FLSSP 2023 Year in Review
Friends of Lake Sammamish State Park celebrated our 10th anniversary in 2023 and it was also one of our biggest years yet!
1000+ people attended our Signature Events, including Polar Plunge, Walk n Wag, and Camp S’more. We were especially excited that nearly 80% of our Camp S’more families were first time participants! FLSSP is thankful to the many sponsors who supported our community events in 2023 including the City of Issaquah, REI Coop, Virginia Mason Franciscan Health, Banner Bank, Animal Alpine Hospital, Wolf Camp, Michael’s Subaru of Bellevue, All the Best Pet Care, Warm 106.9, and Campfire Coffee. We can’t wait to see our community out at these events in 2024!
340 volunteers contributed 670 hours of work at the park. From picking up litter, to weeding and mulching garden beds, to grubbing out blackberry and other invasive plants, to planting new native trees and shrubs, we are incredibly thankful for the people who join us to give their time to improve Lake Sammamish State Park! We hope to see you out at the park again in 2024!
1000+ gallons of litter removed during summer months. In partnership with Kids Coming Together and the Lake Sammamish Urban Wildlife Refuge Partnership, we hosted weekly litter pickup events at the park for 10 weeks during the peak summer season. Volunteers of all ages found that many hands make light work and the visual impact of a group working together can be dramatic. We removed towels, blankets, clothing, picnic waste, bottles and cans, gender-reveal confetti, and so much more, improving the park experience for visitors and the habitat for wildlife. We hope visitors will remember to “Leave No Trace” on their next visit to the park!
14 restoration volunteer events; 169 native trees and shrubs planted. In 2023, we developed a regular monthly volunteer schedule, offering habitat restoration events on the third Saturday of most months (with exceptions for holidays and weather). In addition to events open to the public, we were excited to work with great groups from Microsoft, Dell, and REI who removed record amounts of blackberry and cleaned up the boat launch rain gardens. Our volunteer schedule resumes in February 2024 and we are always happy to arrange private events for groups.
6 free education and art events in the park. 2023’s events included iNaturalist app introduction during the City Nature Week Challenge in April; an intro to birding event with Eastside Audubon in July; a writing workshop with board member Tiffanny Brooks in September; a history walk with board member Rich Benson in October; a salmon sleuthing walk with board member David Kyle in November; and painting in the park instruction with Paint Local to close out the year. We have far more in store for 2024 and hope you will join us!
36 participants in our Recycle Right poster contest. The park launched a pilot recycling program at Sunset Beach in early 2023 and 36 local students developed incredible posters to help encourage and remind visitors to recycle. Our panel of community judges selected 6 winners, who were announced at Walk n Wag in May. While the recycling program is on hold during construction, we are looking forward to showcasing these winning posters once it relaunches in 2024. Check out the winners here: Microsoft Word - Contest winner announcement (squarespace.com)
Other highlights. 2023 was an important year for strengthening FLSSP’s organizational structure and capacity. We hired a new Executive Director and Operations Manager, added 8 new board members who bring a variety of strengths and passions to our work, and adopted our first 3-year strategic plan to guide our work going forward. Our top three focus areas in 2024 will be:
• Cultivating partnerships by taking an active role in strengthening existing partnerships and cultivating new relationships with local, regional and state organizations and agencies, acting as a central player coordinating programs and improvements in alignment with Washington State Parks;
• Promoting the state park by committing to continuing our annual signature events and offering a year-round calendar of opportunities for our community and park visitors to learn, steward and recreate within the park; and,
• Enhancing the state park by actively working to restore habitat within the park through maintenance of past FLSSP and partner projects, initiating additional restoration projects, promoting volunteer opportunities, and actively participating in advocating for expanded restoration of the park.
Thank you for your support of FLSSP throughout our first 10 years! We are excited for you to join us as we continue our work to enhance and support Lake Sammamish State Park!
