Spring Weather, and a Fence

The last few days have shown us that Spring can come. Amid news of a Crystal Mountain ski lift getting wiped out by an avalanche, it’s nice to see Madrona Woods reliably regenerating itself: osoberry, red-flowering currant, and trillium are as usual the early season providers of hope, color, scent, and proof of life.

But what’s new? We have a fence at the Grand/Spring entrance. This fence was installed by the Seattle Parks Department’s Natural Areas Crew. It is intended to support restoration of an area where a large amount of native vegetation was removed, by a person or persons unknown. The Parks Crew built the fence, planted new native vegetation, and mulched the area. Thanks to Lisa Ciecko and Mark Mead at Parks/Green Seattle Partnership for making this happen so well and so quickly!

If you walk by this entrance, please check out the fence, and please keep an eye out for persons removing vegetation. Any Madrona Woods volunteer (even if working solo) will always be happy to talk to you and explain what they are doing. Feedback about the fence may be sent to me, petermason065@gmail.com.

The Woods is Always Changing

Madrona Woods offers an ever-changing display for us to enjoy. During this Earth Day month, we can all take pleasure in the last of the early-blooming skunk cabbage and Indian plum, and in the salmonberry, thimbleberry, fringe-cup and trillium. We can admire the new plants that have been put into the final area of our active restoration in the south end of the park and be thankful for the hard-working volunteers who have put more than 3000 there this fall, winter, and spring.

The entire restoration has been, and continues to be, an ongoing venue for learning and discoveries. Even after the last plants are put in this spring, there will be a need for continuing maintenance and, of course, sources of money to help deal with the expected and unexpected. Many of us in Friends of Madrona Woods (we hope with continuing community support) will stick around to watch the results of our 16 years of labor become more and more beautiful as they mature.

An example of how the Woods is always creating new challenges is Madrona Creek. Volunteers have spent two work parties repairing a section that was disappearing into a large sink hole just east of the Spring Street bridge. They filled the hole and diverted the creek for a month while a new channel set up. Then they put gravel and rocks of several sizes in the new streambed and released the creek. As of this writing, the water was going above ground on both sides of the park’s first small island. Admire it from the bridge.

Call for Pledges

We are putting together grant proposals for a project to restore the final unrestored 1.5 acre SE corner of Madrona Woods. We also plan to add a kiosk and some interpretive signs. As part of applying for a Department of Neighborhoods grant, we need pledges of volunteer hours from community members. Anyone who is willing to pledge time to do any of the following:

• Restoration work: clearing and planting
• Fundraising
• Social media (Facebook??)
• Work party food
• Sign design
• Plant selection
• Ideas for what to do with the car when we uncover it.

Please contact Peter Mason at 388-6490, peterma5 at msn dot com.

There will be more details here about this project as it proceeds.

Time to Admire

Those of us who have invested so much in the Madrona Woods restoration are getting a grand payoff now as we watch nature take over where we’ve provided openings in the woods, the ravine, and the natural area. The plants we put in are growing and creating lush landscapes and habitat. Madrona Park Creek is flowing through the scenic ponds and into the lake, giving us its lovely sound and providing nutrients for migrating salmon fingerlings. And we thrill to the wonderful self-regeneration of native plants happening in some parts of the woods that have been cleared of invasives: thimbleberry in the meadow, bunches of trilliums popping up in unexpected places in early spring, and swaths of Oregon grape and salal filling in all over.
We hope many of you are enjoying the beauty and growing diversity with us. Put a walk through the woods or cove on your summer agenda. Let me know if you’d like a guide to help you identify plants and to discover where to look for particular favorites. Or go to the native plant Gallery, to find pictures of native plants in the different seasons.
Our planters par excellence over the past few months have been Ann, Deirdre, and Peter. Deirdre and Peter have tackled the steep slopes which are hard for many to access. Deirdre has planted around 1,500 natives, and Peter has planted around 500, many of which he propagated himself. Many thanks to them for their dedication and hard work. Since these plants will need to be watered over the dry summer months, we’ll be suspending our regular monthly work parties so our more goat-footed volunteers can put their effort there whenever it’s timely.

Farewell and Thanks

We bid a fond farewell to students who have been working with us throughout the school year. Lauren Honican from Garfield and Letha Penhale from Nathan Hale came faithfully on the second Sunday of each month to remove invasives, mulch, and plant native plants along the sidewalk between Spring Street and Lake Washington Boulevard. They made a tremendous difference. We enjoyed working with them and are most grateful.

Our UW Capstone team of Kim Jones, Frosty Hance, and Jason Saura tackled the steep hillside west of Lake Washington Boulevard, working with groups of volunteers to remove invasives, apply jute netting to the steepest portions, and plant and mulch on the slope and ridge above. They also made a huge difference, and we will miss working and learning with them.

