Thank you for another tremendous year of volunteering in North Creek Forest! Our final numbers include 3,243 volunteer hours contributed by 558 individual volunteers for 2016. During that time, we planted about 400 native plants, spread almost 110 cubic yards of mulch, and removed about 40 cubic yards of invasive plants.

Volunteers came from local companies, neighborhoods, schools, and community based groups.

For local companies, we'd like to thank Bothell Boeing, Starbucks, and Disney Store employees, as well as Bartlett Tree Experts, Northwest Arboriculture, and Go Natives! Nursery for donating plants, mulch, and employee time.

Students from UW Bothell, Cascadia College, Edmonds Community College, Bellevue College, Soundview International Baccalaureate School,  Woodinville High School, Bothell High School, Woodinville Montessori, and Inglemoor High School all volunteered to help protect North Creek Forest.

Lastly, thank you to all of the community organizations including the Girl, Cub, and Boy Scouts, Whale Scout, and the Northshore YMCA for their volunteer time as well.

The final numbers are in and we planted 161 native trees and shrubs and spread 20 cubic yards of mulch during our Fall Planting Event on Nov. 19th! The work was completed by a total of 62 volunteers who were neighbors, Soundview students, members of local Girl Scout troops, college students, or from Whale Scout. Thank you to everyone who volunteered and helped reinforce the access trails and increased the amount of native plants within North Creek Forest!

We'd also like to thank Bartlett Tree Experts in Kemore and Go Natives! Nursery who between them, donated all of the plants with an estimated retail value of $650.

The beginning of a new year also means the beginning work for a new restoration site! As part of your new year's resolution, or just for fun, join us on Saturday, January 7th for our opening of the 242nd St. Restoration Site from 10:00am - 1:00pm. If interested, please sign-up via our website's volunteer page. Thanks!

The UW Restoration Ecology Network (UW-REN) is a tremendously valuable partner. Each year, since 2011, a team of UW students has planned and executed a restoration project in North Creek Forest. This year's team brings multiple ecological capabilities ranging from invasive removal, plant identification, technical skills including video editing and GIS mapping, as well as multiple accounts of project management experience. Read on to learn more about this year's team, and join us for their first work party on January 7, 2017 to meet them in person.

Our annual Fall planting and stewardship event will take place on Saturday, November 19th from 10:00am - 2:00pm, at the upper restoration sites. First time and returning volunteers are absolutely welcome to join in and help make North Creek Forest healthier!

All of the native plants we will be planting are generously donated by Bartlett Tree Experts, who also donated plants at the Spring event earlier this year! The new trees and shrubs will help stabilize slopes and also fill in empty areas within the restoration sites.

For part of stewardship, there are patches of Himalayan blackberry and English ivy, both invasive weeds, that we will remove to provide more growing room for existing native plants. Identification lessons will be taught by our experienced forest volunteers. We will also spread mulch, provided by Northwest Arboriculture, to reduce erosion and increase soil nutrients as the other part of stewardship.

All of your hard work will be rewarded at the event's end with a homemade chili and cornbread feed prepared by the Friends of North Creek Forest's board members! It will be a delicious end to a rewarding day. And after you fill up on chili - head down to the Forest Research Expo at the Lower Restoration Sites.

If you are interested in volunteering, please complete this form to sign up as it links directly to our volunteer database, and will automatically include you on this event's emails.

Thanks again, and we hope to see you on November 19th!

We are excited to once again have students from the Soundview School visit monthly to help take care of North Creek Forest. This month, the entire 8th grade came out to explore the forest and help keep invasive blackberry and bindweed at bay. Education Committee member, Emily Sunblade took students on an un-nature hike to hone their observation skills and explore deeper into the forest. Thank you Soundview! We always appreciate your hard work and enthusiasm!

July was a busy month for North Creek Forest! We had 2 visits each from the Woodinville Montessori School and YMCA Quest summer camps' youths, as well as hosting two of our regular forest restoration events.

We enjoyed welcoming both the Northshore YMCA's Teen Quest Program and Woodinville Montessori's summer campers into North Creek Forest this summer. Not only did the campers get the chance to explore the forest, learn how to navigate with compasses, and spot things that were out of place on an un-nature hike, they also helped weed, prune and mulch, all of which helps our restoration sites stay healthy. The new plantings are looking fantastic because of your hard work! 

Would you like to help with the restoration? We have two more public work parties this month! Click over to our Volunteer Page for more info and to sign up! 

Boeing Bothell employees came out on Friday, June 3rd to help restore North Creek Forest as part of World Environment Day. 37 volunteers helped remove invasive weeds like Himalayan blackberry, reed canarygrass, and morning glory. Removing the invasive weeds makes room for our existing native plants to thrive, which will help the restoration site continue to grow into a more mature forest. Furthermore, future volunteers will now be able to spread mulch over the cleared areas, which helps suppress invasive weed growth.

After 4 hours of work, Boeing volunteers cleared at least 2,000 square feet of invasive weeds from the lower restoration sites, contributing 86 hours in the process. Thanks again to all of the Boeing Bothell employees who helped restore North Creek Forest!

Help us celebrate the hard work of this year's UW-REN team, as well as hundreds of volunteers who helped pull invasive weeds, spread mulch, and plant natives! Join us on June 3 at 5pm for a BBQ and site tours to learn more about the project.

The party will be behind our office at:
20218 108th Ave. NE
Bothell, WA 98011

Look for a gravel path to the right of the house and follow it down and around to the back! We'll have a small sign showing you the way.

Please RSVP using the form below.