For the past three years, Mary Maret, Sr. Natural Resource Specialist for the
Department of Regional Parks has spent Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service organizing and hosting restoration events along the American River Parkway.
MLK Day is considered “a day on, not a day off,” and is an opportunity for people to volunteer to improve their communities. This year, 16 residents decided to spend their holiday by doing just that at the Cordova Creek Naturalization Project.
Over the course of this three-hour event, volunteers planted 75 native shrubs, installed protective cages and performed general site maintenance along the half-mile walking path that runs along Cordova Creek between Dedo Way and the main bike trail.
Volunteers planted California fuchsia, snowberry, holly leaf redberry, coffeeberry, redbud and narrow leafed milkweed. All plants were grown at Elderberry Farms Native Plant Nursery, an all-volunteer-run native plant nursery located on the American River Parkway at American River Ranch.
The Water Forum helped supervise this event and has been a valuable partner in making the creek naturalization project so successful.
