Summer youth programs focus on helping restore our greenways and lakes
Apr 16 2009
This summer, volunteers ages 10 - 18 will head outdoors in the Mountains to Sound Greenway for free, week-long summer volunteer camps.
Young volunteers will spend a week doing ecological restoration, trail work, outdoor education and games, at Tiger Mountain and Lake Sammamish.
Tiger Mountain is a popular destination for hikers, mountain bikers, hang gliders, paragliders and horseback riders.
Its trails bring visitors through the remains of old growth forests left over from Tiger Mountain’s logging past.
Tiger Mountain has 65 miles of trails and 29 miles of gravel roads and the constant usage of these trails and roads causes them to erode over time. In addition, hikers and their vehicles become the vectors for invasive plants to enter the ecosystem, decreasing the ecological health of Tiger Mountain.
Volunteers at Tiger Mountain will work together to help repair overused trails by resurfacing, brushing, fixing drainage issues, and repairing boardwalks.
In addition, volunteers remove invasive plants like Scotch Broom and Himalayan Blackberry to allow native trees and shrubs to thrive.
Lake Sammamish boasts areas for swimming, boating, picnics and wide open spaces for volleyball games.
The three creeks that feed into the lake — Issaquah, Tibbetts and Laughing Jacobs — house several species of salmon, many birds and a wide variety of amphibians, insects and other wildlife. Volunteers will remove invasive weeds that don’t allow native plants and animals to thrive.
Restoration work in this area will improve the rates of survival for native salmon populations in addition to creating natural habitat for other native wildlife in the park.
The schedule for the week-long camp is:
Tiger Mountain, Issaquah
June 22 - June 26, for 16 - 18 year-olds
July 6 - July 10, for 13 - 16 year-olds
Lake Sammamish
June 29 - July 3, for 13 - 16 year-olds
July 13 - July 17, for 10 - 13 year-olds
For More Information on the summer youth program visit www.mtsgreenway.org.
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