Here's the letter I wrote to the City of Shoreline as part of my 5th grade Citizen Science project --
Vehd Reddy
5th grade student
15201 Meridian Ave n.
Shoreline, WA 98133
5/31/18
17500 Midvale Ave N
Shoreline, WA 98133
Dear Will Hall,
I am a fifth grader at the Evergreen School. I have discovered that there are more invasives along the banks of Thornton Creek than native plants. I believe that this is a pressing problem that affects the health and stability of our creek. If plants are killed by the invasives vital and lively animals such as salmon will have no choice but to go elsewhere or die. If we allow that to happen the stream habitat will be taken over by invasives and animals that are crucial to the health of hundreds of other animals will die. you can see that the banks are invasive choked through these photos taken by other 5th graders.
My solution is to spray the invasives with a wine vinegar based spray, that will kill all the invasives such as blackberries and horsetails. The product is called Blackberry & Brush Blocker. I would like to use this product because the wine vinegar in it will rapidly lower the ph in the soil, because of that the plants will wilt and die over a short amount of time.
Thornton Creek has a lot of invasives but we can solve that if we work together. I hope that you can look at this issue and write back to my school if I need to get a permit. If I need to get a permit can you point me in the right direction please. Feel free to contact me any time. I now hope that you care just as much as I do about this issue.
Sincerely,
Vehd Reddy