Rotarians Come Together to Restore the Duwamish River in Seattle
Back in the spring on Saturday, May 3, Rotarians from all around District 5030 came together and helped restore the Duwamish River. We worked at Diagonal Ave Park Shoreline Habitat on the shores of the Duwamish River. It involved significant work removing invasive species and planting native shrubs and trees. This project was sponsored by the District 5030 Environmental Sustainability Committee in partnership with the Duwamish River Community Coalition.
George Blomberg from the Port of Seattle shared the history of this river as well as the fact that for over 100 years, it was an industrial site with significant pollution entering the river from various industries. Since 2004 there have been major environmental clean-up efforts including its designation as an EPA Superfund site. Carmen Martinez from the DRCC helped coordinate this project with ESC Chair Dave Spicer.
There has been significant progress to date in the past 2 decades of restoration and cleanup efforts of the Duwamish River. Salmon are swimming up the river as the habitat has been improved and Eagles and Osprey can be seen along with Herons fishing on the banks.
Rotarians should be proud of our work and we hope to have future Rotary efforts continue to support the Duwamish.
DG Jeff Borek joined us as did PDG Cathy Gibson and 38 other Rotarians and friends. The Rotary Clubs in attendance included University District Rotary with the most attendees (14!), plus Northshore, Environmental Rotary Club of Puget Sound, Renton, West Seattle, Bellevue, Redmond, Seattle 4, Enumclaw, Ballard and a very new Rotary Club named the Rotary Club of Pacific Northwest Partners for Work.
We also had students from the Duwamish Valley Youth Corps working with Rotarians on this project and great to have the youth collaborate with us!
If you are inspired to become more active with the environment around you, the District 5030 ESC group needs more Rotarians to join us. Please contact Dave Spicer if interested — dtspicer@hotmail.com. And Rotarians out there is clubs without an Environmental Sustainability Committee, consider starting one. The Earth needs more Rotarians involved to help our planet!!
Dave Spicer, Chair of RD 5030 Environmental Sustainability Committee
