Friends of Lake Sammamish State Park invites you to become part of all the new things happening at the park. Join at the $50 level and receive a beautiful beach tote just in time for summer. We invite your participation in events, restoration, board service or sharing your great ideas! Reach out to director@flssp.org to plug in. Join us by following the link below or clicking on the “Join Us” link on the website.

It’s volunteers like Nathan that help keep our restoration projects going at Lake Sammamish State Park. Thank you, Nathan. And thank you to all of our volunteers! The work you do is spectacular, and leaves a lasting, positive impact on the natural community here at Lake Samm.

Volunteer with Friends of Lake Sammamish State Park: Assist with Walk’n Wag dog walk on March 19 as a trail guide. Become a docent, helping teach environmental education to students. Training begins in March. Event planners wanted! Join the Celebrations Committee to help plan Parkadilly kids fair and a news summer campout event. Help restore habitat to its natural state. Next event is Feb. 11, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Our new Gardening Corps is just getting started. Help plant and weed flower beds to help with park beautification.

Contact director@flssp.org to learn more about volunteering with FLSSP projects.

All-Access Playdays at the All-Access Playground - March 1 and March 30We welcome children of all abilities, ages and skill levels as well as their caregivers to learn how to use the new all-access play equipment on Wednesday March 1 and/or Thursday March 30 from 3 to 5 p.m.

If you like to garden, join our beautification team! With the arrival of the new playground, we will need help in maintaining lovely landscaping for the kids and families to enjoy. Other areas of the park could also use your green thumb and gardening eye. If this is something you would 'dig' - reach out to director@flssp.org

Thanks!

Docent Training Begins in March 2017 Would you like to help the rangers with their environmental education programs? There are many opportunities to work with students at the park during the school year and also to have fun in nature with kids and families in the summer.

Ranger Rick Oakley provides docent training. If you are interested, come see what it is all about.

Contact director@flssp.org for more information.

Hello! My name is Matt Webster, and I am an AmeriCorps member serving with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at the Lake Sammamish State Park, in Issaquah, Washington. I hail from North Alabama, and am beyond excited to be working here in the beautiful Pacific Northwest (for the first time, I might add).I hope to meet you at the park and encourage you to volunteer to work with me to restore natural habitat to increase wildlife.

Please reach out at matt.webster@parks.wa.gov or director@flssp.org

Checkers anyone? The playground’s checker/chess board has arrived and is being installed, along with street benches and seats, along the sidewalk perimeter of the new playground. Just bring your own checkers and find a partner in the park for an afternoon of challenge play with Lake Sammamish as your backdrop!

The other playground pieces including the zip line, 17-foot geodesic climbing net, rotating net, giant chimes and more are expected to be completed this week, in time for the rubber surfacing to be installed next week, weather permitting.

All we need are kids for the Oct. 15 grand opening of the playground! The first 50 kids ages 4-10 who arrive between 10:30 and 11 a.m. will get souvenir scissors to help cut the ribbon!

Join Mountains to Sound to Beautify the New Playground Oct. 8 Families are invited to put the finishing touches on the new playground. Mountains to Sound is seeking 100 volunteers on Oct. 8 to help install the landscaping.

Sign up for morning, afternoon or all day. Children under 13 need to be accompanied by a parent.

Sign up here:

http://mtsgreenway.org/volunteer/sites-and-opportunities/lake-sammamish-state-park-playground/planting-at-lake-sammamish-state-park-playground

FLSSP elects John Sherwin new Board President

Celebrations Committee Seeks New Members Plug into what’s happening at the park by joining the Celebrations Committee. We have had a great year creating unique and fun events including Walk ‘n Wag and Parkadilly this past year. In 2017 we hope to repeat those successful events and add a third, to be decided by the committee. We will begin meeting again in September. Reach out to director@flssp.org and express your interest. Your talents can be used in so many ways to make this a better community and provide more fun events in our beautiful Lake Sammamish State Park!

