King Conservation District Re-Planting 2017

We were extremely fortunate to quality for a King Conservation District program that restores urban wetlands. Here the crew finishes removing the last major infestation of English ivy.
The crew, staffed by the Washington Conservation Corps, planted over 1200 ground covers, plants, and trees! Truly amazing.
The slope where the ivy was is quite steep, so erosion control fabric was installed promptly.
Here four members of the crew prepare some of the many blue tubes that protect the fledgling plantings.
The crew was careful to avoid trampling other plants already in the wetland.
Every plant received mulch, to help nurture and protect it during its early growth.
The sheer number of plants is clearly illustrated by the blue tubes.
The steep ravine is so much more alive now! We can’t wait to see how it matures.

Church Clean-Up with Troop 579 2017

The troop had a great turnout and they were very enthusiastic, even though many of the tasks were pretty physical.
One crew removed a section of salal that unfortunately had fallen prey to disease.
Another crew finished the final 1/3 of English ivy removal from the south fence, revealing just how rickety the old fence is!
The troop also helped prepare a small area in the parking lot for a children’s garden.

Tom Balback Eagle Project 2017

Tom’s project was to create an interpretive experience for the trail that was installed by the previous Eagle project. Signposts were a key element.
Troop 579 turned out in force again and split into several teams.
The trail highlights a variety of native plants, some of which were in place already, and some of which they planted.
Many thanks to everyone who participated, which included a couple of Scouts from Troop 591.

Earth Day 2017

The CHRP team couldn’t let others do all of the re-planting! We focused on the slope next to the back driveway.
We also continued cleaning up the remains of the diseased salal.
We made sure to plant some of the plants on the steep hillside, to help continue its recovery.
Stacks of empty plant containers indicates is one sign of time well spent.

Spring 2017

Work continued at the monthly work parties. In May, the Talapus Tillicum Chapter of the BSA Order of the Arrow joined us. One job was removing a small-ish area of English ivy along the back driveway.
Another job was to spread mulch around all of the plants installed on Earth Day.
We also mulched a few plants from the KCD project that were in need, after the crew ran out of mulch.
The wetland looks great! The main task going forward is keeping the morning glory (aka bindweed) under control.

Summer 2017

The King Conservation District crew returned regularly to keep the morning glory under contorl and to check on the overall health of the many plantings.
There continued to be more blackberries to find and remove, but the volume is not even 10% of what it was just a year ago.
We still had some large invasives here and there on the property, Exhibit A being some large holly trees.
Doug Lundstrom of the Northwest Gardener made quick work of removing these prickly holly nuisances.

Day of Caring 2017

We had another great crew from Microsoft. They worked in several places on the property, focusing on blackberries, holly, ivy, and morning glory.
The Day of Caring crew also helped us plant a few new items, including this nice Oregon Ash, where the holly trees used to be.
Here's the group photo from the Day of Caring crew.
The Day of Caring crew worked a full day and covered a lot of ground.

Fall 2017

In late September, our friends from Earth Corps returned to help us with again with some technical work -- poisoning the ever-decreasing amount of knotweed and ivy and to help help keep the morning glory under control.
The Northwest Gardener crew returned and pruned the large amount of laurel in the upper parking lot, helping to prepare the area for replanting later.
On November 11, a large group of youth from the Bellevue Baha'i Community joined us to learn about native plants.
Gina conducted a workshop on ethnobotany and Robert provided hands-on experience with propagation for the Baha'i group.