Work party will celebrate Arbor Day and Earth Day by sprucing up Cheshiahud Loop Trail

In honor of its ongoing work to enhance Seattle’s urban canopy, the City of Seattle will receive the Arbor Day Foundation’s Tree City USA award from the Washington State Department of Natural Resources on Saturday, April 23, at noon. Mayor Mike McGinn will accept the award on behalf of the City at a presentation to be held at E Blaine Street and Fairview Avenue E. This will be the 26th consecutive year that the City has received the honor for its dedication to making Seattle truly a city of trees.

 “Trees anchor our neighborhoods, helping to establish a sense of place that carries from generation to generation,” said City Arborist Nolan Rundquist of the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT). “It’s important that we not only protect our existing trees, but that we plant more to celebrate Arbor Day, so we can be assured that Seattle will remain a vibrant, livable community.”

The ceremony will kick off an Arbor Day – Earth Day work party which will wrap up at 4 p.m.  Guided by SDOT, over 100 members of OUT for Sustainability along with other volunteers will do restoration planting along a portion of the Cheshiahud Loop on the eastern shore of Lake Union from Fairview Avenue N to Terry Pettus Park (E Newton Street).  

SDOT and the Seattle Parks Foundation are contributing trees and plants, and the King Conservation District will donate over 200 plants and shrubs to be installed on the lakefront trail. Other sponsors of the event include the Seattle Parks and Recreation, Gay City Health Project, Seattle Works, Eastlake Community Council, Starbucks, Equal Rights Washington, Zero Waste Seattle, and the Boeing Company.  

For more details and to sign up as a volunteer, please visit http://www.earthgay.org.

Contact: Ryan Hawkes, 206. 615.1235