Seattle City Light staff will team up with the City of Renton, Earlington Hills Neighborhood group and the City View Church to restore a hillside in Renton this Saturday, Nov. 21. Volunteers will be out planting 520 native plants. 
Volunteers at work during an earlier restoration work day at the Earlington Hills site in Renton.
Seattle City Light staff will team up with the City of Renton, Earlington Hills Neighborhood group and the City View Church to restore a hillside in Renton this Saturday, Nov. 21. Volunteers will be out planting 520 native plants.
Since 2007, Marie Swanson from City Light’s vegetation management team has been organizing volunteers and working with these groups to restore the hillside, which once contained invasive weeds, noxious weeds and soil erosion issues that caused water runoff onto the adjacent sidewalk. The community decided to take action and transform it into a sustainable and green landscape.
The location also serves as City Light’s Beacon Hill transmission line right-of-way. The hillside is connected to other green belts, creating a corridor for wildlife.
Through the collaboration of these partners, invasive and noxious weeds were removed and soil erosion problems were eliminated. After the transformation, the area is now thriving and self-sustaining with little maintenance and the corridors are diversified in native plants to support the resident and migrating wildlife.
Saturday, a large volunteer group will join forces with the Earlington Hills Neighborhood group to help plant and gain field experience. The volunteer group called DIRT (Duwamish Infrastructure Restoration Training) Corps is made up of environmental restoration students.
The volunteers will be out planting trees and native plants from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm.