Salmon Center hosts MLK Day of Service project

A hardy group of community and AmeriCorps members performed restoration work in subfreezing temperatures at the Belfair Salmon Center on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Jan. 15., a federal holiday that encourages Americans to volunteer in honor of King.

Local AmeriCorps members with the Hood Canal Salmon Enhancement Association organized the “Day of Service” event.

AmeriCorps is a national service program that provides stipends for volunteers, who typically work full time for one year.

AmeriCorps Environmental Educator Brett Larson originally planned a planting project that would add native trees on the Union River estuary.

A weekend of subfreezing temperatures made the frozen ground impossible to dig up, so the group switched to mulching the area and removing invasive Himalayan blackberries.

“There’s always something to do here,” Leticia Sosa, an AmeriCorps member, told the Herald.

Sue Klemp, a regular volunteer at the Salmon Center, said she was taking the cold day in stride.

“My pipes froze, and they won’t be thawing anytime soon,” Klemp, who lives by Lake Limerick, said.

Seventeen volunteers, including AmeriCorps members, showed up for the event, Larson said.