On June 9, volunteers donned work gloves and rain coats, grabbed shovels and rakes, and marched out to improve their city. It was Seattle Works Day; and Herrera Environmental Consultants was proud to be a part of it. Seattle Works Day is an annual event sponsored by local businesses and organized by Seattle Works, a nonprofit volunteer organization. This year, nearly two dozen of Herrera’s employees braved less-than-ideal weather conditions and put in more than 80 volunteer hours at Discovery Park. Located in northwest Seattle, Discovery Park has more than 9 miles of heavily wooded trails, and park ground crews struggle to maintain them on their own. The many trails need to be cleared every 2 to 3 years, and the park relies on volunteers to help preserve the integrity of the trail system. Our Herrera employees arrived at the site on Saturday morning to periodic downpours and took the lead in getting everyone working on the trail system. Many Herrera employees run or hike the North Beach Trail, so this was of personal importance to our team members. They assisted with clearing the trail of seasonal debris, cutting back overgrown brush, and installing water bars.

Despite the bad weather, more than 1,500 volunteers put in more than 4,500 hours of volunteer time for this year’s Seattle Works Day. Project teams were active all over Seattle, including Commodore Park, Golden Gardens, The Nature Consortium, Discovery Park, Green Lake, and many others. More information about the event and Seattle Work’s future volunteer projects can be found here.