MLK Day Archives | Bainbridge Island Parks & Trails Foundation

Big numbers for MLK Day of Service at Blakely Harbor Park

A volunteer force 230 strong made it “A Day On, Not A Day Off” at the annual MLK Jr. Day of Service at Blakely Harbor Park, Jan. 20.

It was the largest-ever turnout for the annual stewardship day at the park.

How about these impressive numbers across the board:

Blackberry, ivy and other invasive weeds (25 yards) tugged and hauled off to TILZ for composting. New native shrubs and trees (400 total) put into the winter soil, blanketed by yards and yards (50) of fresh mulch. Trash (10 gallons) picked up from nearby roadsides. Even pinecone bird feeders (dozens) crafted by small hands, to support our avian neighbors.

Here’s another great number: $200,000 – that’s the funding granted by the Parks & Trails Foundation to support Blakely Harbor Park restoration since 2014.

That number is multiplied many times over by the outstanding work […]

MLK Day makes welcome return to Blakely

About 175 volunteers made it “a day on, not a day off,” as MLK Day of Service returned to Blakely Harbor Park after a three-year Covid layoff.

Effort was concentrated around the park’s south boundary near Country Club Road. Volunteers uprooted swaths of ivy that had taken hold since the last big restoration event and replanted Northwest natives.

“It needs a lot of love,” Lydia Roush, Natural Resources Manager for Bainbridge Metro Parks, said of the park’s southwest quadrant. “It’s the same methodology that continues to ring true. You pull ‘em out, you come back and monitor and continue to pull, and eventually they’re eradicated.

“We fill in with as much native vegetation as we can to help shade out and keep invasives from taking hold. Volunteers are really critical in helping us achieve our goals.”

Northwest natives introduced included yarrow (Achillea […]