Earth Month a Huge Success!
On Earth Day, Nature Consortium is teamed up with EarthCorps and the Duwamish Alive Coalition for a special volunteer event called Duwamish Alive! Nature Consortium brings community members together all year round to restore the forest that exists in public parks located in the West Duwamish Greenbelt in West Seattle. Earth Day with Nature Consortium was both work and play. Over 300 volunteers participated in this community effort to remove unwanted weeds from the West Duwamish Greenbelt. Volunteers enjoyed live music while they worked, a free lunch provided by A Pizza Mart, and fun arts activities.
Throughout the month of April Nature Consortium hosted several special programs for all ages and all interests in addition to their weekly volunteer restoration work parties which take place year-round. These programs were designed to foster a journey of discovery for people to find their individual passion, empowerment and action. Programs ranged in focus from environmental history and science to arts and nature youth camps.
It’s no small matter that Seattle’s largest remaining forest, the West Duwamish Greenbelt, happens to be next to one of the most polluted rivers in the country, the Duwamish River. The forest is a vital watershed that filters water, provides critical habitat for wildlife, and captures carbon in our city air in addition to providing important access to nature, quite recreation, and serene enjoyment to people’s lives. You may have read about the West Duwamish Greenbelt in the March 25th Seattle Times report about illegal clearcutting of 150 trees in the Greenbelt (http://herbold.seattle.gov/illegal-tree-cutting-update-on-23rd-ave-and-secure-scheduling-discussion/). The recent clearcutting tragedy should serve to remind us of the vital importance of the Green Seattle Partnership and the efforts of nonprofits like Nature Consortium to educate and engage our cities residents to care for and maintain our urban forest. Merica Whitehall, Nature Consortium’s Executive Director says, “The people in our community can’t love what they don’t know or understand. Our job at Nature Consortium is to create opportunities for people to connect to themselves, to each other, their community and the natural world. By creating awareness, we believe that individuals will change their behavior in interacting with the world.”
Extending over 500 acres in West Seattle, the greenbelt plays a critical role in filtering the air and sound pollution from the industry on the Duwamish River. The greenbelt also helps to filter polluted storm water run-off from nearby homes and roads before it enters the river. Healthy watersheds make healthy rivers. But like many urban forests, the West Duwamish Greenbelt has suffered the effects of logging, over growth of invasive non-native plants, urbanization, and loss of biodiversity. That’s why Nature Consortium is committed to restoring the greenbelt to the kind of healthy evergreen forest the Pacific Northwest is known for.
Throughout the year Nature Consortium has been joined in the forest by businesses and community organizations that value the difference we make. We want to say thank you to Pomona Alumni, SoftChoice, NeighborCare, Wells Fargo, Seattle Public Utilities, King County Juvenile Work Crew, UW Bothell, AECOM, PV Volunteers, US Environmental Protection Agency Region 10.