Thanks to staffers from Bainbridge Island City Hall for giving their time at a Waterfront Park environmental restoration event last week. 

COBI staffers volunteered under their Wellness program alongside volunteers from Bainbridge Island Rowing. The group planted new Western red cedars, sword ferns and native strawberry  along the sidewalk at the park’s east end. 

It was the second in a series of Waterfront Park restoration events co-sponsored by the City and the Bainbridge Island Parks & Trails Foundation.  

The ongoing project targets an area of the park blighted by invasive ivy and holly. An April event saw City staffers and other volunteers clear trees of vines, uproot invasive groundcover, and grub out several truckloads of holly and blackberry. 

The native replanting fulfills new requirements for restoration in shoreline zones. New plants were funded by the City. 

The restoration area is bounded to the south by the Charles Schmid Waterfront Trail, newly named to honor the longtime environmental activist and trails advocate who passed away this year.

Says Barb Trafton, Parks & Trails Foundation Projects Director: “We’re grateful to the City of Bainbridge Island for partnering with us to improve Waterfront Park’s natural areas. The Waterfront Trail is taking its place as a landmark and destination, and it’s great to be bringing the shoreline woodlands back to health.”   

Volunteers from BI Rowing also participated in the event under the Parks & Trails Foundation’s ParksCorps program.  The BI Rowing high school boys and girls rowing teams also participated in ParksCorps at Waterfront Park in November, with more than 50 participants.

Christian Berg, COBI Water Resources Specialist and restoration event volunteer, says the City is looking at introducing new red cedar cultivars in its restoration projects, specially selected trees that may be more resilient to the effect of climate change. Shorter growing cedars are hoped to be resistant to the cycle of dryer summers and wetter winters that have led to a die-off of the region’s native cedars.