina (Lady fern)
• Urtica dioica (Stinging nettle)
• Sambucus racemosa (Red elderberry)
• Tolmeia menziesii (Piggyback)
• Cardamine hirsuta (Shotweed)
• Lonicera involucrata (Twinberry)

Above the stream

About five feet above the stream, there is a nurse log and a large amount of coarse woody debris holding the stream bank. I think the seep is eroding the soil from underneath the CWD, and it will eventually collapse. Upland of this the substrate is mostly decayed wood, which makes it a good place for Tsuga heterophylla. On either side of this substrate, the seeps reach to the wall of the ravine.

Growing in this area:

• Polystichum munitum (Sword fern)
• Rubus spectabilis (Salmonberry)
• Ilex aquifolium (Holly)
• Hydrophyllum tenuipes (Pacific waterleaf)
• Tolmeia menziesii (Piggyback)
• Sambucus racemosa (Red elderberry)
• Ribes bracteosum (Stink currant)
• Spiraea douglasii (Douglas’ spirea)
• Germanium robertianum (Herb robert)

Growing in the seep between the CWD area and the social trail:

• Tolmeia menziesii (Piggyback)
• Glyceria elata (Tall mannagrass)
• Oenanthe sarmentosa (Water parsley)
• Hydrophyllum tenuipes (Pacific waterleaf)
• Rubus spectabilis (Salmonberry) in dryer areas
• Thuja plicata (Western red-cedar) (planted)
• Cardamine hursuta (shotweed)

Central Valley Subarea B

Streamside

The stream itself is similar to the stream in HWB Subarea B: The wider sections have a substrate of sand and fine silt, and with narrower sections have a substrate of small cobbles.

The red cedar stump in this section has a wider variety of plants than the one in the HWB section. In addition to the red huckleberry and mosses, there are also salmonberry and a Tsuga heterophylla (Western hemlock) seedling that is naturally regenerating.

Above the Stream

There is also a nurse log holding the bank, but there is not the woody debris substrate above it as with the HWB.

Salmonberry and red elderberry form a thicker canopy than on the HWB side. There is also much more Hedera helix (English ivy) that comes down from the South Slope and lies across the seeps.

In the stream, but closer to the right bank, is a red alder root ball, with the tree itself lying across the width of the seep. The root ball has red huckleberry, ivy, and a couple Acer macrophyllum (Big leaf maple) seedlings growing in it. There is holly in the stream and around the root ball that will need to be removed.

Integrating into Work Flow

Between Sept. 15 and Nov. 27, there are nine possible Monday sessions and the October work party. The September work party will be on the South Plateau, and the November work party will be dedicated to planting GSP-provided plants. It is possible that some work on the stewardship grant could take place at the November work party.

Plant list

Table 1, below, is the plant list submitted to the WNPS for the grant. The actual planting list will vary considerably from this list, but that variance is within the scope of the grant. The wetland status, size, and number were obtained from the Fourth Corner Nurseries Catalog.

Table 1: Plant list and estimated planting time.

Early October
Genus	Common Name	Wetland	Size	# plants
Carex deweyana	Dewey’s sedge	FAC	bareroot	100
Carex obnupta	Slough sedge	OBL	bareroot	100
Fraxinus latifolia	Oregon ash	FACW	6-12″	50
Glyceria elata	Tall mannagrass	FACW	bareroot	100
Viburnum opulus v. americanum	Highbush cranberry	FACW	3-6″	50
Late October
Genus	Common Name	Wetland	Size	# plants
Holodiscus discolor	Ocean spray	FACU	6-12″	50
Lonicera involucrata	Black twinberry	FAC	6-12″	50
Berberis nervosa	Low oregon-grape	FACU	3-6″	100
Sambucus racemosa	Red elderberry	FACU	crown	50
Vaccinium parvifolium	Red huckleberry	FACU	2″ pots	50

OBL = obligate, plant has to grow in a wetland; FACW = facultative wetland, plant grows in a wetland most of the time but can occasionally be found in drier areas; FAC = facultative, plant grows equally well in wetlands and drier areas; FACU = facultative upland, plants grows mostly in drier areas, but can occasionally be found in wetlands.

For the purchased plant list and the actual planting times, please see “Addendum,” below.

Addendum

This is the revised timeline, written after some work had already been done.

• Plants were ordered in October for October and February delivery.
• The October plants were wetland obligate graminoids.
• The February plants were facultative wetland shrubs and trees.
• The plants will be installed during regular public work parties.

In October 2014, the following orders were placed with Fourth Corner Nursery, for delivery in October and February.

Table 2: October order of Obligate plants.

Scientific Name	Common Name	Wetland	Quantity
Carex amplifolia (1)	Broad-leaved sedge	OBL	50
Carex stipata (2)	Sawbeak sedge	OBL	100
Deschampsia caespitosa (3)	Tufted hair-grass	FACW	50
Glyceria elata (1)	Tall mannagrass	FACW	100
Juncus ensifolius (2)	Daggerleaf rush	FACW	50
Scirpus microcarpus (3)	Panicled bulrush	OBL	100

1 = observed growing with limited distribution; 2 = introduced to North Beach Park with this planting; 3 = previously introduced by restoration planting.

Table 3: February order of Facultative Wetland Shrubs and Trees.

Scientific Name	Common Name	Wetland	Quantity
Physocarpus capitatus (3)	Pacific ninebark	FACW	50
Fraxinus latifolia (1)	Oregon ash	FACW	50
Malus fusca (2)	Pacific Crab Apple	FACW	50
Salix lucida (2)	Pacific willow	FACW	50
Salix sitchensis (2)	Sitka willow	FACW	50

1 = observed growing with limited distribution; 2 = introduced to North Beach Park with this planting; 3 = previously introduced by restoration planting.

The October order is the actual quantities delivered and planted during the October work party. As discussed above, the work occurred in the Central Valley Subarea B and Headwaters Bowl Subarea B.

The planting was done by volunteers led by forest stewards. Duckboards were used to minimize disruption to the wetlands wherever possible.

The work area actually became larger than illustrated in Figure 1, above. Planting was done further east in Headwaters Bowl.

The second order will be delivered in time for the February work party (February 28, 2015). Approximately ten of each shrub will be held back for a year or so, to test is survival rates are increased with an extra year of nursery care.

The second planting will also happen further east than the original prospect in Figure 1.

Mirrored from Nature Intrudes. Please comment over there.