Saturday marks the inaugural Green Kent Day, a city-wide event to celebrate the success of an effort to restore and steward the city’s forested parklands and green spaces.
From 9 a.m. to noon, hundreds of volunteers, Kent Mayor Suzette Cooke and members of the Green Kent Partnership will participate in restoration activities at Morrill Meadows Park and the Green River Natural Resources Areas.
Their work is spearheaded by the partnership, which is a public-private collaboration among the city of Kent, Forterra, a nonprofit, and thousands of volunteers.
The Green Kent Partnership was formed in 2009, with a 20-year goal of restoring Kent’s parks and natural areas while building community through volunteerism.
With this kickoff year, two major restoration projects were selected, but more will follow in the coming year, Victoria Andrews wrote in an email. She is a special programs manager for the Kent Parks, Recreations and Community Services’s Planning and Development division.
As of Tuesday, 126 people had registered to participate in the restoration projects. The group expects more than 200 by the weekend.
“This is a great opportunity to celebrate all the wonderful volunteers who support Kent’s forested parks and natural areas,” Andrews said. “Since 2010, the partnership together has enrolled more than 50 acres into restoration and installed and estimated 9,000 plants with the help of over 3,000 volunteer hours.”
It was recognized early on by the city, before 2009, that there were inadequate resources for natural-area management, she said.
The partnership got a $95,000 boost via a grant from the King Conservation District and was able to assess baseline conditions of 1,344 acres of forested public parks, wetlands and other natural areas.
A 20-year Park and Natural Area Management Plan was created and approved by the City Council.
“It provides annual benchmarks to achieve success during the course of the project,” Andrews said. “By using trained volunteers to maintain the health of areas they and the city crews restore, Kent is maximizing resources and building community.”
Saturday’s event also marks the first time that the annual Make a Difference Day will become known as Green Kent Day.
“The Green Kent Partnership gives them (volunteers) a greater sense of ownership of our public green spaces,” Cooke said in a release. “They can see the big picture and what restoration will mean to them, their kids and their grandkids.”
REI, Starbucks and Farrington Court are donating refreshments to this year’s event.
For more information, visit www.forterra.org. If interested in volunteering, call 253-856-5110.
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