On October 2, volunteers gathered at the Woodland Off-Leash Area for a work party. Work parties are held at Woodland on the first Saturday of even months from 11 am to 1 pm.

Including droppers-by, 18 people participated in the October work party, and the weather cooperated for us as well. One volunteer was doing community service, and another is a master's student in environmental horticulture at the University of Washington who praised the Woodland OLA for the forward thinking in how this urban space is used.

The record shows that the Woodland OLA has come a long way in the past few years. Today, our maintenance program is stronger and our level of volunteerism is up. We have a cleaner grounds, fewer holes (thank you, everyone for filling in and stopping diggers!), and a more prompt response when something needs fixing. With the massive Parks budget cuts announced for the next year, which calls among other things for 10 furlough (unpaid required vacation) days, the Woodland OLA will depend more than ever on the daily and bi-monthly efforts of volunteers. » READ MORE »

 On the first Saturday of even-numbered months, the Woodland OLA holds a work party from 11 to 1 to maintain the park. Yesterday was the August work party, and we had a nice turnout despite all the Seafair and other events around the city.

In addition to picking up, the main tasks for August were to fill in holes and shovel gravel. Because of the extremely hilly terrain at Woodland, volunteers constantly work to slow erosion and move gravel back to the top of the hill.

Given the hard work, the cooler weather made working more pleasant than a normal August day would have been.

Two large holes dug around tree roots are filled in	Volunteers shovel dirt to fill holes with
Maintaining the gravel is a lot of work! The humans are working hard, too	Sweeping the stairs is also an important part of keeping the Woodland OLA a pleasant place to  visit

After two false starts—one cancellation due to heavy rainfall and the other due to a Parks emergency—the Parks came to the Woodland Off-Leash Area on Tuesday and cut down two trees, one inside and one just outside the OLA. The tree inside the OLA was dead and the one outside had a widow-maker waiting to fall. 

Pasco approaches some tree lengths. The stump of the tree cut inside the park is to his right, and the widow-maker tree is beyond the fence line

  » READ MORE »