Volunteers turned out from one end of Pierce County to the other last fall to help plant thousands of trees and shrubs in an effort to restore and enhance fish and wildlife habitat and improve water quality.

The District would like to extend a hearty “Thank You!” to all those who participated in these plantings, from the warm, later summer days in September to the crisp fall mornings of October, to the cold and soggy rains of November. Because of you, some of our county’s most valuable natural resources are now on the road to providing the full potential of their ecological function.

Top Photo: On October 17, volunteers from the District and PCC Farmland Trust joined forces to complete restoration of the stream buffer along the headwaters of Ball Creek near Orting. This effort has been underway for a year, with more than 800 new plants installed over the course of multiple work parties.

Left: Terry Robbins was one of almost 20 volunteers who helped plant more than 300 plants along a drainage that flows from a horse facility near Gig Harbor into Wollochet Bay on September 26.
 
Above: Volunteers of all ages helped plant both banks of an 800’ section of the South Fork of Muck Creek in Graham on October 3, proving you’re never too young (or too old!) to take care of our streams.

Right: Clarks Creek, a tributary to the lower Puyallup River, was the recipient of some habitat TLC in the form of a planting that will transform a field of reed canary grass into a multi-dimensional streambank of trees and shrubs.