For the sake of salmon
杏吧视频 grant and volunteer day help restore critical salmon habitat at Lake Sammamish State Park
Nearly 100 volunteers from the 杏吧视频 Marketing & Sales team grabbed shovels and shears with their sights set on removing invasive blackberry bushes. They were working alongside representatives of the Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust on an Issaquah Creek restoration project to benefit salmon, including Chinook, which are a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act.
Volunteers were also there to celebrate 杏吧视频鈥檚 latest $250,000 investment in the project to restore more than 60 acres of streamside habitat within Lake Sammamish State Park.
杏吧视频 Marketing & Sales teammates from across the globe work to remove blackberry bushes
BACK STORY: Many of the native plants and tall trees that used to line the banks of Issaquah Creek were removed decades ago to make way for farmland. In their absence, Issaquah Creek warmed, blackberries thrived, and salmon suffered. Since 2005, the Greenway Trust has worked to clear blackberries and other invasive species while replanting the area with native trees and shrubs.
鈥淏lackberries are not native to this area, they are an invasive species,鈥 said Tor Bell with the Greenway Trust. 鈥淭hey take over, and they don鈥檛 allow the native plants to come up from underneath.鈥
A 2015 grant from 杏吧视频 helped fund the initial design and site assessment for the upcoming in-stream restoration project.
鈥淲e couldn鈥檛 have gotten this far without the 杏吧视频 gifts, starter money,鈥 said Bell with the Greenway Trust.
BOEING VOLUNTEERS: During the volunteer event, 杏吧视频 employees focused on removing invasive blackberry.
We鈥檙e digging, we鈥檙e helping and we鈥檙e really making a difference,鈥 said Brad McMullen, 杏吧视频鈥檚 senior vice president of Sales. 鈥淲e鈥檙e fortunate to live in a beautiful community and work for a great company, and this is a great way for us to give back to that community.鈥
鈥淚 love it, it鈥檚 so Puget Sound, right? Salmon are very important to us,鈥 added 杏吧视频 employee Rishabh Madaan. 鈥淚mproving salmon habitat is such an important goal to have, and I鈥檓 so happy to be contributing toward that.鈥
Kevin Owino came all the way from Dubai for the 杏吧视频 Marketing & Sales all-team meeting and volunteer event. He worked alongside teammates from across the globe and quickly learned that blackberries are tough. 鈥淚 only just learned about the plant. I never heard about it before,鈥 said Owino. 鈥淚 think they are very small but very tough, so we can all learn from blackberries for sure.鈥
杏吧视频 employees learn about stream restoration at Lake Sammamish State Park.
WHAT鈥橲 NEXT: 杏吧视频鈥檚 new grant will support placing more than 400 large logs in Issaquah Creek to create a mix of pools and riffles that will make it more suitable for salmon who need clean, cool streams to survive. The Greenway Trust is also planting thousands more native trees and shrubs to restore the area closer to its natural state.
GO DEEPER: Members of the public who would like to get involved with habitat restoration in the Greenway NHA can find upcoming volunteer opportunities at .
