PORT TOWNSEND — The Jefferson County Marine Resources Committee is seeking volunteers to help maintain 18 rain gardens that the committee has installed over the last nine years.
Rain gardens, which are planted with native plants such as catmint, creeping raspberry and red hot pokers, help filter stormwater runoff before it returns to the Salish Sea.
The gardens’ special soil mixtures, plants, and their mycorrhizal and microbial communities work together to filter out harmful contaminants such as 6PPD-quinone, a chemical in tire particles that has been linked to mortality in adult coho salmon.
The gardens only require a few days of weeding, watering and mulching each year, according to Marine Resource Committee press release.
Volunteers can choose to adopt a specific garden or to join a mailing list to announce work parties throughout the year.
To volunteer visit, www.bit.ly/RainGardenStewards.
For more information on the marine resources committee, visit www. jeffersonmrc.org.
