The Hunt for Alive Madrones

Somewhere in this field of thistle, Scot's broom and Himalayan blackberry are several young madrones that we planted last winter, and our Summer of Service (SOS) crew is leading a visiting SOS crew from Othello on a hunt for the beautiful broad leaf evergreens. The hunting grounds are located in Pigeon Point Park in an area that we cleared of eight-foot tall Himalayan blackberry last summer with a different crew of youth. During the winter the area was barren, but for the few dozen madrones we planted and marked with pink-flagged bamboo stakes. However, as you may know, many invasive species love disturbed ground and sunny areas, so as summer made its way to Seattle, invasives sprouted up everywhere and seemed to swallow our new plantings!



Madrones are notoriously difficult to transplant, so I honestly did not expect to find many (or any) alive in this field of invasives. Much to my surprise, the diligent search conducted by our SOS crew turned up 11 healthy trees! Because we did not have very much time, the youth focused their efforts on finding the bamboo stakes that marked where the plantings were, assessed whether or not the madrones were still alive, and then cleared around the surviving trees to give them a little respite from encroaching grasses and other weeds. The result was a funny series of trails through all of the tall invasives that resembled an ant farm, and a bunch of happy madrones. Thanks, SOS!

June-uary is over!

That's right, folks- Welcome to summer! Those of you who grew up in Seattle know that summer doesn't officially start for us until after the 4th of July, and true to form, the sun came out the afternoon of the 5th. We have a week of heat and sun ahead of us, but there are several shady areas in the greenbelt that are in need of attention so don't be afraid to come out and get dirty with us! Those of you who complained that the weather was too cold and rainy in June no longer have an excuse!

Despite the weather in "June-uary," we had some great days, including when our buddies from John Hay Elementary came out and did some much needed site maintenance. In addition to pulling out blackberry, these 4th and 5th graders removed St. John's wort and prickly lettuce that were as tall as they are!

Earth Month 2010!

I know it's been a while since the blog was updated, but that's a sign of how incredibly busy we have been here at Nature Consortium! April 22nd marked the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, and our volunteers celebrated this fact all month. During the month of April we had 983 volunteers out to the greenbelt and they put in 3,591 hours of service! Many of these volunteers came to us from the following groups: UCDS, Seattle Works, International Fulbright scholars, The Service Board, Out for Sustainability/Earth Gay, Environmental Protection Agency, City Year/Young Heroes, SPU Latreia, University of Portland alumni, John Hay Elementary, Old Navy, Bank of America, West Seattle High National Honor Society, Pacific Marketing International, Tzu Ching group, Green River Community College, and South Seattle Community College.

The main event in April was the Earth Day work party that we co-hosted with EarthCorps as part of Duwamish Alive! Over 400 volunteers showed up to Pigeon Point Park and removed 42,440 sq.ft. of Himalayan blackberry and 22,285 sq.ft. of English ivy! Additionally, they did 32,965 sq.ft. of weeding and 4,970 sq.ft. of mulching.


After braving what I regard as typical Earth Day weather (from drizzle to sun to a proper downpour and back again), volunteers joined us at Pathfinder K-8 for our annual Earth Day Festival. Choruses from Coe Elementary and Lawton Elementary serenaded hundreds of hungry participants while they waited patiently for hot dogs and veggie dogs. Festival attendees sat in the grass and ate, and then made their way into the school to listen to the lovely sounds of Klezterbalm and Correo Aereo. Several Duwamish Alive! partners were also at the festival informing volunteers about all the great work they do in Seattle, and Bert the Salmon made an appearance as well.

To show that there is, in fact, no rest for the weary, we hosted a 177 person work party the weekend after our Earth Day event with City Year/Young Heroes and Seattle Parks and Recreation for Global Youth Service Day. In addition to doing a bunch of initial removal of blackberry and vinca, these hard-working volunteers also did 2,200 sq.ft. of mulching and 55,600 sq.ft. of maintenance!

Thanks to everyone who turned out for Earth Month, the greenbelt looks great! For those of you who couldn't make it to a work party in April, remember that every day is Earth Day and join us in the forest!

Power Hour with University Prep!

Last fall we had all of the seventh graders from University Prep out to do some blackberry removal, and they enjoyed it so much they came back with the whole school! Around 200 students and faculty came out for about an hour and a half and they dug up almost 10,000 sq.ft. of blackberry root balls! They also cut and raked another 3500 sq.ft. of blackberry canes. The week before the event, our SYEP crew and regular weekday volunteers worked hard to prepare the area for the shovel-wielding army of youth. We cut and raked our way through a huge and inaccessible area filled with blackberries and trash, and we left all the root balls for the big event.




The area near Riverview playfield was muddy in places, but the rain held out just long enough for buphalo to give a quick introduction to our restoration project and a safety talk about tool usage, and for Uni Prep to spend an hour digging up hundreds of root balls and yelling, "Death to blackberry!" Ben Smith toured around the site with his clarinet and led the youth out of the field at the end of their time with us. He continued serenading us while we sorted the tools with our SYEP crew, with a brief pause for buphalo to lead a thank you speech and a giant group pat on the back.

