Edmonds' Wildlife Needs You: Volunteers Sought for Edmonds Marsh Planting

Edmonds Marsh is a unique asset in Edmonds as it provides habitat for local and migrant birds and acts as a buffer to filters stormwater runoff before draining into Puget Sound.

Want to help the marsh?

Friends of Edmonds Marsh and People For Puget Sound, with support from the City of Edmonds, are once again calling the community to come be a part of its preservation. 

The goal of a volunteer work party Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. is to plant 140 native shrubs and ground cover to re-establish wildlife habitat at the marsh.

Working with the Edmonds Parks and Recreation Department, People For Puget Sound has developed a plan to address invasive plants and poor quality habitat along a section of marsh buffer. It involves working with local volunteers to remove invasive plants and replace them with native species that provide more beneficial habitat for marsh wildlife.

In 2010 and 2011, volunteers removed more than 3,500 square feet of invasive plants, including Himalayan blackberry, Japanese knotweed and purple loosestrife. 

Volunteers will be helping to replant this section of marsh buffer with native plants. The plants were selectively chosen to address several needs of this site, including the ability to survive both dry and wet conditions, stabilize the buffer slope and provide the right habitat for many of the bids and other wildlife that call Edmonds Marsh home.

Of particular interest is replacing appropriate habitat for the elusive and unique sora, a small bird that sticks close to the ground, hiding among the cattails and grasses.

Those who want to volunteer should reply to Gail Lassman at register@pugetsound.org.

For more information on Edmonds projects, contact restoration ecologist Keeley O’Connell at koconnell@pugetsound.org or 206-382-7007, Ext. 184.