Wrapping up Spring Planting Season
by Lucy Applegate

Thanks to many great volunteers our spring planting season has been busy. In March and April we planted hundreds of trees and shrubs at 5 local streams, and had a very productive nursery work day. Although we were nearly washed out of some sites, a dedicated core of volunteers braved rain and cold to help get the plants in the ground. At our East Fork Nookachamps Creek site, the creek was rising about 1 foot per hour, but that didn't stop us! We even spotted a red-legged frog hopping its way through the wet grass as we planted. Our North Fork Kulshan Creek planting was more a water quality partnership with local businesses and the City of Mount Vernon, which we hope to tie in with stormwater education projects in that area. The latest installment at Brickyard Creek in Sedro Woolley was on private property downstream from our 1999 project at Sauk Mountain View Golf Course and adjacent to a project done by Skagit County. In addition to these planting parties, we worked with two high school groups to do supplemental planting at two Mount Vernon sites: Trumpeter Creek in Bakerview Park with Mount Vernon High School and Murray Creek near Big Lake with Emerson School. It has been a pleasure to work with these students as they learn about what makes healthy salmon habitat, and to observe the progress of their learning experience. Thank you to all this season's volunteers, to Krispy Kreme Doughnuts in Burlington for a generous donation, and to Wizards of Ooze for making it possible for us to provide porta-potties at each site.