The playground made huge progress with volunteer help last week, but it is a long way from completion. Next will be the gravel fill around the base before the final playground pieces are installed. The last two weeks of September will be reserved for the poured-in-place rubber surfacing to finish things off. But not quite! There will be an irrigation system, rail fencing and landscaping added in early October, readying for the grand opening at 11 a.m. on October 15. Have you added the big event to your calendar yet?

Twenty-four volunteers showed up this morning to help build the tower, the swings, the zip line and more. It took digging in the dirt, learning to work together with strangers and a lot of sweat, but the volunteers came away pleased with what they had accomplished. Many say they will return Thursday and/or Friday! A few more volunteers are needed to get the job done, ages 18+. At this point, forget signing up, just show up! Proceed to the playground (you can’t miss it!) at Sunset Beach. A pair of gloves, your water bottle and some sunscreen is all you need. Lunch from Zeek’s Pizza will be provided.

Mark your calendar for the October 15 ribbon cutting of the new playground!

OMG! What an exciting morning Monday was! The sun was already warming the perfectly calm lake, osprey were seen flying overhead, and early walkers with children or dogs in tow were out stretching their legs along the lakeshore paths. But the excitement was all at the new playground site as a giant crane lifted pre-formed concrete components of the playground from the truck trailers that had delivered them from Texas. The next big install dates will be next week, August 24,25, 26, when volunteers arrive to add the slides, the climbing net, the zip line, the twin towers and more!

More volunteers are still needed for ½ day or full-day shifts! Volunteers must be 18 or older. Lunch will be provided by Zeek’s pizza. Please sign up at this link:

www.signupgenius.com/go/4090c4faeaf2ca6f94-playground

Get ready, here comes the playground equipment! This week, Cadman’s donation of concrete has been poured for the foundations of the large concrete structures coming to the playground — next Monday, Aug. 15, beginning about 8 a.m.!! Come watch the Issaquah Mining Co. coal mine and mountain as it is lifted into place. And the Mushroom House. And the twin towers. It will be an exciting morning as the playground begins its journey to an October finish date!

But there will still be lots more for volunteers to help with during Community Build Days, Aug. 24, 25, 26. It will take 15 volunteers each day. Zeek’s Pizza will provide lunch!

Volunteers must be 18 years old. Sign up for half day or all day shifts, www.signupgenius.com/go/4090c4faeaf2ca6f94-playground

Looking for a fun team building activity? Come to the park and help construct the equipment for the new all-access playground, due to open by October 1!

About 15 volunteers per day are needed for half-day or all-day shifts for Community Build Days, Aug. 24, 25, 26. Especially needed are volunteers comfortable working with power tools. Volunteers must be at least 18 years old. Lunch will be provided!

To volunteer, sign up at www.signupgenius.com/go/4090c4faeaf2ca6f94-playground

Earth movers, big machines, bulldozers, backhoes are all part of the excitement of the coming of the new playground at Lake Sammamish State Park. Bring the kids and come watch! W.S. Contractors is completing the site prep this week. Then there will be cement trucks coming to pour foundations for the heavier playground pieces, and big cranes to lift the equipment into place.

Volunteers are needed the week of August 24-26 to help put the playground together. While some construction skills will be needed, there are jobs for others that have no skills at all. The foreman can teach you how to spread gravel.

To volunteer, contact director@flssp.org.

One of the most exciting aspects of the new all-access playground will be its zip line! It may not go across a canopy of treetops, but it is sure to be fun for all ages. Just bring the rope back to the top of the starting platform, climb on board the disk and hold on as you zip your way across the playground! Visit the playground site this week and you’ll see that the paved sidewalk around it is nearly complete. Irrigation lines and a few foundations for playground equipment will be done in the next couple weeks, then it’s time for volunteers to help construct the equipment.

If you have an interest in volunteering, email director@flssp.com to be notified of times and dates when they are known.