By Mayoral Proclamation, October 28th, 2018 became Arbor Day in Bellingham WA. Although Arbor Day is a worldwide event, each country, state, and city can designate which day to celebrate it depending on what date and season is best for planting in your area. Ours was late October, just before the Autumn and Winter rains hit.
The City Parks Department and the Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association (NSEA) jointly organized two restoration projects focused along creeks in Bellingham that support spawning salmon. It was truly a community effort attended by volunteers of all ages. Since they promote these Saturday work parties to all comers, young and old, they only schedule them from 9:00 to 12:00 which I thought was rather humane and works for me as my aged body can only go so long. At this site, Whatcom Falls Park, they checked in over 150 volunteers.
THE DAILY BUCKET IS A NATURE REFUGE. WE AMICABLY DISCUSS ANIMALS, WEATHER, CLIMATE, WATER AND PLANTS AND NOTE LIFE’S PATTERNS.
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To make the most of the three hours time they were very organized with all the work ready to go at 9:00 sharp. After signing in, we were assigned to a work party, headed by two employees. My group was led by recent Environmental Science graduates, one now employed by the city parks Department and the other an intern from the Washington Conservation Corp. They had been at the park from before sunup organizing the day’s activities as had the leaders of the other 11 groups. And they had the work project well orchestrated. As you see below, plants were set up by area crews,
Each group had a designated garbage can loaded with shovels, forks, and rakes. We followed the leaders on to the hillside with the #5 sign, our group designation. We then went to a central distribution area where we collected a couple of wheelbarrow full of plants native to this area, Oregon Grape (Mahonia aquifolium) and Western Sword ferns (Polystichum munitum).
. These plants had all been nicely potted in gallon sized containers that had been planted by volunteers on Earth Day, last April and nurtured along over the summer at NSEA’s greenhouse facility. In all they brought 500 pots to be planted at the park by our 12 groups.
The main purpose of our Arbor Day activities was enhance the water quality in Whatcom Creek. To achieve this, we sought to “decommission” social trails, trails that visitors created off the main trail which led to trampling of undergrowth and compacting the soil and leading to rain runoff. Planting these plants in and around the trails would deter off-trail walking. The plants along with the mulch that was then applied would also soften the soil making it more absorbent and reducing runoff and erosion which ended up as mud in the creek just below the trail. This beautiful creek is a salmon spawning creek and clearly deserves to be saved.
Also we built in buffers along the steeper slopes to slow runoff and to block would-be off trail hikers.
And finally we distributed many containers of mulch to support the new plantings and to cover the trampled soil and to promote water retention.
When is your local Arbor Day?
What sorts of Arbor Day activities are conducted in your community?
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