Narration: With Green Acre Radio this is Martha Baskin. “OUCH. I WAS ABOUT TO RUN. WHOA!”  Removing invasive blackberries so natives can thrive sounds like fun with these volunteers. Hard work in reality, the important job comes with perks. “THIS IS AN ATTEMPT TO NOT HAVE TO GO TO THE GYM LATER TODAY. I FEEL AS THOUGH IF I GIVE MY ALL NOW I’M OK TO GIVE MYSELF A PASS.” Keesha Worley is a volunteer from Microsoft. Organized by Nature Consortium, a non-profit, the volunteers are helping restore Seattle’s largest contiguous forest, the West Duwamish Green Belt. Covering five hundred acres, the forest buffers and filters the city’s most polluted industrial corridor, the Duwamish River. “THERE’S OVER TEN SUPERFUND SITES IN THE DUWAMISH SO THIS FOREST IS AN AMAZING FILTER FOR ALL OF THE POLLUTION THAT’S EMANTING OFF OF THE DUWAMIEH.” Nancy Whitlock with Nature Consortium calls it the Continental Divide. The Duwamish watershed is on one side, she explains to volunteers, and the Puget Sound watershed, on the other. “SO ALL OF THE WORK YOU’RE DOING TODAY HAS A HUGE IMPACT NOT ONLY ON THIS FOREST, THE SURROUNDING COMMUNITIES, BUT THE ENTIRE COUNTY.”

With help from thousands of volunteers the Nature Consortium has planted twenty-thousand native conifers and removed enormous quantities of invasive blackberry, ivy and scotch broom. The erosion control trees and native provide, says Whitlock. “IS AMAZING. WE HAVE SEEN A GREAT CHANGE IN THE AMOUNT OF RUN OFF IN THE STREAMS AND A COUPLE OF CREEKS THAT ARE DOWN THERE.” Run off from paved surfaces, roads, homes, industry – run off that contains oil, chemicals, pesticides, pet waste and soap which then washes into waterways when it rains - is the Sound’s number one pollutant.  James Rasmussen with the Duwamish River Clean Up Coalition gets the importance of forests and greenbelts. “PEOPLE NEED TO UNDERSTAND STORM WATER IS PROBABLY ONE OF OUR LARGEST PROBLEMS. THIRTY YEARS AGO EIGHTY PER CENT OF THE POLLUTION CAME FROM INDUSTRIES AND TWENTY PERCENT FROM PEOPLE. TODAY IT’S FLIPPED THE OTHER WAY AROUND.”

People are a big part of the problem but also a big part of the solution. The Nature Consortium began to restore the West Duwamish Green Belt nine years ago. Seattle Parks became involved four years ago. Park’s Michael Yadrick says restoring the Duwamish Green Belt is part of a plan to restore twenty-five hundred acres of urban forest. Called the GreenSeattlePartnershp, the coalition is a pact between city, non-profits and people. “I THINK ONE OF THE BEST WAYS FOR PEOPLE TO RAISE THEIR AWARENESS ON THIS IS TO ACTUALLY COME OUT AND GET THEIR HANDS DIRTY AND ACTUALLY INTERACT WITH THE FOREST.” The goal is to increase tree canopy from 24% of land mass to 30%. In the last fifteen years, urban pockets with more than twenty percent tree canopy have dropped by sixty-seven per cent.

“Green infrastructure” is a term used to talk about agile designs that enhance environmental quality. Mark Mead, Urban Forester with Seattle Parks, says trees are the most valuable “green infrastructure” the city has. Guesstimates for their storm water retention value are between ten and eleven million dollars, not to mention trees capacity to clean water, remove particulates from the air, and circulate oxygen. The problem, says Mead, is how to care for existing trees, how to remove the number of invasives hampering growth and how to plant all the trees needed to replace those that are dying off. “IN OUR FORESTED AREAS WHICH REPRESENT A HUGE PART OF THE CANOPY THERE’S VERY LIMITED RESOURCES BEING PUT TO THAT RIGHT NOW. WE’RE VERY FORTUNATE IN PLACES LIKE THE WEST AND EAST DUWAMISH GREEN BELT WHERE CITIZENS ARE OUT THERE.” But seventy-five different parks and green belts need help. “WE CONTINUALLY CUT MOST OF THESE AREAS AND THEY’RE ON STEEP SLOPES AND NOW THEY’RE COVERED WITH INVASIVE SPECIES.” On top of that, big leaf maple and alder, the first species to return after logging, are nearing the end of their life span. “AND THERE AREN’T ANY CONIFERS COMING UP UNDERNEATH THEM SO WE HAVE A GOOD POTENTIAL TO BE LOSING OUR FOREST IN THE NEXT TWENTY TO THIRTY YEARS IF WE DON’T TAKE CARE OF IT.”  For ways to help go to greenseattle.org or seattle.gov/parks. How big is the task ahead? The Nature Consortium’s Stephen Erickson puts it this way. “THERE’S NO REAL LIMIT HERE. WE’LL BE HERE FOR A FEW WEEKS IF YOU GUYS BROUGHT ALL YOUR MATERIALS.” Laughter Snd Efx Fade.

