West Seattle pride! Give a couple hours to rev it up

| How to help | West Seattle news

(Photo from last Saturday, courtesy WOLLRG)
It was a valiant crew – but a small crew – that volunteered last Saturday to help transform the area by the “Walking on Logs” sculptures along the Fauntleroy end of the West Seattle Bridge. Yes, we know it was a ridiculously busy and stunningly sunny day. Lots going on this Saturday too – but maybe this time around you can spare a couple hours to help the “gateway to West Seattle” with a project that’ll pay off for years to come. An updated invite from Nancy Driver and the Walking on Logs Landscape Restoration Group:

Enjoy seeing “Walking on Logs” looking good? Take pride in your community? Then give 2 hours of your time to this community icon, this Saturday.

The Walking on Logs Landscape Restoration Group is looking for volunteers for Saturday, April 28th for two hour shifts between 10:00 am and 4:00 pm. We are re-landscaping the area around the Walking on Logs statues with native plants and aspens to create a “Woodland Grove” theme as a backdrop to the statues. Our goal to create more attractive landscaping with less long term maintenance by installing plants suitable for the conditions at the site.

Last weekend we did the prep work, i.e, most of the really hard work. Now we have 75 trees and over 500 shrubs to get into the ground and can use plenty of volunteers. This is a big project that will benefit the entire community. We need the community’s support.

We’ll have gloves on hand as well as water and snacks. We’ll also have shovels and other tools but as we have a limited supply, if you can bring your own shovel, it would be much appreciated. Mud boots are recommended since the site is very wet this time of year.

If you’d like to volunteer, email Ruth at Ruth.Hoover@comcast.net to sign up. Ruth will get you the details on where to park and how to get to the site. Hope to see you there.

This project is funded in part by a Neighborhood Matching Fund award from the City of Seattle Department of Neighborhoods. Funding was also provided by the West Seattle Garden Tour and numerous West Seattle residents.

K M April 26, 2012 (7:22 am)

That’s fantastic to see members of our community volunteering their time to improve our neighborhoods. A big thanks to the volunteers!!

LG April 26, 2012 (9:27 am)

While I think the community effort to improve this area is wonderful, and I understand the desire to make it easier to maintain, I’m a little confused by the choice of a “woodland grove” theme. I seem to recall the artist’s vision was of children walking on drift logs on a West Seattle beach, wasn’t it? I know the sculpture’s title was in honor of a friend of his. Doesn’t seem right to alter the artist’s intent so arbitrarily. There’s an excellent article about the sculptor. Phillip Levine, and his intent, with Walking On Logs mentioned, here:
http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=3834

I don’t think changing the landscaping is a bad idea, just wanted people to know more about the original purpose of the piece.

Sharonn April 26, 2012 (9:38 am)

The design of the landscape was graciously donated and designed by Chuck Warsinske of Susan Black and Associates. The woodland setting, more befitting to our Walking On Logs is almost twice the size of the current site. 75 aspen trees and nearly 500 plantings of native roses, snowberry and dogwood will create a really dynamic backdrop and enliven the Gateway to our Community. Can’t wait to see everyone on Saturday working together to achieve a much needed Gateway improvement.

nancy38 April 26, 2012 (2:05 pm)

Responding to LG. The Walking on Logs Landscspe Restoration Group knows the original intent for the statues was a beach setting. However, given the location of the statues, and the conditions at the site, there is no way to have landscaping there that would fit a beach setting.

Dr Harrington April 26, 2012 (6:33 pm)

Glad to see another opportunity to bring more beauty to west Seattle. hope it’s a nice sunny day and I hope a lot local folks come to lend a hand. I’ll donate doughnuts and bottled water for anyone that comes! Yay!

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