PROTECTING + ENHANCING THE GREEN RIVER + OUR WATERSHED
Green River Coalition collaborates with community, municipalities, nonprofits, educational institutions and other agencies to protect and enhance theGreen River and our watershed.
GREEN RIVER COALITION
EVENTS CALENDAR
Ways to get involved:
Volunteer!
If you like to get your hands dirty by planting trees or removing invasive plants, you can help by signing up to volunteer at one of our many events!
Ways to get involved:
Partner with us!
We love creating new partnerships to help protect our environment! Sign up here if you have an event or project that you would like to partner with us on.
Ways to get involved:
Make a donation!
Whether a one time or monthly donation, all donations go right back into our coalition to help protect and enhance our beautiful watershed!
DONATE
All donations go right
back into our coalition!Past Events
April 15th, 2023
Duwamish Alive! - Earth Day 2023
Earth Day is a very speicial event for us and is one of our annual events in partnership with the city of Kent and Duwamish Alive, where we get to help our Southern Resident killer whales! At this event we continued to remove invasive species to help the successful establishment of the plants that we have installed over the years!
Novermber 19th, 2022
Since we had to cancel our Orca Recovery Day 2022 October event due to air quality, we were happy to see such a turn our for this rescheduled event! It was a great day of learning all about how our restoration work has a cascade effect to help the salmon upstream and orca downstream! We were also able to remove invasive plants like Himalayan blackberry and bind weed and replace them with over 100 native plants and shrubs!
October 29th, 2022
Kent Parks' Re-LEAF Event!
It was great to partner with Kent Parks at their ReLEAF event at Riverview Park in Kent! It was a fun and beautiful day of removing invasive plants and replacing them with native trees and shrubs. This helps restore the park and the Green River that runs through it!
June 4, 2022
Orcas and the Green-Duwamish River
We were very honored to partner with Orca Conservancy and Whale Scouts for this event! We had many educational vendors, guest speakers, and hosted a restoration work party along the mainstem Green River in Tukwila! We will be focused on education about Orcas and how healthy rivers and streams have a cascade effect to help save the Orca! Thank you to everyone who came out!
April 16, 2022
Orca Recovery Day/Duwamish Alive!
Another GREAT event at Riverview Park! We partnered with The City of Kent, Mid-Sound Fisheries Enhancement Group, and Duwamish Alive to celebrate Earth Day 2022! We removed the regrowth of invasive blackberry and live staked Red Osier Dogwood the combat the presence of r! Visit our Instagram page to watch the Livestream of the event!
October 16, 2021
Orca Recovery Day/Duwamish Alive!
We were back at it again at our Riverview Park Site! We partnered with The City of Kent, Mid-Sound Fisheries Enhancement Group, and Duwamish Alive to host the largest event we've had all year! We removed invasive blackberry and replaced them with native plants to protects the salmon upstream and orca downstream! Visit our Instagram page to watch the Livestream of the event!
April 17, 2021
2021 Earth Day Tree Planting!
We partnered, again, with the city of Kent and Duwamish Alive to host a restoration planting event at the beautiful Riverview Park in Kent.
We planted native trees and shrubs along critical habitat of the main stem Green River which has many benefits to the river. Establishing native plants helps stabilize the river to prevent erosion and shade out the river which helps keep dissolved oxygen in the water! This helps local fish like the chinook salmon which are a main food source for resident orca!
January 20th, 2020
Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service!
On January 20th 2020, we partnered with Mid-Sound Fisheries Enhancement Group, The City of Auburn, and The King County United Way to host a planting event at Fenster Park! We had over 80 volunteers and planted 150 native trees and shrubs! What a great way to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for a Day of Service!October 19 th , 2019
Orca Recovery Day!
Riverview Park Restoration Work Party!
We restored a critical portion of Riverview Park in Kent to help restore habitat for our native salmon which is the main food source for our resident Orcas! This is an international movement with over 70 sites spanning from Napa Valley to British Columbia!
September 13 th , 2019
United Way Day of Caring
We teamed up with Mid-Sound Fisheries Enhancement Group and King County United Way for their largest day of volunteering in Washington State! We are proud to be a part of this day! Visit the King County United Way website for more information.
January 20th, 2019
Shadow Lake Nature Preserve 23rd Annual Frog Frolic!
We tabled at this annual event to educate our local community about our coalition’s mission.
CONNECT WITH US
RESTORATION PROJECTS
Dandy / Bass / Beaver Lake Complex
Enumclaw, WA
Bass, Beaver, and Dandy Lakes are owned by King County.