Support for today’s story comes from the Russell Family Foundation. Funding depends on listener feedback so please drop us a line at greenacre@jackstraw.org.  Engineering by CJ Lazenby. From the studios of Jack Straw Productions and KBCS this is Martha Baskin. -0-

Narration: With Green Acre Radio this is Martha Baskin. “OUCH. I WAS ABOUT TO RUN. WHOA!”  Removing invasive blackberries so natives can thrive sounds like fun with these volunteers. Hard work in reality, the important job comes with perks. “THIS IS AN ATTEMPT TO NOT HAVE TO GO TO THE GYM LATER TODAY. I FEEL AS THOUGH IF I GIVE MY ALL NOW I’M OK TO GIVE MYSELF A PASS.” Keesha Worley is a volunteer from Microsoft. Organized by Nature Consortium, a non-profit, the volunteers are helping restore Seattle’s largest contiguous forest, the West Duwamish Green Belt. Covering five hundred acres, the forest buffers and filters the city’s most polluted industrial corridor, the Duwamish River. “THERE’S OVER TEN SUPERFUND SITES IN THE DUWAMISH SO THIS FOREST IS AN AMAZING FILTER FOR ALL OF THE POLLUTION THAT’S EMANTING OFF OF THE DUWAMIEH.” Nancy Whitlock with Nature Consortium calls it the Continental Divide. The Duwamish watershed is on one side, she explains to volunteers, and the Puget Sound watershed, on the other. “SO ALL OF THE WORK YOU’RE DOING TODAY HAS A HUGE IMPACT NOT ONLY ON THIS FOREST, THE SURROUNDING COMMUNITIES, BUT THE ENTIRE COUNTY.”

With help from thousands of volunteers the Nature Consortium has planted twenty-thousand native conifers and removed enormous quantities of invasive blackberry, ivy and scotch broom. The erosion control trees and native provide, says Whitlock. “IS AMAZING. WE HAVE SEEN A GREAT CHANGE IN THE AMOUNT OF RUN OFF IN THE STREAMS AND A COUPLE OF CREEKS THAT ARE DOWN THERE.” Run off from paved surfaces, roads, homes, industry – run off that contains oil, chemicals, pesticides, pet waste and soap which then washes into waterways when it rains - is the Sound’s number one pollutant.  James Rasmussen with the Duwamish River Clean Up Coalition gets the importance of forests and greenbelts. “PEOPLE NEED TO UNDERSTAND STORM WATER IS PROBABLY ONE OF OUR LARGEST PROBLEMS. THIRTY YEARS AGO EIGHTY PER CENT OF THE POLLUTION CAME FROM INDUSTRIES AND TWENTY PERCENT FROM PEOPLE. TODAY IT’S FLIPPED THE OTHER WAY AROUND.”

People are a big part of the problem but also a big part of the solution. The Nature Consortium began to restore the West Duwamish Green Belt nine years ago. Seattle Parks became involved four years ago. Park’s Michael Yadrick says restoring the Duwamish Green Belt is part of a plan to restore twenty-five hundred acres of urban forest. Called the GreenSeattlePartnershp, the coalition is a pact between city, non-profits and people. “I THINK ONE OF THE BEST WAYS FOR PEOPLE TO RAISE THEIR AWARENESS ON THIS IS TO ACTUALLY COME OUT AND GET THEIR HANDS DIRTY AND ACTUALLY INTERACT WITH THE FOREST.” The goal is to increase tree canopy from 24% of land mass to 30%. In the last fifteen years, urban pockets with more than twenty percent tree canopy have dropped by sixty-seven per cent.

“Green infrastructure” is a term used to talk about agile designs that enhance environmental quality. Mark Mead, Urban Forester with Seattle Parks, says trees are the most valuable “green infrastructure” the city has. Guesstimates for their storm water retention value are between ten and eleven million dollars, not to mention trees capacity to clean water, remove particulates from the air, and circulate oxygen. The problem, says Mead, is how to care for existing trees, how to remove the number of invasives hampering growth and how to plant all the trees needed to replace those that are dying off. “IN OUR FORESTED AREAS WHICH REPRESENT A HUGE PART OF THE CANOPY THERE’S VERY LIMITED RESOURCES BEING PUT TO THAT RIGHT NOW. WE’RE VERY FORTUNATE IN PLACES LIKE THE WEST AND EAST DUWAMISH GREEN BELT WHERE CITIZENS ARE OUT THERE.” But seventy-five different parks and green belts need help. “WE CONTINUALLY CUT MOST OF THESE AREAS AND THEY’RE ON STEEP SLOPES AND NOW THEY’RE COVERED WITH INVASIVE SPECIES.” On top of that, big leaf maple and alder, the first species to return after logging, are nearing the end of their life span. “AND THERE AREN’T ANY CONIFERS COMING UP UNDERNEATH THEM SO WE HAVE A GOOD POTENTIAL TO BE LOSING OUR FOREST IN THE NEXT TWENTY TO THIRTY YEARS IF WE DON’T TAKE CARE OF IT.”  For ways to help go to greenseattle.org or seattle.gov/parks. How big is the task ahead? The Nature Consortium’s Stephen Erickson puts it this way. “THERE’S NO REAL LIMIT HERE. WE’LL BE HERE FOR A FEW WEEKS IF YOU GUYS BROUGHT ALL YOUR MATERIALS.” Laughter Snd Efx Fade.

Support for today’s story comes from the Russell Family Foundation. Funding depends on listener feedback so please drop us a line at greenacre@jackstraw.org.  Engineering by CJ Lazenby. From the studios of Jack Straw Productions and KBCS this is Martha Baskin. -0-