LEAF School noted for Earth Day work on Gold Park

05/10/2012

On April 22, the Edmonds College LEAF School celebrated Earth Day at Gold Park. More than 120 people turned out to help renovate the park’s trails and remove invasive plants. Himalayan Blackberry, English Ivy and Yellow Arch Angel were removed and thrown into a pile that grew to over 6 feet high by the end of the day. The LEAF School students then led teams of volunteers in replanting native shrubs throughout the park.

Gold Park clean up with Edmonds College LEAF School and REI volunteers.

News via Lynnwood Parks, Recreation & Cultural Arts Department

Lynnwood parks benefit from Earth Day volunteer projects

On Sunday, April 22, the Edmonds College LEAF School celebrated Earth Day at Gold Park. Over 120 people turned out to help renovate the park’s trails and remove invasive plants. Himalayan Blackberry, English Ivy and Yellow Arch Angel were removed and thrown into a pile that grew to over 6 feet high by the end of the day.

The LEAF School students then led teams of volunteers in re-planting native shrubs throughout the park.

Members of the Snohomish and Duwamish Tribes shared song and dance throughout the day. REI of Alderwood and the Girl Scouts of America led children's activities, highlighted by a "wilderness crime scene." Salish storyteller Roger Fernandez shared traditional teachings during lunch, which was generously donated by the Northgate Ivar's.

The park came alive with the song, dance, laughter and hard work.

The Edmonds CC LEAF (Learn and Serve Environmental Anthropology Field) School hosts community volunteer events at Gold Park each academic year. This event was open to the public and was the largest volunteer work party to date. The event was made possible by Washington Campus Compact, Connect 2 Complete, The Snohomish Tribe, Ivar's, REI of Alderwood, Girl Scouts of Western Washington, PCC Natural Markets, The Snohomish Tribe, Panera Bread, and many community volunteers.

Gold Park is on the corner of 64th Ave W and 200th St SW in Lynnwood. The public is invited to visit the park’s new ethnobotanical garden "Stolja Ali" (place of medicine), which has been developed over the past three years by the LEAF School under the guidance of the Snohomish Tribe.

Other park clean-ups happened throughout the city. A few blocks east at Scriber Creek Park, eight volunteers arrived with their own gloves and trash bags to clean up this park, which focuses on preservation of pant and wildlife habitat. Volunteers removed cans and bottles, 3 tires, 2 hub-caps, a thermos, 3 plastic buckets, paper, plastic bags, hundreds of cigarette butts, and bagged all the recyclables. This group of volunteers met through Meetup, a worldwide volunteer network.

Meetup's mission is to revitalize local communities by helping people around the world organize activities that make a difference in their communities.

A local Geocaching group hosted a Cache In – Trash Out event on Saturday, April 21, 2012 at Lynndale Park. Geocaching is an outdoor sporting activity in which the participants use a global positioning system (GPS) receiver or mobile device and other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers, called "geocaches" or "caches." Lynndale is Lynnwood’s largest park, located just north of Lynndale Elementary School in west Lynnwood. Lynndale Park has approximately 22 acres of preserved native forest, several athletic fields, the Amphitheater, play equipment and picnic areas.

A few days after Earth Day, the local Navy Recruiting office brought eight people to Wilcox Park to help remove English Ivy, which is not native and is considered an invasive species. Wilcox Park is Lynnwood’s first park, which opened in 1962 and was named for the pioneering Wilcox family that homesteaded on the site.

Lynnwood’s parks, trails and open spaces are a great asset to our community and the City of Lynnwood commends the efforts of these volunteers in helping improve these spaces for our community.

If you have a group of people interested in participating in a park clean-up, please contact Julie Moore, Community Outreach Specialist at 425-670-5023 or by email at moore@ci.lynnwood.wa.us.

Find out more

Learn and Serve Environmental Anthropology Field (LEAF) School