Edgewater Park Restoration
By Alison Studley

Things look a little different along the Skagit River in Mount Vernon, thanks to a unique partnership and a group of hearty volunteers. You may have noticed this spring that heavy equipment removed the invasive noxious weeds along the banks of the Skagit River both upstream and downstream of the West Mount Vernon Bridge at Edgewater Park. The City of Mount Vernon Parks and Recreation Department has been working behind the scenes for years to implement park improvements and habitat restoration at Edgewater Park. This spring and summer the habitat restoration elements came to fruition.

In April and May, the Skagit Fisheries Enhancement Group partnered with the City of Mount Vernon Parks Department and the Skagit Watershed Council with funding provided by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to restore the riparian area of Edgewater Park. Over 65 volunteers donated 337 hours to plant 500 feet of Skagit River shoreline. Due to the park setting, volunteers had to adhere to strict planting specifications including supplementing the soil, mulching the plants and finally watering each plant with buckets. An automated watering system was installed by the Parks Department to keep plants healthy through the dry summer months. Volunteers planted 765 plants, and an additional 1,050 plants were installed by our professional restoration staff on the steep banks next to the Skagit River.

Sixty volunteers helped restore native vegetation on the banks of the Skagit River at Edgewater Park.

These planting parties were highly visible, well attended and fun! The Parks Department supplied picnic tables, tents and even music for our volunteers. The Watershed Council hosted a wonderful BBQ hamburger lunch (cooked by The Lunch Box). Participants were asked to fill out a survey administered by UW Anthropology graduate student, Sara Breslow, to try to better understand who comes to volunteer planting events, what motivates them to come and what they learn through their experience. Respondents were enthusiastic about the survey, partly induced by the great free T-shirt they received for their time. A total of 58 participants completed the questionnaire ranging in age from 11 to 79. The top two reasons for coming to the planting were “to give something back to the environment” and because they “enjoy being and working outdoors”. A frequent answer to the best part of the day was “learning how to plant trees”. Roughly 70% of respondents had participated in ecological restoration events in the past. Respondents listed “Development” most frequently as the major factor threatening both the environment and salmon populations in the Skagit Valley. We hope to utilize more survey results to improve the volunteer experience, recruit future volunteers, improve the educational potential of our volunteer projects, and assess if and how the experience motivates people to support and implement future restoration projects.

In the summer, the Parks Department began moving dirt for the second phase of this large-scale habitat restoration project. The second phase of the project is funded by the Salmon Recovery Funding Board and involves recreating historic landscape processes and a functioning off-channel slough system. This type of habitat is rare in the lower Skagit River, where most of this type of habitat has been cut off by the dike system that protects property from flooding events. The newly created off channel habitat will act as a refuge for wildlife and offer protection and shelter to salmon at various life stages during times of high water. Look for a notice in September about a community celebration at Edgewater Park to highlight both elements of this important project.