Yeah, it’s supposed to be cold on Saturday (and probably sooner). That’s not going to stop the hardy West Seattle souls planning a huge slate of events we’ve been telling you about (see the Events page for most of ’em, and the West Seattle Weekend Lineup at midday Friday for even more), and here’s another one we wanted to preview — the Duwamish Alive! Earth Day festivities planned for Saturday:

West Seattleite Lina Rose from EarthCorps just forwarded this:

EarthCorps and Nature Consortium are joining forces again for the 3rd Annual Duwamish Alive Earth Day event at the West Duwamish Greenbelt/Pigeon Point Park.

Join us and a host of partners and volunteers as we continue to restore the largest contiguous greenbelt in Seattle. The greenbelt is home to a diverse population of wildlife and provides an important corridor for migrating birds. This site hosts a variety of habitats including meadow, forest, wetland and a diversity of edge habitats.

Volunteers will participate in removing invasive plant species such as Himalayan Blackberry and Scots Broom. These invasive plants are taking over and threatening the health of our urban forests. Work with us and learn the secret to keeping this valuable resource a viable forest habitat for animals and a great resource for humans to enjoy.

9:30 am Duwamish Alive! Registration begins
10:00 am – 2:00 pm Duwamish Alive! Volunteer Event
2:00 pm – 5:00 pm Earth Day Festival at Cooper School

The work party will be followed by an Earth Day Festival which includes a FREE BBQ, ‘a Screening of “Thorn to be Wild” a forest film’ , Live Performing Artists, Guided Nature Hikes, the Duwamish Valley Map Release, Give Aways and More! The Festival is located at Cooper Elementary School (adjacent to the restoration site).

Duwamish Alive! is a chance for people to give back to Seattle’s river and forest communities. On Saturday, April 19, hundreds of enthusiastic volunteers will roll up their sleeves to help restore the Duwamish River. Last year’s Duwamish Alive! on Earth Day brought together almost 900 volunteers. Join us to make this year’s event even better!
The Duwamish River is our hometown river, flowing through heavily developed and industrialized areas of South Seattle and King County into Elliott Bay. The river’s final six miles, which were turned into a straightened channel in the first half of last century, have been polluted by years of industry and overburdened storm-sewer drains and are a Federal Superfund Cleanup site. Restoring the health of urban rivers such as the Duwamish is essential to restoring the health of Puget Sound. Duwamish Alive! is a coalition of non profit groups and local government agencies joining together to help bring back the river’s health for people, salmon and wildlife.

Be sure to check out the Nature Consortium to learn about their programs, opportunities and efforts in terms of restoring the West Duwamish Greenbelt.

When the NC started a new round of work parties at Pigeon Point in January, we brought you this video preview. If you don’t know how to find Pigeon Point Park/Cooper Elementary, here’s a map.