Youth Service Day 4/25

Saturday's work party marked the annual Global Youth Service Day, and we celebrated with another great weekend of work. The day was spent at the 14th & Holly site with the University Child Development School (UCDS) and other community members. The Mark Smason Band entertained us while we worked on site maintenance, mulch rings, and transporting our reserve of plants to the nursery area where they will stay until the next planting season.

Site maintenance involves removing new weeds that may have sprung up in the time since the initial removal. This is necessary when working in an area formerly overgrown with Himalayan blackberry, for example. The roots may extend horizontally in the ground for several feet in any direction, making it difficult to dig out completely without greatly disturbing the soil. If any portion of the root is left in the ground after the initial removal, the plant may be able to sprout back up again. This is because Himalayan blackberry is capable of producing adventitious buds which can be found on both the roots and stems of the plant. If a root or stem of the plant is left in or on the ground, the adventitious buds can sprout into a new plant - even if it's not connected to the root ball. This makes our battle with Himalayan blackberry a constant struggle. We performed this maintenance on 7,680 sq. ft. of of land, and concluded the day by spreading mulch rings.

EARTH DAY

Thank you to everyone who came out for our Earth Day event with Duwamish Alive! and Earth Corps. The event was held at our Cooper site (Pigeon Point Park) on Saturday, April 18th. We had a great volunteer turnout - over 500 people including corporate groups and student organizations. Volunteers were divided into 20 groups in order to spread the work out over the entire park. The day was focused on invasive species removal, and with the extra hands we got a lot done.

The nice weather, combined with entertainment from some of our favorite musicians and dancers, kept us all in good spirits as we worked. Thank you to all who shared your art with us.

At the end of the day, we surveyed the work of all 20 groups to record just how much of an impact we had made. In those four hours, we cleared 28,695 sq. ft of Himalayan blackberry, 4, 727 sq. ft. of Scotch broom, and weeded 27,225 sq. ft. of second- and third-growth Himalayan blackberry. On top of that, we mulched 1,917 sq. ft. of ground - not bad for a days work!

The Earth Day Festival started at 2pm. By this time, all of our workers were tired and hungry. To celebrate our hard work, we relaxed with a fun barbecue and another round of music and dance performances. Kids and parents participated in environmentally-inspired art projects indoors. The festival also featured guest presentations by Mayor Nickels and REI's PEAK program.

March 27: Explorer School

A few kids from Explorer Junior High School joined us on March 27th for a work party at our Cooper site. We removed 170 sq. ft. of Himalayan blackberry and spread 509 sq. ft. of mulch - all before lunch. After eating pizza with the kids, we removed 750 sq. ft. of Scotch broom and took a hike around the park.

Youth holding recently removed Scotch broom