Happening now: Duwamish Alive! work parties, report #1

With coordination from EarthCorps and the West Seattle-based Nature Consortium, hundreds of volunteers are working at 20+ sites in the West Duwamish Greenbelt section south and east of Pigeon Point’s Cooper School, just one of more than a dozen Duwamish Alive! events today in honor of Earth Day (which technically isn’t till Wednesday). In a clearing close to the school, numbers mark where each group’s supplies were gathered:

EarthCorps told us we were the first media visitors of the day; they were expecting a few high-profile political visitors too, including County Councilmember/Executive candidate Larry Phillips, who was there (at right in the photo below) during our stop (expected this afternoon, two West Seattleites: County Councilmember/Executive candidate Dow Constantine and Mayor Nickels):

The heart of the work: Tearing out, pulling out, pulling down the invasive plants that choke the life out of the forest and its native understory – this gentleman was doing battle with a thickly trunked Scotch broom:

Some invasive plants like Scotch broom and ivy are still sold for planting, but even if you think they’re great in your yard, birds can eat the seeds and distribute them far and wide, so think twice before using them in your landscaping. More on Duwamish Alive! after we go back for this afternoon’s community festival at Cooper, 2-5 pm (and you’re invited), and we’ll add some video later, including the musician serenading the volunteers in the meadow.

7 Replies to "Happening now: Duwamish Alive! work parties, report #1"

  • datamuse April 18, 2009 (1:50 pm)

    Hey, that’s me in the black cowboy hat in the first photo! :D I had to leave a little early because I’m getting over being sick and am still not feeling 100%. Huge group out there today, it’s amazing how much got done!

  • WSB April 18, 2009 (2:12 pm)

    Darn, if we’d have known, we would have said hi! Hope you feel better soon. We need one of those “tag yourself in a WSB photo” type features like FB, I guess … TR

  • lina April 18, 2009 (4:39 pm)

    In the third photo down with Larry Philips also includes Joanna Nelson from Cascade Land Conservancy and Steve Dubiel, Executive Director at EarthCorps. Duwamish Alive member orgs have put in so much work to make this event so successful. As a Project Manager at EarthCorps it is cool to see everyone’s hard work finally pay off! Thanks WSB for great coverage!

  • sam April 18, 2009 (7:56 pm)

    Also saw some friend’s photos- they were cleaning along the Duwamish, via kayak. Looked like they picked up a LOT of stuff!

  • WSB April 18, 2009 (8:05 pm)

    I ran into Greg Whittaker of Alki Kayak Tours at the Cooper School festival this afternoon after the work parties – he confirmed that cleanup “picked up a lot of trash” – TR

  • WSB April 18, 2009 (8:06 pm)

    Lina, we dropped your name to the nice lady from EarthCorps who was coordinating media … I have a few other things to add in a separate story later tonight, waiting on a couple other possible photos … we also shot video of the musician playing in the meadow!

  • lina April 18, 2009 (8:49 pm)

    thanks WSB! I have to give thanks to the program City Year too- they supported a volunteer event that we had on Friday at the West Duwamish Greenbelt- 16th and Brandon entrance. We had about 160 volunteers there including CIty Year corpsmembers there doing invasive plant removal (mainly Himalayan blackberry), maintaining past planting sites and moving woodchip mulch to the back of the site.

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