Whatcom Creek Trail Improvements

The clouds parted Feb. 16 as volunteers spent two hours planting native vegetation on a stretch of Whatcom Creek Trail.

The City Lights Condo Association entered a partnership with Bellingham Parks and Recreation Department last fall and adopted a stretch of the trail along its Alabama Hill property west of Saint Clair Park. Whatcom Creek Trail runs from Whatcom Lake to Maritime Heritage Park and Bellingham Bay. The group contacted the department with concerns about invasive Himalayan blackberry plants and alder trees on the land between the trail and homes.

“It’s been increasingly invasive and it’s amazing, it was just solid trees and blackberries,” said Margot Day, a member of the association. “But because of the forest behind, the trees were all leaning perilously in this direction. And you get a storm and they fall down and they damage buildings.”

Whatcom Creek Greenway and Trail is a priority project in the city Parks, Recreation and Open Space Plan. While the city does not have the funding or staff necessary to maintain every trail, it provides support and encourages groups to join the Adopt-A-Trail Program. Groups such as Kiwanis, Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association and businesses along the trail have already partnered with the Parks Department to improve habitat and trail quality.  

“When you remove non-native species like Himalayan blackberry, there’s more diversity in the vegetation, which supports greater biodiversity in wildlife and insect life. A biodiverse edge is more able to respond to changes in the environment,” said Rae Edwards, the Parks Volunteer Program coordinator.

Each project is approved individually after a Parks Department employee evaluates the site and identifies what changes community members and the city want to accomplish, said Michelle Baragona, an AmeriCorps volunteer coordinator. After doing a walk-through of this site, association members signed a contract agreeing to take over after the initial volunteer work parties.

“[The goal is] to remove the invasive species and replant with natural habitat and that will allow for a healthier, stronger forest,” Day said. “So it benefits all of us. It’s really been generous of the parks to work with us.”

In November, volunteers and Parks Department employees removed invasive blackberries and alder trees from land behind Day’s home before covering the cleared area in mulch. Mulch is a mix of organic materials such as bark, grass and leaves that is placed around plants to prevent the growth of weeds, retain moisture and add nutrients to the soil.

However, improving forest health along the Whatcom Creek Greenbelt will take time.

“This one will take at least five years to get to a maintenance level as opposed to a restoration level,” said Baragona.

           

The Parks Volunteer Program provided shovels, buckets, gloves and the roughly 150 plant starts that were carefully lowered into their new homes. The species planted such as vine maple, Indian plum, Pacific ninebark, snowberry and redosier dogwood will hopefully sprout leaves come spring, Baragona said.  Day’s dog, Kobe, kept volunteers company as they spread mulch around the leafless sticks speckling the plot of land.

For Virginia Vicente and her son Alberto, it was just another Saturday work party.

“I like to help my community,” said Vicente who has lived in Fairhaven Neighborhood for 18 years. She and her family attend as many work parties as they can.  

Improving small connector trails is also a top priority for Puget residents. The Puget Neighborhood Plan outlines goals of supporting pedestrian and bicycle travel by improving trail access and signage. 

“There’s so many cul-de-sacs that if you’re going to drive to your neighbor’s house down below you, you would have to drive three quarters of a mile where maybe its 75 feet from your house,” said Mary Chaney, president of the Puget Neighborhood Association.

Establishing better access within the neighborhood and to other areas of Bellingham is especially important to walkers in Puget Neighborhood.

“Where I live there are a lot of walkers. People being out and conversing with each other -- apparently all the dog walkers know each other and their dogs -- it’s social,” Chaney said. “It’s exercise and fresh air. And it gives kids that access where without the trails they don’t have good mobility.”

The next Whatcom Creek Trail work party is scheduled for March 30 to remove weeds around the young plants. There is the risk that ivy, reed canary grass or herb Robert, also called “Stinky Bob” for its pungent perfume, could move in before volunteers have a chance to weed, said Baragona.

“The biggest challenge is keeping blackberry down,” Baragona said. “It’s an insane plant. You can clear it out in the winter and by spring it could be waist high.”

Maintaining the progress made by volunteers is the true obstacle.

“All the seeds that dropped on the ground will germinate,” Edwards said. “In the next seven years those seeds could sprout. The last part is consistency. If you continue to go back in the next few years to pull them when they’re seedlings it’s a lot easier.”

Without the resources to conduct regular weeding parties, much of the maintenance work falls on trail stewards, like the City Lights Condo Association, said Edwards. But Day and other association members are optimistic about the greenbelt’s future.

“I feel so pleased with the momentum we’ve got going here,” said Day. “We have lots of sections more to go. It’s just a wonderful collaborative effort. We really appreciate the willingness of the Parks Department to partner with us on it.”