Spring Planting Parties Wrap up
By Lucy Applegate

Another spring planting season has come to a close. Once again we were assisted by dozens of volunteers to help restore native vegetation to the banks of the Skagit River and its tributaries to restore salmon habitat. Planting events were held at 4 different sites, with 168 volunteers planting 1,600 trees and shrubs. Although we had typical sodden Northwest weather, our hardworking volunteers were energetic and in high spirits. At our first event, at the DeVries dairy farm, we were serenaded by a flock of gregarious trumpeter swans while we worked. Our event at Mouse Creek brought us up close and personal with a Douglas fir tree with a sevenfoot diameter that must have been several hundred years old. This season we also met some wonderful people. Gary and Rubye Vallat own property on South Skagit Highway, west of the community of Day Creek. Stevens Creek flows through their property on its way to Salmon Creek, then the Skagit River. Ruby had this to say about our planting event March 10:

“Gary and I were delighted to have had the Skagit Fisheries Enhancement Group and the
volunteers from Job Corps and others who helped protect the quality of our creek by
planting over 400 trees on our property. Caring for the Day Creek watershed along the
Skagit River is of utmost importance and we were grateful to be a part of this program. It
was very well organized and informative.” ----Rubye Vallat

Rubye and Gary Vallat were excited to have volunteers restore their creek by planting
native vegetation on March 10.

We also held planting events as part of service-learning activities with several area schools. Mount Vernon High School students learned about riparian restoration at Nookachamps Creek, Darrington Middle School seventh-graders planted at Mouse Creek, and students from Emerson High School planted at Iron Mountain Ranch on the Skagit River.

Mr. Ross’s two seventh grade classes learned about three species of native riparian plants and then planted 87 of them along the banks of Mouse Creek near Darrington on March 14.

We’d like to thank all the volunteers who gave up their Saturday mornings to help us restore
stream banks for salmon, regardless of weather! Thanks to Mount Vernon Red Apple and
Mount Vernon Haggen for donations of snacks and coffee for our volunteers. Thanks, and
we’ll see you in the fall!

David and Thomas Downey have been a tremendous help with set-up and take-down at
all SFEG planting events this season.