Slowly but surely, community volunteers are winning the battle with an invasive plant (bitter-sweet nightshade) that has overwhelmed the wetland area of the Edmonds Marsh, blocking water circulation and killing trees.
This is the second year of a volunteer restoration effort along Highway 104 under the Washington State Department of Transportation’s “Adopt-A-Highway” landscape program. Last year, volunteers succeeded in re-establishing the Shellabarger Creek channel on the east side of the highway and are now focusing on removing huge thickets of nightshade and chain-link fencing on the west side.
Volunteers were elated Thursday to see creek water flowing through the area of removed nightshade and fencing. A new path through the blackberry thicket was cut and a pallet “bridge” installed to allow volunteers additional access to the wetland.
Volunteer work parties will be scheduled through Sept. 15 this year. Community members interested in volunteering should contact Joe Scordino at joe.scordino@yahoo.com for details and to register as a WSDOT volunteer.
The next volunteer event is this Saturday, July 30 from 9-11 a.m. The worksite is on the west side of Highway 104 just north of the pedestrian crossing signal. Volunteers are asked to park in Edmonds City Park and walk to the site.
— Story and photos courtesy Joe Scordino
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