By David Rosen
Volunteers swarmed and worked, cut and carried, grabbed and gathered garbage and invasive species of plants to help restore the Duwamish Green Belt today April, 22, Earth Day.

This year, Earth Day is themed “A Billion Acts of Green” - a people-powered campaign to generate a billion acts of environmental service and advocacy before Rio +20 the United Nations conference on Sustainable Development.

EarthCorps, Nature Consortium, The Green Seattle Partnership and the Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation celebrated Earth Day by restoring the largest contiguous greenbelt in Seattle on the West Duwamish.

The greenbelt is home to a diverse population of wildlife and provides an important corridor for migrating birds. EarthCorps led 50 volunteers to perform restoration site maintenance (invasive plant removal, weeding and mulching) on this 5 acre restoration site just north of South Seattle Community College.

The West Duwamish Greenbelt, is the largest greenbelt in the city. This 181.64 acre greenbelt is home to foxes, red-legged frogs, hawks, bald eagles and a plethora of native plant life. The greenbelt encompasses the extended forest along the eastern slopes of West Seattle that is visible from I-5. In 2001, Seattle Parks and Recreation purchased a wooded 10-acre site in the West Duwamish Greenbelt that forms a significant link in one of Seattle's largest wildlife habitat corridors. The property was a very high priority in the community for preservation.

EarthCorps has been working with local stewardship groups and the City of Seattle over the past 5 years with the goal of restoring this important greenbelt.

Carrie Moers who is the Marketing Manager for Windward Environmental was out today with her work group helping to clean up the greenbelt. Moers said, “ Our company has invested in the Duwamish since we first opened up back in 2000. We wanted to get our team out of the office today to help out the environment to celebrate Earth Day.”