Last year was the first Earth Day event in the Park and there were over 60 volunteers who filled a huge dumpster with non-native invasive plants.

We thought it would be hard to top that event but boy did we ever... Bridle Trails State Park Ranger Mary Welborn, working with Foundation Trustee Jim Erckmann managed to pull together over 130 people including Kirkland and Bellevue Parks personnel, Boeing employees. Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and neighbors

Bridle Trails Park Foundation and Washington State Parks provided lunch and snacks for the entire group.

Volunteers worked in three separate locations and removed over three huge dumpsters full of laurel, holly, ivy and other unsuitable material. One team of over thirty folks were from Boeing and they did a fantastic job cleaning up the Acheson property which is the first step to having that property ready for public use. Ranger Mary said they were incredible and exceeded all her expectations.

Another group of 30 or more focused on removing well established laurel and holly trees from the southeast end of the park. They cut down plants with trunks several inches thick, treated the stumps to stop further growth and then dragged the plants to the dumpster, cut them up and put them in the dumpster. It is amazing to see the difference they made in just 4 hours.

The third group included boy and girl scouts who focused their attention on removing ivy from the Park along 116th. They did an unbelievable job and they got it all - it is gone! Everyone did a terrific job and it was such a huge success, it was inspiring to see the team work, enthusiasm and absolutely incredible results. Well done everyone!.

Non-native invasive plants are a huge problem in Washington’s parks, especially natural areas. We have a chance to minimize the ecological effects on the forests and wetlands of the park if we start now and keep at it.