Submitted by Nancy E. Henderson.
Taking advantage of a few hours of dry weather between storms, on 23 December eight Steilacoom volunteers completed the mission of spreading wood chips over the extensive cardboard in place at the 5th Street Waterway restoration site.
This was the ninth volunteer work party at this site since September of this year. Since then, many volunteers working together succeeded in removing most of the invasive blackberry vines which dominated the landscape, even obscuring a beautiful western red cedar tree.
Earlier, the cleared area was covered with cardboard to prevent erosion and to suppress regrowth of invasive species. A thick layer of wood chips now covers the cardboard to further suppress weeds and enhance the soil for native plants.
Thank you, Mark Braegelmann, Cassidy Chaney, Theda Braddock, Rick Clark, Dick Muri, Mike Henderson, and 6-year-old Elias for your volunteerism today!
The work is now on pause until mid-February when another work party will be scheduled to plant a variety of native plants. Stay tuned!
Sharlene says
Nancy, Your efforts and talent for bringing a group together to do these kinds of jobs in Steilacoom are much appreciated. Thank you and your volunteers and Happy 2025!
Nancy E. Henderson says
Thank you, Sharlene, for your kind words. Beyond the physical outdoor exercise and seeing an enhanced local environment, another benefit of volunteering with our work parties is being around positive, happy people who are authentic in their resolve to make the world around them a little better.