We are extremely grateful to Mimi Kraus for her generous bequest to enhance Madrona’s parks and recreational facilities and to the Madrona Community Council for its allotment of $25,300 to Madrona Woods. We’re glad to be able to pay off debst incurred during the stream daylighting project and to be able to hire professiona help to take up where the Capstone team left off clearing and planting along the Boulevard.

Some Philosophizing

We’ve heard from a couple of people who were disturbed by recent activities in Madrona Woods involving maintenance of trails—raking leaves off the trails in the autumn and adding thick, compacted gravel on one trail in February. But we believe both incidents point to a larger issue—the overall look and feel of the woods.

Many of us who have been working to restore this park to a more natural and sustainable place also cherished the woods for the somewhat mysterious getaway it provided for kids and adults before 1996. We started out with the simple goal of getting rid of the ivy climbing trees and choking out growth in the understory.

Part of the early process involved education of those who chose to contribute to the effort and others in the community. Through a series of walks led by experts in several environmental fields, we learned that if we didn’t undertake more serious restoration, we would probably end up with a virtual ivy/holly/laurel desert in 50 years. So we got grants and developed plans. Before we could proceed with the more ambitious of the plans, we had to involve the Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation, the manager of the park. They approved our plans in 2000, and we agreed to follow their procedures and guidelines.

We’ve made great progress on all of our objectives, but there’s no question that the nature of the woods has changed. Where the ivy, laurel, holly, and blackberries once provided a lush, green, and private look, now there are open cleared areas covered by brown mulch with relatively small trees and shrubs slowly growing in. The trails have been widened and stabilized according to Parks Department standards. The new trail leading down to Lake Washington Boulevard, with all its steps, is far from primitive, and plants are slowly growing in along it. Daylighting the stream has meant rearrangement of the ravine along the north edge of the woods and the lawn area of Madrona Park.
We have gotten mostly positive feedback for these projects, but we know there are people who liked the old way better. We’re sorry not everyone can be pleased, but those with the commitment and energy to put into it have obviously done things the ways that seemed best to them.

Remember, the small plants will grow in over time, bringing more green and lushness back to the spaces that now seem open and too tended. This will also bring more diversity for wildlife. We’re committed to keeping the trails safe and comfortable for most people to use. This means raking leaves off of them in the fall so they don’t decompose and speed the break-down of the surface. And it means in especially mud-and-slide-prone areas, using the Parks Department’s thick, packed gravel for stability and longevity. It too will weather and look less stark over time.

Though much of the restoration is far enough along that we can’t change it, there are many details decided day by day. Don’t hesitate to let us know if you have ideas that would make Madrona Woods more like what you want it to be. In the meantime, try to imagine what it will become.

Congratulations are in Order

We’re so proud of two of our Friends of Madrona Woods team for their recent awards. Congratulations to Joan Scott for her Lifetime Resident Award from the Madrona Community Council on Neighborhood Appreciation Day. Her tireless efforts on behalf of Madrona Woods for 14 years, especially at the thankless job of treasurer for the last ten, were rightfully recognized.

And our landscape architect, Peg Gaynor of Gaynor, Inc., won two of the top three honor awards in the design category given by the Washington Chapter of the American Association of Landscape Architects. The jury said the Madrona Woods restoration was “impressive for its consistent long-term effort; it has been an 11-year collaborative engagement between the landscape architect and a community of hundreds of volunteers. Equally impressive is the quality of the result. The accomplishments are formidable, including habitat restoration, landscape stabilization, trail construction, bridges and water features.” Gaynor Inc.’s other award was for Conceptual Design and being part of SVR Design Team for the Thornton Creek Water Quality Channel at Northgate.

Celebration

We did it!

Friends of Madrona Woods called the community out on a sunny July day to celebrate the completion of the Madrona Park Creek daylighting!

About 25 neighbors and supporters joined members of the FOMW board and Parks Superintendent Tim Gallagher to swap tales of restoration present and past, listen to brief speeches, and eat cookies with lemonade while looking over the new Madrona Park wetland cove. Then several enjoyed a tour of the daylighted stream and part of Madrona Woods. Pictured with Superintendent Gallagher (far right) are board members (left to right) Ann Bucher, Joan Scott, Bill Scott, Paul Beveridge, Michael Quirk, Deirdre McCrary, and Judith Starbuck. Missing were John Lahti, John and Betsy Darrah, and Peg Gaynor, landscape architect and consultant.

Spring Native Plant Walk

Join Friends of Madrona Woods, Seattle Urban Nature, and Eastside Audubon for a walk through Madrona Park at 10:00 a.m., Sunday, April 26. See and hear about the latest restoration projects, admire native plants as they leaf and bud, and maybe play a game to develop observation skills. The Madrona community is invited; bring the whole family. Meet on the sidewalk by the pond east of Lake Washington Boulevard in the new natural area.

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