Good golly, check out 12th & Holly!

We have been incredibly busy in the Greenbelt, especially over on SW Holly St. between 12th Ave. and 14th Ave. We currently have a full-time crew of folks from Seattle Youth Employment Program working with us, and they have been blazing through the Himalayan blackberry at the corner of 12th and Holly. So far they have cleared over 12,000 sq.ft. of blackberry in the area! They have also put hundreds of plants in the ground as the end of the planting season approaches with the warm, dry, spring weather (sunny and in the high 50s all week!). Perhaps you have noticed the color appearing in the Greenbelt as the cherry trees blossom and early risers like Indian plum wake up from a sleepy winter.

If you have taken a stroll down Holly St. in the past week or so, you will have noticed all the new shrubs we've put in the ground in an effort to have more plant density and to discourage people from using our restoration site as a dumping ground or a dirt bike track. I know it's a hard to wish for rain when it's gorgeous out, but these little plants could sure use it. Several neighbors have noticed our hard work and have approached us with questions and compliments. I know that some people will miss the blackberries in the summer, but soon there will be thimbleberries to feast on and a diversity of (thornless) plants to enjoy! And I know all of the other creatures in the Greenbelt will appreciate our efforts as we restore their habitat. If you see us working, please come and say hi and meet our crew! Better yet, come join us between 8am and 4pm on nearly any weekday (go to www.naturec.org/restoration.htm for exact dates), or on Saturdays from 10am to 2pm!

MLK Weekend of Service!

This year we decided to honor the MLK holiday with an entire weekend of service projects in order to make having "a day on, not a day off" more accessible to everyone. We had three amazing days filled with perfect weather (nearly 60 degrees on MLK Day!), great attitudes, and hard working volunteers. Over the weekend, 208 volunteers put in 777.25 hours of service!

Saturday was our largest planting day of the weekend with 453 wetland plants put in the ground, most of them sedges and rushes, but with some piggyback and fringe cup in the mix as well. On Sunday we worked at the Highland Park Way entrance to the Soundway property and we freed 25 trees from ivy and planted 108 more plants.

Monday, MLK Day proper, was a huge success with groups coming out from the Univesrity of Washington, YMCA Earth Service Corps, local high schools, and we had the help of several AmeriCorps VISTA members. We cleared a massive area up at Pigeon Point Park and we planted 300 rushes!




Over the weekend we completed 43,500 sq.ft. of maintenance and 19,000 sq.ft. of initial removal (blackberry and Scot's broom)! Ben Smith and his trusty clarinet joined us Saturday and Sunday, and super volunteer Tess Morgan sang us some lovely tunes on Saturday and Monday. Amy Denio (clarinet) and Jim Knodle (trumpet) also roamed around Pigeon Point on Monday and serenaded our volunteers while they worked.


“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is: What are you doing for others?”

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Healthy forests benefit everyone! Thank you all for honoring Dr. King's spirit and President Obama's call for service this year!

Free the trees!

"What's so bad about English ivy?" This is a fairly common question asked by newcomers to the Greenbelt, and the answer is usually preceded by a very deep breath because the list of what's bad about English ivy is so long.
As the name may lead you to believe, English ivy is not native to the United States and it has no natural predators here to keep it in check. In my opinion, the worst thing about ivy is that it out-competes native plants and creates what has been referred to as an "ivy desert," which is another way of saying monoculture. Healthy forests have many layers- a canopy of tall trees, understory plants of various heights, ground cover, etc. Many of the forests in the Seattle area, the West Duwamish Greenbelt included, have only a few layers- a canopy of deciduous trees that are approaching the end of their life span, and various invasive plant species that are preventing native plants from taking root. Imagine, then, what our forests could look like in the next couple of decades as those deciduous trees die off- it's a far cry from the towering conifer forests that populated this area prior to the logging that occurred throughout the 20th century. Luckily, there are several organizations working to ensure that we have healthy forests for generations beyond our own, and Nature Consortium's restoration team is out at least three days a week doing our part with the help ofsome really amazing volunteers! Check out the pictures of the survival rings they did last week! For more information on how and why we do survival rings, click here.

Perhaps you are wondering what else is on the list of reasons why English ivy is so bad. Two things that come to mind are falling trees and rats. Ivy not only grows in mats on the forest floor, it also climbs up trees and effectively acts as a sail by catching the wind in its many leaves and often brings old trees crashing down. Also, while native plants can serve as habitat for a variety of different animal species, thick masses of English ivy tend to be popular nesting places for rats. If these reasons are not enough to convince you that ivy is evil, come to one of our work parties and I will tell you more! Also check out this recent article about holly and ivy in Northwest forests- buphalo and Arthur were interviewed about the work we do!