Planting season

LYNNWOOD — Janis Martin wasn’t going to let a litte rain spoil her day.

Martin had work to do managing volunteers who turned out March 20 to help the Lund’s Gulch Streamkeepers plant 200 trees and shrubs to combat soil erosion that she says threatens Gulch Creek, where salmon spawn.

“We’ve done cleanup and removal of non-native species for the past three years,” said Martin, a wetlands biologist who lives on a tributary of the creek’s east fork.

The creek, in northwest Lynnwood, is vulnerable to erosion caused by all the new construction in the area, Martin said. Adding vegetation at two strategic locations provides habitat for fish, birds, amphibians and helps keep soil from eroding.

Her employer, The Jay Group in Marysville, allowed her to take some paid time off to work on the project with the Adopt-A-Stream Foundation as well as student volunteers from Edmonds Community College and Spruce Elementary School.

Tom Murphy, an Edmonds Community College anthropology instructor, heads the Lund’s Gulch Streamkeepers.

Murphy also is adivser for the school’s Help Club and runs the award-winning Learn and Serve Environmental Anthropology Field School, which gets college students involved helping nonprofit organizations with ecology stewardship.

“It isn’t that hard to learn how to manage these areas,” he said. “You just need some basic horticulture skills, an understanding of how ecology systems operate, and a willingness to work with government.”