holyoutlaw

Another fun day in a park, playing in the mud with a great group. We worked several times last summer with the Stewardship Squad, which is why I went back to work with them as a volunteer.

The day was gray and cool, but far from cold, and it didn’t rain. It was just cool enough that we warmed up quickly in our layers, but not so cold that we chilled when we took a break.

White Center Heights Park is located in — wait for it — White Center Heights. I was there last summer with a group from City Year, during the teacher’s strike. It’s a small park, with a pond and a seasonal stream. It’s at the intersection of SW 102nd St. and 8th Ave. SW. It’s hidden from those streets by a small riparian strip of trees, which screens some of the traffic noise and makes it a hidden gem, as they say. It has a small pond, which had some buffleheads and megansers in addition to the standard mallards. Stewardship Squad had been there previously to do some planting, and they were back for more.

A few years ago, Starbucks put some money into it. The results are a nice shelter, a p-patch, a great bridge over the pond, and signs in English, Thai, and Spanish. Since then, though, it’s been a little neglected, and it’s only recently that King County was able to get volunteers in to clean up the weeds and invasives and put some fresh plants in.

Lina brought shovels of many different sizes, even a trowel for the very smallest child.

This little stream only flows during the winter. Planting its borders will help maintain the bank.

After finishing up by the stream, we moved to a more-wooded section for the afternoon’s work. We planted 50 shrubs here, for more than 60 plants altogether.

We had a scavenger hunt for the walk to the second planting area. One of the adventurers found this little case of insect eggs.

Mirrored from Nature Intrudes. Please comment over there.