Fifty volunteers spent a cold morning at Kirkland's Saturday, clipping blackberries and digging roots out of muddy ground as part of an ongoing effort to restore the park to a healthy native habitat.
The two-acre park is along the and linked by the abandoned railway with nearby 26.6-acre .
The Highlands neighborhood has worked closely with the Green Kirkland partnership and the University of Washington's Restoration Ecology program to remove invasive English ivy and Himalayan blackberry that were smothering native vegetation. Volunteers have removed old tires, beer bottles and invasive plants from more than half of the park, and replanted it with native species.
When break time arrived, the volunteers were treated to "snack sacks" donated by Sasi's Cafe. Each sack contained a cup of delicious soup, a slice of crusty bread, and a gourmet cookie. Cafe owner Roland Oberholzer says the cafe, currently located at the at 12630 NE 59th Street, will soon relocate to the new Kirkland Market on Lake Street in downtown Kirkland.
