On Friday September 22, 2017 (the first day of Autumn) we closed the office and all available hands went out to help Portland Parks and Recreation and Willamette Riverkeeper with a Community Service Day in Sellwood Park. We spent the day on trash pickup and removing invasive plants like Himalayan Blackberry and Thistles, Death Shade and poison hemlock. This year the park looked better than it ever has before with new fence and brush cutting in the back areas. We were able to use the recent rain soft ground to more easily remove blackberries and thistle all the way down to the bottom of the roots. Isabel LaCourse of Portland Parks led our work efforts in the woods and Marci Krass of Willamette Riverkeeper gave us a lunch time presentation on Willamette river remediation and repair projects. We even got to see a collection of Wapato in the wetland area with their large berries. It was hard work but well worth the effort and we enjoyed the trip back and forth to Riverplace Marina on the 1967 Kenner Suwanee that served as our transport boat.