Hylebos Stream Team

The New Year Brings New Events!

Greetings from the Hylebos!  I hope you all had a wonderful and memorable holiday!  As 2010 gets underway I’ve been hard at work planning events for the year.  So far, 2010 promises to bring lots of fun filled Saturdays pulling English Ivy at the beautiful Dumas Bay Park.

 

Come join me on Saturday January 16^th from 9:30 am-2pm and Saturday February 20^th from 9:30-2pm where we will be saving our forests from ivy degradation!

 

For both of these events, we will provide tools, gloves, coffee and snacks. If you are interested in helping us out, please RSVP by contacting me at [email protected] or calling me at 253-740-3767.  An event confirmation outlining the day’s events and directions will be emailed to you a few days prior to the event.

Stay tuned for more events!  I look forward to seeing you out at Dumas Bay!

 

East Hylebos Ravine gets some TLC

Greetings from the Hylebos as well as a very happy holiday!  As the new year approaches, I'm busy planning and scheduling future volunteer events but in the meantime, I've had the opportunity to spend some time out in the field with EarthCorps at the East Hylebos Ravine. I had a nice time getting to know the crew as well as familiarize myself with the site. The site we worked in is actually quite interesting. Quite recently the Friends received a Forest Health report conducted and written by Natural Systems Designs. The spot where we worked in is referred to as an "anomaly" in the report due to the unique plant community. This anomaly is a big sandpit; a site of past gravel mining. Due to the sand and soil disturbance the plant species that exist there are mostly limited to Scotch Broom and Blackberry.  I worked in the field with EarthCorps a few weeks ago to remove English Ivy, Scotch Broom and Himalayan Blackberry. Unfortunately the battery in my camera died so I couldn't get any shots of the crew hard at work, but I did get some shots of their work.  Enjoy!

Before:

After:

 

Blackberry surrounds the perimeter of the sand bowl.

Invasive compost pile sitting atop a brush pile cribbing to prevent re-rooting.

Herb Robert a.k.a Stinky Bob=Invasive!

December 12th Event at Lower Hylebos Marsh Canceled

Hello Folks!

I just wanted to announce that unfortunately the December 12 volunteer event at the Lower Hylebos Marsh has been canceled but do not fear, as 2010 approaches we will be scheduling more volunteer events to kick off the new year.  Again, the event this Saturday Dec, 12 at the Lower Hylebos Marsh has been canceled.  Keep your ear to the ground and your eyes peeled for announcements on upcoming volunteer events in the new year. Thanks again to everyone that came out last Saturday to help out at Dumas Bay and to those that expressed interest in this Saturday's event. I hope you all are bundling up and staying warm out there! Happy Holidays!

Ivy Removal at Dumas Bay Park

Hello readers! I would like to begin this entry with a great big thank you to all the volunteers that braved the crisp weather Saturday morning to come help and pull ivy and cut blackberry with me! The event went really well thanks to all of our wonderful volunteers and EarthCorps! 

I have to admit I was a little worried about the weather and it's effects the night before but it really turned out to be a gorgeous day and great weather for working!  With hot coffee and hot water for tea and cocoa to keep us warm from Poverty Bay Coffee Company, the volunteers worked hard to save Dumas Bay Park's forest.

The volunteers pulled a grand total of 10,785 square feet of ivy!! Thanks to our efforts 37 trees can now breathe and grow comfortably without the stress of ivy climbing on them.  Another 2,500 square feet of blackberry was cut by our volunteers as well.  Thanks again to all of you who came out on Saturday and be sure to mark your calendars for our next scheduled event at the Lower Hylebos Marsh on Dec 12 from 9:20-2:00 where we will be doing more invasive removal as well as selective alder thinning.  The alders have seeded themselves so densely that they are starting to create a monoculture shading out other native plants that live in the understory.  If you have any questions, concerns, or comments please email me at [email protected]. 

Here are a few pictures of our volunteers hard at work at Dumas Bay Park. Enjoy!

Before the volunteers got a hold of the ivy:

After a punishing was put on the ivy.  If you look closely you can see where the volunteers cut the ivy off the trees to do survival rings.

Chris and Rachel bust out a game of "Mingle Mingle" to help their group get better acquainted with each other.

 

Elaine wails on English Ivy two hands at a time!
 

Pamela cuts blackberry at the trail head.

Our youngest volunteer of the day Michelle gets a lesson on the detriments of English Ivy from her father Jeff.

 

 

To the right of Rachel you can see the tree rings that the volunteers cut in order to remove ivy from the trunk.

 

Thank you all so much for coming out!!!

Dumas Bay Volunteer Event Reminder

Hello all! 

I just wanted to post a quick reminder that our volunteer event at Dumas Bay Park is rapidly approaching!  We would love your help pulling ivy!  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the weather will be nice because the view from the Bay is just beautiful!

Hope to see you out on Saturday December 5th from 9:30-2:00 out at Dumas Bay Park.  If you have any questions, concerns, or comments please feel free to email me at [email protected] and I will get back to you as promptly as I can!

Cheers and enjoy that beautiful weather out there today!!

Upcoming Volunteer Events!

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:

Planting Event at West Milton Nature Preserve!

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

Rachel explaining the final step to planting a native plant: Naming it!

 

I think they decided to go with Junior.

 

Our volunteers hard at work!

Legendary Hylebos volunteer passes on

Longtime friend of the Hylebos and volunteer Ted Enticknap passed away August 1st.  He volunteered as a water quality monitor, friend and advocate for Hylebos conservation for many years.  He was missed when he was unable to continue volunteering with the Friends, and we will continue to remember him for his enthusiasm, dedication and sense of humor.  My thoughts go out to his family at this time.

Marlene's Market and Deli Employees Restore the Hylebos

April is Earth Month, and incredibly busy for me-it's flying by!  I meant to do this post last week.

It was a sunny early April day, the kind that gives you hope for summer, when employees from Marlene's Market and Deli came out to the Spring Valley Open Space to remove invasive blackberry.  This event was initiated by Marlene, who is a great supporter of the work we do in the Hylebos.

Early in the day, removing blackberry.

Marlene digging up blackberry roots.

Irv sustained an injury from being smacked in the face by blackberry.

The roots at the site were enormous. 

Tashi getting the stems out of the way so the roots could be removed.

The site after 14 people worked for 4.5 hours.  It was amazing.  I've actually never seen 14 people remove so much blackberry, and I've been doing this for a few years now.

Thank you to Marlene's Market and Deli.  It was a great day.

Environmental Education at Brooklake

I was recently invited to assist the Pierce County Solid Waste Environmental Educators with a field trip for the 5th grade classes they have been working with.  Last Tuesday, two 5th grade classes came out to Brooklake for their culminating field trip. 

They tested the water quality and looked at macro invertebrates under a magnifying glass, then they were delivered to me for some service learning.  Can you guess what they were working on with me?  Blackberry removal, of course.  They removed blackberry long enough that it was still fun when they were done and had to move on, and begged to stay and work more.  The day ended with a walk over to see Brooklake and Hylebos Creek.

It always makes me feel good when kids really love the work they are doing with me, and removing blackberry was cited as the favorite activity by some of the kids.