The Lake Forest Park Stewardship Foundation (LFPSF) has completed the final phase of the $9850 "Wild Places in City Spaces" grant awarded to us by the King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks. Work on this phase, which began January 1, 2011, focused on the continued removal of English Ivy from the trees and ground in Grace Cole Nature Park, which contains headwaters of Brookside Creek, and removal of Ivy from trees along McAleer Creek adjacent to Perkins Way.
Results of our two contracts with Friends of Cedar River Watershed are shown below.
Partnership Totals:
11 Restoration work parties
373 volunteers, 102 youth engaged
1,473 hours of service contributed
7.9 acres of habitat enhanced, and 52 trees removed of Ivy at Grace Cole Nature Park and along McAleer Creek
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| Before |
Re-vegetation has begun in areas where mono-cultures of Ivy existed. It will continue into the fall, when rainfall will provide natural irrigation. Some areas, fortunately, have adequate stands of native Salal, Mahonia (Oregon grape) and Sword fern and other natives to recover on their own.
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| After |
Funds for purchase of native plants for re-vegetation have come to the Foundation from "The Secret Gardens of LFP Tour". Generous plant donations have been made by Wild Birds Unlimited of Lake Forest Park, Don Norman's Go Native nursery in Shoreline and from residents who find unplanned native plants on their property.
The Lake Forest Park Garden Club keeps our energy up by providing funds for snacks and beverages.
Out sincere "Thanks!" goes to the many volunteers and donors who have made such a great impact on the population of English Ivy at Grace Cole Park and along Perkins Way. We also thank the City of Lake Forest Park for hauling away any debris we drag to the roadside.
Plans are to re-visit all cleared areas on a regular basis to remove any remaining roots and re-starts. Monthly Saturday maintenance teams began on Saturday, July 23rd. An industrious group of 5 cleared debris from the spaces between the boards of the observation deck, pruned along the boardwalk, removed a large patch of Himalayan blackberries, roots and all, and cleared out some Reed canary grass.
If you would like to be part of the team to work at Grace Cole Park on Saturdays please contact Mamie at
mamiejb@hotmail.com or 206-364-4410. The next scheduled event is August 20 from 9am to 12pm. No guilt should be felt for not being available for every event.
