EVERETT — The Tulalip Tribes and the Adopt A Stream Foundation will hold a tree planting at 9 a.m. Saturday on the west fork of Quilceda Creek.
This will be the latest in the efforts from the two groups in the last two years to restore the area and create better habitat for salmon, including putting down logs and removing invasive plants.
“We are going to expand the small ribbon of trees growing next to the creek into a 100-foot-wide riparian zone on both sides of the stream,” Adopt A Stream Fish and Wildlife Manager Walter Rung wrote in a press release. “Over time, the new trees will surround the creek and provide shade that cools the water to temperatures that salmon and trout need to survive.”
Adopt A Stream Director Tom Murdoch said people he interacts with often don’t know what a “riparian zone” is.
“I usually inform visitors that it is “the area of vegetation next to a stream, creek, river, or lakeshore that determines the ecological health of the waterway at that location”…and time permitting share more,” he wrote in an email.
Planting more trees along Quilceda Creek will help filter pollutant run off, and stabilize the banks with their roots to decrease erosion, Murdoch said in a phone call on Wednesday.
The State Departments of Ecology and Fish and Wildlife, the Rose Foundation, the state Conservation Commission, and the Washington State Recreation and Conservation Commission have helped to fund these restoration projects.
The work event will take place at 2925 128th Street NE. You can reach out to Adopt A Stream Riparian Restoration Manager Anna Gilmore at 425-316-8592 or Adopt A Stream Fish and Wildlife Manager Walter Rung, who will be on-site on Saturday, at 425-231-0958.
Eliza Aronson: 425-339-3434; eliza.aronson@heraldnet.com; X: @ElizaAronson.
Eliza’s stories are supported by the Herald’s Environmental and Climate Reporting Fund.
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