MLK Day at Gold Park

By Julio Gonzalez

The name of the event was Martin Luther King National Day of Service at Gold Park and the event went from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., so I was there for the four hours. One of the event organizers that can verify my attendance is Sam Lebrun. His email is Sam.lebrun@email.edcc.edu. The event was sponsored by CSEL, EDCC Dept. of Anthropology, Blue Heron Canoe Family, and Snohomish Tribe. The objective of the event is to improve the health of Gold Park, which is an Ethnobotanical garden. This is being done by pulling out invasive plants, picking up trash and planting native species. The great thing about having the event be held at Gold Park is that it is close to EDCC and there are plenty of volunteers. The volunteers are split into small groups with different jobs. My duties at the event involved using loppers and shovels in order to cut and pull out invasive plants that were too big to be pulled by hand. I also helped the group clean up at the end of the event.

Members of Snohomish Tribe tending to the fire: picture taken by me

I had volunteered at other parks before, so I was familiar with invasive plants. English ivy (Hera helix) is the most common invasive plant in many parks, and it is invasive because it surrounds native plants and the vines from the English ivy prevents others from growing. What I found interesting was that I didn’t come across any English ivy, but it doesn’t mean that it wasn’t there. The new invasive plant that I was introduced and worked with that day was the Himalayan Blackberry. Invasive plants need to be taken out because they often compete with native species for resources. So, with more knowledge the importance of science in society is evident. Science helps us understand how everything around us works, and it explains the significance of keeping parks and natural areas healthy. If we keep parks healthy, it doesn’t only effect the parks it also helps the area that surrounds it. All the organisms living in the parks are also benefiting from keeping the parks healthy and growing.

Janessa using the shovel to get some invasive plants out: picture taken by me

We did learn the scientific names of the plants that were in Gold Park. For example, the Himalayan Blackberry’s genus is Rubus and species is armeniacus. Another would be the Trailing Blackberry and it scientific name is Rubus ursinus. The biology branch that connects most to the Service Learning event is ecology. Ecology is the study of how living things interact with each other and the environment. We did talk about the importance of helping out at the parks. So, we mentioned how the trees, bushes, and plants at the parks interact with the rest of the environment. They provide oxygen for us. They use the carbon dioxide that we produce in photosynthesis, which allows them to grow. Plants/ trees provide shelter for many living organisms. While I was cutting Himalayan Blackberry, I noticed that many spiders, which are chelicerate (a class under the phylum Arthropods). When the community comes together, we can make a change in the environment and Gold Park is an example of that.

Questions:

Who decides if the plants are native or invasive?

If we constantly cut or pull invasive plants from the ground are we doing more harm than helping?

Is there a positive use for invasive plants?

What I found that was interesting about the event is that it wasn’t only people from Edmonds Community College. Families came and help too, so how do people that don’t go to EDCC hear about these events?