Originally privately owned, this important wildlife habitat was not managed or replanted after a harvest by a logger in 1999 allowing invasive blackberry to completely overtake the sites. GRC has been managing the restoration of this 9.8-acre site in collaboration with King County since 2012.Site activity:
- Revegetation/planting (Douglas-fir, Western redcedar, Willow, Western Hemlock, etc.)
- Watering
- Creation of social trails and maintenance roads
- Dried blackberry canes repurposed as mulch for access roads
- Non-chemical weed control (organic restoration)
- Mechanical invasive plant removal (Himalayan blackberry, Evergreen blackberry)
- Development of monitoring and maintenance plans
- Vegetation mapping
Partners:
- King County
- Green River College
Covington Community Park
Covington, WA
GRC has been managing the restoration of 7.3 acres on this site in collaboration with the City of Covington, King Conservation District, and Green River College since 2014.
Site activity:
- Revegetation/planting (Douglas fir, Western hemlock, Grand fir)
- Trail decommissioning
- The City of Covington installed ADA-compliant trails and needed old trails removed
- Non-chemical weed control (organic restoration)
- Mechanical invasive plant removal (Himalayan blackberry, Evergreen blackberry, Field bindweed)
- Watering
- Daylighting an ephemeral stream
- Removal of old culverts
- Widening of stream-bed and introduction of wood debris and cobble
- Development of monitoring and maintenance plans
- Vegetation mapping
Partners:
- City of Covington
- King Conservation District
- Green River College
Lower Soos Area
Auburn, WA
This site is owned by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW). GRC has been managing the restoration of this 1.8-acre site in collaboration with WDFW and King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks since 2013.
Site activity:
- Non-chemical weed control (organic restoration)
- Sheet-mulching with black tarps (a multi-year process)
- Mechanical invasive plant removal (Himalayan blackberry, Reed Canary-Grass)
- Revegetation/planting (Douglas fir, Western redcedar, Willow, etc.)
- Watering
- Mulching with wood chips to retain water
- Garbage clean-up
- Development of monitoring and maintenance plans
- Vegetation mapping
Partners:
- Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
- King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks
- Green River College
Institute For Community Leadership
Kent, WA
This site is owned by the Institute for Community Leadership (ICL), a GRC partner. This property was originally open pasture with very little riparian shade or native vegetation. ICL acquired 18.2 acres in 2004 and began to restore it with the help of the Veteran Conservation Corps from Green River College and GRC.
Site activity:
- Non-chemical weed control (organic restoration)
- Mechanical invasive plant removal (Himalayan blackberry)
- Development of monitoring and maintenance plans
- Vegetation mapping
Partners:
- Veteran Conservation Corps (Green River College)
- Institute for Community Leadership
WHAT IS THE MIDDLE GREEN SUBWATERSHED?
The Middle Green River Subwatershed starts at River Mile 32 just east of Auburn and stretches to the Howard Hanson Dam.
It includes two major tributaries:
Soos Creek on the north side of the river, draining Kent, Covington, Maple Valley, and Black Diamond and Newaukum Creek on the south side of the river, draining the Enumclaw area.
OUR BOARD
We are all all volunteer Board of Directors with one paid staff.
Greg Wingard
President
greg@greenrivercoalition.org
Bernie McKinney
Vice President
b.mckinney@comcast.net
Marlla Mhoon
Treasurer
mhoonmar@gmail.com
Arturo Zazueta
Secretary
arturo@greenrivercoalition.org
Pete Beaupain
Member at Large
pbeaupain@comcast.net
Gil Bortleson
Member at Large
gbortles@gmail.com
Michael Taton
Staff Operations Manager
michael@greenrivercoalition.org
From left to right: Michael, Bernie, Gil, Pete, Greg, Arturo (2019)
JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST
We will send updates on upcoming events and more.
CONTACT US
Our Grant Funders
Thank you to our current grant funders:
King County Flood Control District & WRIA 9
Cooperative Watershed Maintenance
This fund supports projects that enhance riparian shade to improve conditions for salmon and meet water quality standards.
Rose Foundation & Puget Soundkeeper
Puget Sound Stewardship & Mitigation Fund
The Puget Sound Stewardship and Mitigation Fund is dedicated to protecting the water quality of Puget Sound. It is open to a wide range of groups, from tiny grassroots groups to larger, established organizations.
© 2019 Green River Coalition