Workdays Aspect is focused on environmental restoration and protection of our region’s earth and water. But our environmental and community engagement doesn’t end Friday at 5. Environmental stewardship permeates our off-hours –- as it did on a recent Saturday when Aspect staff shouldered shovels and pitchforks for a Duwamish Alive!-sponsored Earth Day project at T-107 / Herring’s House Parks.
Joining 95+ fellow volunteers from Women in Environment (WIE), Boeing, Microsoft, Starbucks, and other groups, Aspect helped remove sod and spread mulch to prepare park areas for the installation of native plants. The two lower Duwamish shoreline areas provide public access at one of the last oxbows remaining from the original river. The historic marsh/channel previously had been filled and developed as an industrial site, but restoration in the early 2000s removed industrial debris and contaminated soil, and restored intertidal habitat.
The 13,000 square feet (sf) of invasive plants removed, 8,000 sf mulched, and 125 native plants installed for Earth Day by Aspect and others will help maintain this section of the restored river for years. The 13 bug bites, 8 blisters, 4 bruises and 2 sore backs on Aspect staff healed in days.
