Edmonds Marsh restoration project volunteers plant more than 80 trees

Joe Scordino – standing – leads the volunteer team.
Hundreds of Willow cuttings were planted at the edge of the stream. Volunteers pressed them into the ground and they will sprout. In the future, they will provide shade for salmon.
Volunteers include adult Belinda (left) and student Aspen, who worked together as a team and learned from each other.
High-quality soil was included in the planting of each tree to help ensure healthy plants.
Nancy Scordino hauls water up from the stream below.
As evidenced by Bill’s expression, planting trees is fun.
The tree-planting team.

Volunteers for the Edmonds Marsh Volunteer Restoration Project on Saturday planted over 80 trees near Shelleberger Creek, which runs along Highway 104 and eventually into the marsh.

The tree planting event is the final phase this year in a multi-year project to restore the creek and eliminate invasive plants. Restoration activities – led by Joe Scordino – will continue again in 2025.

Native trees were donated by the City of Edmonds, the Washington Department of Transportation (WDOT) Landscape Department, and individual Edmonds residents.

Working together, volunteers made friends, learned from each other, had fun and — most important — supported the environment and the health of the Edmonds marsh.

— Story and photos by Chris Walton

Chris Walton is a long-time volunteer at the Edmonds Marsh.

  1. Job well done. I walked by there and on the marsh boardwalk and I gotta say the hard work you’ve all done shows. It is a special accomplishment. Edmonds thanks you

  2. Great job! Thank you! Just visualize what Joe’s leadership work with WSDOT and volunteers over the past four years has done for Marsh restoration. The flooding from Shellebarger Creek was eliminated as in year one those fences went down on both sides of 104; and the massive amounts of night shade removed during year two daylighted that stream. Bravo!

  3. What a marvelous job this group of volunteers, with their leader, have done for our town. Beautiful representation of giving back to your community. Thank you so much.

  4. This is what makes Edmonds great! Hats off to Joe and the many volunteers who invested so much time and effort in this restoration project.

  5. It’s amazing what some good people with a few hand tools and lots of determination and grit can accomplish under the gentle and kind direction of other people who understand how to bring back our environment the way it is supposed to be. The complexity and difficulty of really doing the right things for the preservation of our natural assets leaves me feeling almost helpless and hopeless sometimes, but things like this do give me some hope for our future.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Real first and last names — as well as city of residence — are required for all commenters.
This is so we can verify your identity before approving your comment.

By commenting here you agree to abide by our Code of Conduct. Please read our code at the bottom of this page before commenting.