More than 1,200 volunteers from Microsoft, Social Venture Partners, National Charity League and several Scout troops got their hands dirty as they planted more than 18,000 trees and shrubs for Mountains to Sound Greenway recently.

The Mountains to Sound Greenway connects natural areas, trails, working farms and forests, historic towns and communities, wildlife habitat and recreation opportunities from Seattle across the Cascade Mountains to Central Washington.

The volunteer groups joined together to plant trees at Lake Sammamish State Park and Timberlake Park in Issaquah, Riverfront Park in North Bend and Mercerdale Hillside and Luther Burbank Park on Mercer Island.

Conservation corps crews and volunteers will continue to plant trees into 2010.

During the first few months of the new year, volunteers will pot thousands of native, bare-root seedlings to replenish the Greenway native plant nursery at Lake Sammamish State Park. In spring and summer, volunteers will weed, water and care for the trees and shrubs to ensure their survival. In one or two years, the plants will have grown large enough to be transplanted into public parks and natural areas in the Greenway.

Native trees are considered critical to ecological health of the Pacific Northwest. Trees improve air quality and reduce greenhouse gases, shade creeks and streams cooling water for threatened salmon, reduce erosion and filter pollutants, improving water quality, and provide important diversity for wildlife habitat.

Greenway restoration events are scheduled most Saturdays at natural areas between Mercer Island and North Bend. Upcoming events include:

Saturday, Jan. 9 – tree potting at Greenway Native Plant Nursery (Issaquah)

Saturday, Jan. 16 – tree potting at Greenway Native Plant Nursery (Issaquah)

Saturday, Jan. 16 – invasive weed removal at Riverfront Park (North Bend)

Saturday, Jan. 23 – tree potting at Greenway Native Plant Nursery (Issaquah)

Saturday, Jan. 23 – invasive weed removal at Riverfront Park (North Bend)

For more information or to volunteer, visit www.mtsgreenway.org/volunteer or contact 206-812-0122 or volunteer@mtsgreenway.org.