With Chinook salmon largely disappeared from Kirkland steams and listed as a threatened species, the King County Conservation District (KCCD) is always looking for some volunteers to help bring them back.

The KCCD has been one of the lead agencies heading an effort to keep the local watershed clean enough to support fish runs and spawning habitat. Volunteer program coordinator Jacobus Saperstein managed to round up a dozen volunteers over the weekend for KCCD salmon habitat restoration work at Totem Lake.

“There’s a whole lot of blackberries we’ll be shoveling out,” he said.

Saperstein said invasive, non-native plants such as blackberries are disrupting the natural ground cover and shade that is part of Kirkland’s “riparian buffer-zone.” By planting a buffer around Totem Lake, which is a tributary to Juanita Creek, he hoped their efforts would eventually keep the water temperature cooler and cleaner to coax salmon back into area steams.

“It’s one little drop in the bucket,” he said. “But we’re increasing the ecological function of the wetlands.”

The city and several local neighborhoods also are active in volunteer efforts to improve water quality through invasive plant removal, focused on upland forested areas.

For more information on the city of Kirkland’s volunteer work on maintaining the local environment and water quality, contact Sharon Rodman at 425-587-3305.