Year in Review
2013 was a really great year for North Beach Park. The previous two years of restoration were starting to have visible effect, and the work of EarthCorps and the contract crew really made a great deal of progress.
In all, we had 17 work parties this year. Six were run by EarthCorps and 11 by the Friends of North Beach Park. In all there were 160 adult and 16 youth volunteers for a total of just over 530 hours. Three volunteers had more than 20 hours, five volunteers had between 10 and 20, and five volunteers had between 5 and 10 hours. Thank you all!
We estimate that 1751 plants were installed in the park. This includes plants from the Seattle Parks Department, EarthCorps, Carbon Capturing Companies, and Green Seattle Partnership. These plants were installed all over the park, from the highest slopes to the bottoms of the wetlands.
The EarthCorps volunteers and crews cleared about 10,000 square feet of the park, between the trail and the stream. They also engaged in a big bucket brigade for some mulching needed deep in the park. They replanted both sides of the trail. Masha (from Russia) was the EarthCorps lead for all the work.
The Seattle Parks Department brought in a contract crew to work in areas where volunteers can’t, specifically the slopes of the Headwaters Bowl and just below 90th St. and 25th Ave. They cleared invasive plants, put down erosion controls, and installed plants. They worked at the South Plateau as well (entrance at 88th St. and 27th Ave.), installing a great number of plants and doing some much-needed erosion control work.
The outreach highlights included tabling at Art in the Garden in August (always a treat) and participating in our first “Give Big” in May. This raised more than $1,000 for North Beach Park, and we’d like to give a special shout out to Doris Katagiri and Julie Fretzin for their very generosity.
For 2014, we’re going to make sure the plants installed this year get some good aftercare. This won’t be “taking it easy,” but will make sure that more of them get established well and be able to live on their own. Our first work party of the year will be January 25, at 9 a.m. Hope to see you there!
If you can’t make it to a work party, a big way to help North Beach Park is by making a donation to the Seattle Parks Foundation. Even a small donation will make a big difference. We use this money for materials and tools, outreach assistance, and coffee’n’pastries for volunteers.
Mirrored from Nature Intrudes. Please comment over there.