Under grey skies and cool, damp air, Woody Hertzog walks up a wood chip trail up the side of a steep hill near his Sammamish home. Along the way, he points out several areas where Washington-native plant species are making a comeback on ground that, just a few months ago, was choked by blackberry bushes.
The entrepreneur and youth football coach for Skyline High School is leading the charge to restore this pocket of the plateau’s natural beauty, nestled away in the Eagle Ridge addition hanging over the shores of Lake Sammamish. Joined by his neighbors and even a local Cub Scout pack, Hertzog has been working for two years to change the 3.5-acre site from a bush-choked hillside to a beautiful pocket of native wetlands.
“I was running on the East Lake Sammamish trail every day,” Hertzog said. “I got sick of it, I got bored seeing the same tree, the same bush go by. At the same time my son asked if I could cut a hole through the blackberries so that he could see the creeks that used to run through there.”
After cutting through the blackberry bushes in the summer of 2013, Hertzog realized he got a full day’s workout. Clearing blackberries on land owned by the Eagle Ridge Homeowner’s Association across the road from his house, Hertzog replaced running alongside Lake Sammamish as his daily exercise. Reaching back to an area where a small native spring and creek formed a small wetlands area, Hertzog planted native species of plants to keep the blackberries from regrowing and choking out the land again. At the same time, he began laying down paths to keep from trampling the plants he put in.
As Hertzog worked, neighbors began to see the natural beauty he was uncovering, asking how they could help. As neighbors began to chip in with labor and helping to buy plants, Hertzog began to research wetlands restoration. Since then, the project has just taken off from there, he said.
Today, more than 200 yards of trail winds through plantings of native hemlock, red alder, nootka rose, indian plum and more.
The restoration project has also drawn native wild animals back to the area.
“When I moved in here 12 years ago, it wasn’t completely overgrown. The wildlife packed up and left when the invasive species came in,” Hertzog said. “What we’re seeing now is that the wildlife is all coming back. We’ve built some bat houses … the bald eagles have come back. We even have a family of deer that just lay up here.”
Last year, Cub Scout Pack 684 also spent time on the trail, planting more than 20 plants. While the trail is on private property and not open to the public, the homeowner’s association is inviting scouting groups and schools to help, learning some about Washington’s native state in the process. The association is also accepting donations of native plants for the project.
For more information or to find out how to help, email eagleridgewetlands@gmail.com.
