Volunteers from the Edmonds Youth Commission greet citizens showing up to help at Brackett’s Landing.
Much of the beach cleanup involved picking up litter left by park visitors.
Christina Chen and Ariana Chow show off the litter they collected from Brackett’s Landing.
Volunteers scour the beach for litter at Brackett’s Landing.
For Frannie Cohen (right), picking up litter is an everyday part of her regular walks around town. “Today is my birthday,” she remarked. “And what better way to celebrate than helping make my town beautiful!”
Edmonds Mayor Mike Nelson picks up trash at Brackett’s Landing.
E-bikers Peter Hallson and Luke Distelhorst stopped by Marina Beach to show their support for Earth Day, demonstrating how the latest generation of e-bikes offers a practical alternative to traditional fossil-fuel power transportation.
Edmonds Youth Commission volunteer Brooke Rinehimer shows off some of the litter collected from Marina Beach.
Pine Ridge Park was all about pulling ivy and preparing the area for native plants.
Who says pulling ivy isn’t fun? Overhanging vines provide the perfect excuse to play.
City Urban Forest Planner Deb Powers set up a demonstration table at Pine Ridge Park to help volunteers become more familiar with native flora.
Edmonds business owner and State Senate candidate Janelle Cass (left) is joined by Suzanne Juergensen at the Yost Park tree planting.
The new plantings at Yost Park are protected by cages to avoid damage by the large population of mountain beaver that call Yost Park home.
City Horticulturalist Jesse Curran (far left) and Sound Salmon Solutions mentor Joe Scordino (far right) pause for a photo with some Yost Park volunteers.
In what has become a tradition to honor Earth Day in Edmonds, more than 100 eager participants spent their Saturday morning pitching in to collect trash from beaches, pull out invasive non-native plants from parks, and plant new native trees and shrubs in their place. Participating organizations included the City of Edmonds, Sound Salmon Solutions, and the Edmonds Youth Commission.
“We put in more than 100 new plants along the Shell Creek drainage in Yost Park alone,” said Edmonds horticulturalist Jesse Curran. “As these become established, the parks get an ecological boost as they move closer to reflecting the natural species mix in this ecosystem.”
According to Curran, Saturday’s plantings included western red cedar, bigleaf maple, vine maple, indian plum, hazelnut and Oregon ash.
Meanwhile over in Pine Ridge Park, volunteers busied themselves removing mountains of English Ivy, an invasive non-native species that — if left unchecked — would soon take over the parks. That effort was overseen by City Horticulturalist Debra Dill and City Urban Forest Planner Deb Powers, who added an educational component to the day by setting up a native plant demonstration table to help the volunteers learn about the variety of Edmonds’ native flora.
Two additional work parties met at Brackett’s Landing North and Marina Beach to help pick up and remove litter that has collected on the beaches. In addition to paper litter, much of what was collected included plastics, which are being increasingly identified as a potent threat to marine life.
— Story and photos by Larry Vogel
This was what I call an “Edmonds Kind of Day” – all the community volunteers out helping to make Edmonds the kind of place we all enjoy. The salmonberry thorns and tough terrain didn’t deter the Yost Park volunteers from getting desperately needed new trees into the Park valley.
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This was what I call an “Edmonds Kind of Day” – all the community volunteers out helping to make Edmonds the kind of place we all enjoy. The salmonberry thorns and tough terrain didn’t deter the Yost Park volunteers from getting desperately needed new trees into the Park valley.
Thank you all for your hard work; I will try to join you the next time.