Annual Duwamish Alive! clean-up effort needs volunteers for Earth Day activities

Home to King County's largest population of threatened chinook salmon, and flowing through in the heart of Seattle's industrial core, the Duwamish River is an important waterway for both wildlife and people.

In celebration of Earth Day, volunteers will have an opportunity to invest in the health of the Duwamish during the annual Duwamish Alive! clean-up and restoration event.

Last year's Duwamish Alive! program brought together more than 800 volunteers who helped plant native vegetation, pick up litter, and generally make the Duwamish River a better place.

This year, volunteers can work at any of nine locations along or near the Duwamish on April 21:

• Duwamish Greenbelt, with two sites in West Seattle;
• Longfellow Creek, with two sites in West Seattle;
• Duwamish Waterway Park in South Park;
• Gateway Park North – Eighth Avenue South in Georgetown;
• Hamm Creek in South Park;
• Cecil Moses Park in north Tukwila; and
• Duwamish Riverbend Hill Park in north Tukwila.

Duwamish Alive! is organized and supported by a wide variety of citizen groups and government agencies, including:

King County, King Conservation District, Cascade Land Conservancy, City of Seattle, City of Tukwila, Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition, EarthCorps, Elliott Bay Restoration Panel, Environmental Coalition of South Seattle, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Friends of Duwamish Riverbend Hill, Green/Duwamish and Central Puget Sound Watershed Forum of Local Governments, Green-Seattle Partnership, Georgetown Community Council, IM-A-PAL Foundation, Longfellow Creek Watershed Council, Nature Consortium, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, People For Puget Sound, , Port of Seattle, Restore America's Estuaries, Seattle Parks and Recreation and Veterans Conservation Corps.

To volunteer, or to learn more about this year's clean-up effort, contact Eliza Ghitis, People For Puget Sound, eghitis@pugetsound.org, 206-382-7007, ext 220, or visit www.pugetsound.org on the Web.