Written by Natasha Kacoroski

It’s been awhile since the last news from Marymoor, so here is what we’ve been up to for the last few months.

Fall is here and we are back in the meadow and oak savannah. The Scotch broom sweep went surprisingly quick – I think volunteers did a thorough job this past spring. The small weed wrenches seem to work well for pulling out the roots. Seeds are viable for over 30 years, so we will need to stay on top of any new sprouts.

Volunteers helping along the Audubon Loop at Marymoor

Now we are tackling Himalayan blackberry and English hawthorn. The Himalayan blackberry is primarily growing along the trail that borders the dog park right past the kiosk. It tends to take root in disturbed areas closer to paths. The blackberry coverage is significant, but we are more concerned about the English Hawthorn. Many of the large snags are showing signs of new growth and there are hundreds of knee-high saplings in the oak savannah. Our focus for the next few months will be on hawthorn removal. We are concerned about soil disturbance and plan to mulch immediately after each plant is removed.

In October we took a short break from removing noxious weeds and planted the remaining plants from the spring Native Plant Sale. We had 140 plants of the following native species: big leaf maple, black hawthorn, Garry oak, cascara, serviceberry, salal, twinberry, Oregon grape, oso berry, Pacific nine bark, red-flowering currant, salmonberry, spirea, aster, iris, and trailing blackberry. We planted several thickets of salal, salmonberry, and Oregon grape in suitable areas of snag row. Along the living fence, filled in a few holes with more red-flowering currant – this year the flowers and fruit have been beautiful. The rest of the plants were placed around the sheds and in the oak savannah.

These past few months we’ve accomplished a lot, and it is all because the great volunteer turnout. Numbers have been so high that we’ve actually needed to put a cap on the online volunteer registration. And registration is filling up a couple weeks before each event. To meet increased volunteer participation, we are looking to grow our leadership base and automate more of the paperwork. In the meantime, we are on track to meet our goal of 1,000 volunteer hours for the year! If you are interested in helping out, please email us at marymoor@eastsideaudubon.org, thanks!