Restoration projects planned for Pierce County's Bresemann Forest, Spanaway Park

Throughout the month of August, a team from Puget SoundCorps – part of the broader Washington Conservation Corps – will work with Pierce County Parks and Recreation and the Pierce Conservation District to help restore areas of Bresemann Forest and Spanaway Park.

The Urban Forestry Restoration Project is administered by the Washington State Department of Natural Resources’ Urban and Community Forestry Program. It aims to help enhance the capacity of urban forests to manage stormwater and improve air and water quality by improving the health and functionality of trees.

Team members from Puget SoundCorps will remove English ivy, Himalayan blackberry, Japanese knotweed, and yellow flag iris from the areas. These invasive, non-native plants are a threat to healthy forests because they compete for water and nutrients, and in some cases even kill trees. Invasive species also clog waterways and reduce water flow in stream systems.

A similar project was completed two years ago at Swan Creek Park in Tacoma (see “Tacoma’s Swan Creek Park focus of urban forestry restoration project,” Tacoma Daily Index, Aug. 13, 2013)

The Urban and Community Forestry Program is made possible through a partnership with the U.S. Forest Service. The Washington Conservation Corps program is administered by the Washington State Department of Ecology and is supported through grant funding and education awards provided by AmeriCorps.

More information about the Urban Forestry Restoration Project is available online here.

Bresemann Forest in Pierce County. (PHOTO COURTESY PIERCE COUNTY)
Bresemann Forest in Pierce County. (PHOTO COURTESY PIERCE COUNTY)

To read the Tacoma Daily Index‘s complete and comprehensive coverage of Puget SoundCorps and Washington Conservation Corps, click on the following links:

To read the Tacoma Daily Index‘s complete and comprehensive coverage of Bresemann Forest and Spanaway Park, click on the following links:

To read the Tacoma Daily Index‘s complete and comprehensive coverage of the City of Tacoma’s Urban Forest program, click on the following links: