Volunteers tend to parks

Parks: Snohomish volunteers cleaning up open spaces

DAN SATES / The Herald
Members of Girl Scout Troop 392, which adopted Hill Park In Snohomish through the city’s Adopt-a-Park program, listen to Snohomish County Council member Lya Badgiey on Friday before cleaning up the park.

From Page RI
‘Here we get to help the community” added 9-year-old
MackenzieVandewall.
The kids from Girl Scout troop 392 of northwest Washington’s Totem Council were jumping in, with wet feet, to add theft contribution to the Snohomish Adopt- a-Park program.
Adopt-a-Park is an avenue for individuals, families, community groups and businesses to help the city maintain 13 parks and open spaces- Picking up litter, weeding, planting, spreading wood chips — it’s all been done by volunteers who take ownership of the tasks, if not the actual turf
Snohomish City Council member Lya Badgley is the Adopt-a-Park coordinator. Under the picnic shelter at Hill Park on Blackmans Lake, Badgley thanked the scouts, who were on their first outing with the program on Friday.
“I’m so proud you’re Involved. To give back to the community is such a great thing,” Badgley told the girls and their troop leader, Carol Robinson.
Badgley asked what jobs they might tackle. Hands shot up and answers came flying: “Cleaning up garbage.” “Planting flowers.” “Pulling weeds.” “Painting the bathroom.”
Hearing that last answer, Badgley said, “It’s a big job, to get the old paint off and then repaint. You’d need to get your parents involved — sorry Mom.”

People of all ages are involved in Adopt-a-Park The duties can be tailored to fit the needs of a person or group. With a one-year commitment, the city will post a sign of recognition in an adopted park

Tillicum Kiwanis Club member Jim Rahm, who is retired, has helped spread wood chips and make repairs at the Hill Park playground, and has cleaned Clay town Park He also lent his expertise to create a Website for the city program.
”It’s a very worth while project;” said Rahm, who moved to Snohomish from a village in New York state two years ago with his wife, Sonia.

Lea Anne Burke, whose family lives near Morgantown Park, initially complained about pesticide use in the park Now she’s on board with Adopt-a-Park
Badgley took up the pesticide issue, and this year the City Council passed an integrated pest management strategy Snohomish is now pesticide-free in

parks and near drinking water facilities, Badgley said.
“The challenge is the implementation. The city really doesn't have the budget to increase labor,” she said. ‘Now we need manual control” — in a word, weeding.
With daughters ages 3 and 5, Burke is pleased the pesticides are gone. She’s willing to pitch in to keep it that way.
“h’s a long-term thing,” Burke said. “Parks don't take care of themselves. If we don’t want our

property taxes to go up, we have to be willing to share the load.”
Merrilee Boboc owns It Figures Fitness for Women in Snohomish, where members have joined the cause. Their pet project is the gazebo off First Street by the Snohomish River.
“Mostly, we weed. We pick up garbage. We have scrubbed the gazebo and trimmed back bushes,” Boboc said.
Among other businesses doing park projects are Java Inn, Yoga Circle Studio, Starbucks and Windermere Real Estate.
To spread the word this summer, Badgley staffed an Adopt-a-Park table Thursday evenings at the Snohomish Farmers Market.
“One evening I was down at the market with my little table. And a woman approached me and said, ‘Well, I doift live in town, but I see there’s room for help along First Street.’ It was quite a wonderful surprise,” Badgley said.
That volunteer, Connie Murray adopted the First Street restroom flower bed area and an intersection at First Street and Avenue D. She cleaned, trimmed and weeded, all on her own.
“How remarkable is that?” Badgley said. Snohomish, she added, “is a jewel.”
“People respond to that, as something they want to cherish and protect. I’m delighted to give them the opportunity to do that”
Columnist Julie Muhlstein:
425-339-3461) or
muhlsteinjulie@herakjnet.corn.