Mercer Island parks received a needed restoration to support and preserve native plants and animals.

On Aug. 1, local volunteers worked on a restoration project for Luther Burbank Park. They helped get rid of English Ivy, a non-native species that expands quickly and takes nutrients from native plants.

“We were removing English ivy, a plant that is found in our parks that isn’t native to our region,” said Jordan Fischer volunteer coordinator for the parks and natural resources for the City of Mercer Island. “Ivy tends to grow really well in this region, and it can take over an entire park or forest if left unchecked, so by removing this ivy, we are ensuring that this forest maintains the health we want it too”

Fischer highlighted additional reasons for why removing the ivy is so crucial to the native plants’ development.

“We’re helping this ecosystem thrive by creating more space for native plants to self-germinate and giving these plants that are already growing here some breathing room,” Fischer said. “The ivy will grow over native plants, grow up trees and eventually pull them down, it can change the soil chemistry, and it doesn’t provide a lot of ecosystem services that native plants can provide.”

In addition to native plants species, removing the ivy also has massive benefits for native animals and insects. Fischer said a non-native plant can disrupt an entire ecosystem, describing how the ivy is like a temporary all-you-can-eat buffet, whereas the native plants provide gradual nutrients throughout the entire year.

“With the ivy, it is like an all-you-can-eat buffet one time a year for maybe a month or couple weeks for all the birds and insects,” Fischer said. “If we remove the ivy and do not have a monoculture, then we have plants in this region that start flowering as early as February all the way through November. We have fruits and flowers almost the entire time of the year that birds and mammals and insects can eat, so we are eliminating the all-you-can-eat buffet for one month and allowing for this gradual feeding period for all these animals for the entire year.”

While this volunteering effort has helped restore parts of Luther Burbank Park, the entire space is massive, and the park restoration workers need much more help.

“This park is a beautiful gem in this neighborhood, people walk through here all the time, so keeping it a beautiful gem has tons and tons of benefits,” Fischer said. “Having more people out here is the best way to help these parks stay healthy,”

If you want to help preserve your local parks, Mercer Island’s Parks and Natural Resources Department hosts an event every week, and future events are posted to the Mercer Island calendar.