Hylebos Stream Team:

Greetings from the Hylebos! As 2009 is winding down, we at the Hylebos are working hard on scheduling the last few events of the year as we transition into 2010.

On December 5, we will be working at Dumas Bay Park, part of a new program by the Friends to restore Federal Way’s forests to health. Be the first of many to rid the preserve of the dreaded English Ivy! As reported in the Federal Way Mirror, we at the Friends have recently discovered that the Dumas Bay Park is covered in 50-75% ivy! http://www.pnwlocalnews.com/south_king/fwm/news/70238907.html

Please come and help us restore this beautiful waterfront park to the healthy forest it could be!

Our next event will be December 12 at the Lower Hylebos Marsh doing invasive plant removal and alder thinning. After the Lower Hylebos Marsh was constructed, pre-existing alders seeded the site. These seedlings have come in so dense that it is starting to create a monoculture thus choking out other native plants! Come on out and help is remove invasives as well as selectively thin the overabundance of alder to give our other native plants a chance to grow and flourish!

Both events will begin at 9:30 and will last until 2:00pm with a break at noon for lunch.

For both of these events, we will provide tools, gloves, coffee and snacks. Please RSVP if you will be attending. An event confirmation outlining the day’s events and directions will be sent to you a few days prior to the event.

Please contact me at [email protected] if you are interested in meeting up with us or if you have any questions.

I look forward to seeing you on the Hylebos!

A few pictures of what we are up against at Dumas Bay Park:

First and foremost, allow me to introduce myself, my name is Lili Allala and I am the new Restoration Coordinator for Friends of the Hylebos. A few quick facts about myself so you can get better acquainted: my favorite Washington native plant is the vine maple, I love Thai food and if I could be any animal I would be a giraffe. I'm originally from Arlington Heights, Illinois, a suburb outside of Chicago and as much as I love Illinois, it doesn't have mountains. Or an ocean. I've been living in Seattle for the past 3 years with a short stint in Michigan and am loving the PNW. This is my second week on the job so far and I'm having a blast. What better way to start out with the Friends of the Hylebos than a volunteer event!

Last week on Saturday Nov. 21 Hillary and I met up with EarthCorps and 93 volunteers ranging from students from Green River Community College to Wolf Cubs from Den 2 Pack 64! I would like to thank all of the volunteers for coming out Saturday to help plant over 600 plants including species such as Twinberry, Blue Elderberry and Big Leaf Maple! Luckily the rain held off and we were blessed with great planting weather all in all making the event a great success! Thanks again to all the volunteers that came out on Saturday! Keep your eyes peeled and your ear to the ground for upcoming volunteer events!

Here are a few photos from Saturday's planting event:

Stephanie giving a planting demonstration