MLK Day of Service at Gold Park
by Janessa Wangadi
I participated in the Martin Luther King National Day of Service at Gold Park on January 15, 2018 from 10 am until about 2 pm, which is about 4 hours total. The Service-Learning Coordinator for this event was Sam LeBrun, and the email is Sam.lebrun@email.edcc.edu. This event was sponsored by Snohomish Tribe, Blue Heron Canoe Family, CSEL, and Dept. of Anthropology from Edmonds Community College. The purpose of this event is to clean up the park by picking up trash, removing noxious weeds, and plant native species in spirit of the Martin Luther King Day of Service. The event also provided space for the local tribes to share their stories and history with the volunteers. The volunteers were put into groups, and my group was in charge of removing the Himalayan Blackberry, which is one of the plant species that are non-native species growing in the park. I also had to pull out English Ivy from the designated area since they are also non-native and parasitic to the native species around them.
by Janessa Wangadi on January 15th.
Participating in this event made me realize that science serves as a connector in a society because it is a tool that helps us understand our conditions to improve our community and the ecosystem as well. The things that I was instructed to do were the accumulation of experience and knowledge to do what is best for the native plants to be preserved in the park. It is important for more people to get involved in park clean-ups because the more people volunteer and improve the plant dynamics of the park, the more efficient the events will be. For example, with the help of the other students who also volunteered the same day as I did, there was a difference in the park because the trails that were laced with English vines were pulled out and the area that my group worked on took out most of the Himalayan Blackberry bushes and roots. The park is also used by our community for various recreational activities, so we should take care the health of the park. It is also important for those who can use their knowledge in ecology to volunteer in the parks because it is hard for some people, like myself, who do not know much about plant diversity to tell a difference between invasive or non-native species. If we do not take the non-native species out, then they will continue to take nutrients away from the native species and further change the chemical levels in the soil that is not optimal for the native species anymore. With the increased urbanization in our area, many of the native plant species are in danger of being wiped out. So by participating in events like these will help preserve the plants that we want to stay at the parks.
This will impact the people and environment in our bioregion because with the information that the staff from Edmonds Community College and the tribes that participated in the event have on plants through research and experience is able to host park clean-up events such as these to help conserve native plants in the park and clean up any litter that we see in the trails. In this event, my group was pulling out the Himalayan Blackberries because they are non-native species that was growing in the park alongside the Trailing Blackberries. In Biology 212, we learned about how natural selection is one of the factors that creates many variations in the family of the species. Here we can see how even though they are of the same genus, Rubus, they still have a lot of differences in shape, number of leaves, and feeding behaviors. Himalayan Blackberries are more competitive compared to the Trailing Blackberries in their environment, causing the latter native species to suffer from lack of nutrients. In cases where parks are not being taken care of, the Trailing Blackberries would not survive in the environment due to natural selection. However, since we have volunteers that take care of Gold Park, we were able to conserve the Trailing Blackberries from doing so. Biology is interdisciplinary because it can be used to assist many different careers that operate in society. And since biology is essentially the study of life, it requires a lot of knowledge from many different fields, like chemistry, ecology, and other science disciplines, to understand biology fully. For example, in this event the organizers inform the volunteers how to differentiate the plants and pull them out correctly to prevent future growth from the same plant. They also know that the non-native species are invasive because of what the non-native plants do to the soil, which are chemical changes and taking nutrients away from the native plants. Then they also use their knowledge in ecology to be able to make decisions in adding or getting rid of plants in the park.
Some questions I have from the Service Learning event:
How do the staff discard the non-native species if the invasive plant species are bad for most other plants?
Where did the non-native species come from, like the Himalayan Blackberries? Have we taken steps to reduce the frequency of the plant coming in the park?
Is it legal for us to pull out non-native species that we see in trails? Or would that be considered destruction of public property?
I noticed that some of the roots of the blackberries were long and deep in the ground. During the process, I also came across many different arthropods being dug up with the root because we are disturbing their environment. Will the increase of pulling out those roots disturb the bugs enough for them to leave that location? If so, will it be more beneficial for us to get rid of the invasive species more periodically or not?
I participated in the Martin Luther King National Day of Service at Gold Park on January 15, 2018 from 10 am until about 2 pm, which is about 4 hours total. The Service-Learning Coordinator for this event was Sam LeBrun, and the email is Sam.lebrun@email.edcc.edu. This event was sponsored by Snohomish Tribe, Blue Heron Canoe Family, CSEL, and Dept. of Anthropology from Edmonds Community College. The purpose of this event is to clean up the park by picking up trash, removing noxious weeds, and plant native species in spirit of the Martin Luther King Day of Service. The event also provided space for the local tribes to share their stories and history with the volunteers. The volunteers were put into groups, and my group was in charge of removing the Himalayan Blackberry, which is one of the plant species that are non-native species growing in the park. I also had to pull out English Ivy from the designated area since they are also non-native and parasitic to the native species around them.
One of the members of the Snohomish Tribe telling
stories before the volunteering event. Picture takenby Janessa Wangadi on January 15th.
Digging into the ground to make sure the roots of
the blackberries are also being taken out. Picture
taken by Parker Lehman on January 15th.
the blackberries are also being taken out. Picture
taken by Parker Lehman on January 15th.
This will impact the people and environment in our bioregion because with the information that the staff from Edmonds Community College and the tribes that participated in the event have on plants through research and experience is able to host park clean-up events such as these to help conserve native plants in the park and clean up any litter that we see in the trails. In this event, my group was pulling out the Himalayan Blackberries because they are non-native species that was growing in the park alongside the Trailing Blackberries. In Biology 212, we learned about how natural selection is one of the factors that creates many variations in the family of the species. Here we can see how even though they are of the same genus, Rubus, they still have a lot of differences in shape, number of leaves, and feeding behaviors. Himalayan Blackberries are more competitive compared to the Trailing Blackberries in their environment, causing the latter native species to suffer from lack of nutrients. In cases where parks are not being taken care of, the Trailing Blackberries would not survive in the environment due to natural selection. However, since we have volunteers that take care of Gold Park, we were able to conserve the Trailing Blackberries from doing so. Biology is interdisciplinary because it can be used to assist many different careers that operate in society. And since biology is essentially the study of life, it requires a lot of knowledge from many different fields, like chemistry, ecology, and other science disciplines, to understand biology fully. For example, in this event the organizers inform the volunteers how to differentiate the plants and pull them out correctly to prevent future growth from the same plant. They also know that the non-native species are invasive because of what the non-native plants do to the soil, which are chemical changes and taking nutrients away from the native plants. Then they also use their knowledge in ecology to be able to make decisions in adding or getting rid of plants in the park.
Some questions I have from the Service Learning event:
How do the staff discard the non-native species if the invasive plant species are bad for most other plants?
Where did the non-native species come from, like the Himalayan Blackberries? Have we taken steps to reduce the frequency of the plant coming in the park?
Is it legal for us to pull out non-native species that we see in trails? Or would that be considered destruction of public property?
I noticed that some of the roots of the blackberries were long and deep in the ground. During the process, I also came across many different arthropods being dug up with the root because we are disturbing their environment. Will the increase of pulling out those roots disturb the bugs enough for them to leave that location? If so, will it be more beneficial for us to get rid of the invasive species more periodically or not?
Aye, great job giving me that PC. I liked how much you related it back to BIO 212, and into the real world. I was also curious about how the plants got to grow in the Pacific Northwest. As far as citizens pulling the plants, I think that would be good to find out, because the invasive species are much easier to pull when they are small.
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