Hundreds of native trees and shrubs planted at Seminary Hill Natural Area

The second week of tree-planting at the Seminary Hill Natural Area brought together three dozen volunteers to plant 18 different varieties of native trees and shrubs as part of a larger project to build an accessible trail at the city-owned forest.

Volunteers included students, parents and children, senior citizens and kids as young as 3 years old.

Workers at Saturday’s event were rewarded with hot sandwiches donated by Quiznos, cookies and coffee prepared by the Friends of the Seminary Hill Natural Area, and stickers that read “Planting a Legacy” and “I survived the mud at Seminary Hill.”

The trees and shrubs were donated by the Grays Harbor Conservation District and Weyerhaeuser. They included western red cedar, red alder, cascara, red-osier dogwood, vine maple, Pacific ninebark, Nootka rose and many other varieties of vegetation native to the Pacific Northwest.

The seedlings will be watered over the summer. Anyone interested in helping with the ongoing project is invited to email goseminaryhill@gmail.com or contact the Friends of the Seminary Hill Natural Area.

A second round of plantings is planned for next winter in an area just above the parking lot. Weeds will be mowed and controlled over the summer in preparation.

“Thank you to everyone who came out to help,” said Brian Mittge, president of the Friends of the Seminary Hill Natural Area. “It’s so much fun to join forces with such good-natured and hardworking folks. Even though we got muddy, we had a great time! It’ll be a real treat to watch these trees and shrubs grow every year for the rest of our lives.”