With two bald eagles looking down from their perch high in a nearby tree, Eastsiders young and old worked busily on Saturday to remove invasive plants and weeds from Timberlake Park in Issaquah.

The event was one of a series led by the Washington nonprofit, Mountains to Sound Greenway, an organization which since 1991 has worked to conserve and expand the network of parks, trails, working farms and areas of historical importance stretching east from Puget Sound to beyond the Cascade Mountains.

Their effort at Timberlake Park continued a program of battling the Himalayan Blackberry, English Ivy and a myriad of other introduced plants which devastate local ecosystems.

To do this, the Greenway relies on the environmental spirit of volunteers. On Saturday, Issaquah, Sammamish and Seattle residents rose to the challenge. Students from Issaquah, Skyline and Garfield high schools, Issaquah Middle School, Sunset Elementary, as well as hardworking local families, rolled up their sleeves and took on the blackberry and ivy with shovels, axes, and gusto.

Nicole Migotsky was one of a crew of Issaquah High School students who were happy to spend their Saturday morning having a positive impact at one of Issaquah’s most beautiful parks.

“This is part of our community service program, through the Key Club,” she said. “But it is also just good to get out and do some work outside like this. This group of us are all cross country runners, so we like to be able to help maintain our parks and trails.”

Though it was very chilly early in the morning, coffee and hot chocolate provided by Greenway workers kept everyone warm until the sun rose above the tall trees later in the day.

“This is a lot better than the first time I volunteered with the Greenway,” said Issaquah High School senior Nolan Taylor. “We did some work at Lake Sammamish State Park, and it was the rainiest day of the year.”

Hopefully the rain will hold off on Saturday, April 24 – Earth Day. The Greenway will hold another work party at Pickering Reach, along the west bank of Issaquah Creek between SE 56th Street and Interstate-90. There will also be opportunities for volunteers to help maintain the network of trails at Tiger Mountain.

On Saturday, May 1, the Mountains to Sound Greenway will join with Issaquah REI to host Women in the Woods, an opportunity for the ladies to have some fun and do some maintenance work on the Tiger Mountain Trail.

For more information about the Greenway, and how you can get involved with keeping the Eastside green, at mtsgreenway.org