The Friends of LBA Woods is a volunteer stewardship group devoted to the restoration of wildlife habitat in the LBA Woods and to advocating for the protection and enhancement of the park for our community.
LBA Woods is the 133-acre wooded portion of the LBA Park & Woods, a city park in southeast Olympia, Washington. The main park entrances are at 3333 Morse-Merryman Rd. and 3500 Amhurst St. To locate additional pedestrian-bicycle entrances, consult the Park Map.
Work Party: Wednesday September 17 from 10 a.m.-12 noon
Help the Friends of LBA Woods volunteers remove invasive Himalayan Blackberry. Meet at the “spoke” –follow the signs from the parking lot off Morse-Merryman Rd. (not Amhurst). Drop in and out as your schedule allows—any amount of time helps!
RSVP to lbawoodsoly@gmail.com Work parties are rain or shine and will be cancelled only if high winds are forecast.
We will have tools, gloves, and snacks. Please bring a reusable water bottle.
All ages are welcome to participate! Youth under age 14 must be accompanied by an adult; all youth under 18 years of age must have a signed waiver to participate. Waivers will be available at our meeting spot.
Guided “Happy Hour” Walk: Monday September 22, 5-6 p.m.
Still getting lost in the LBA Woods? Join the Friends of LBA Woods to learn tips for following the trail and decoding the trail signage. The Alderwood Loop is a gentle-grade, 1.15-mile loop through the western half of the park. This will be a moderately paced, continuous walk. Printed trail maps will be on hand. Meet at the main/east parking lot of Morse-Merryman Rd or at the "spoke" if you are walking in from another pedestrian entrance . RSVP to lbawoodsoly@gmail.com or just show up!
The Mystery of the Outfield Shellfish
On our August 9th Geology Walk, geologists Dave and Beth Norman revealed some fascinating secrets of the LBA Park & Woods. While this may look like our group is standing around looking at piles of dirt, we are looking at mole hills at the base of the “sledding hill” that terminates in the outfield of the baseball field behind the tennis courts. The dirt brought to the surface by the moles’ digging also brought up fragments of shells. How did the shells get there? The Normans offered two possibilities:1) the shells are part a midden (the archaeological term for an ancient refuse pile) where oysters and clams were consumed or processed—possibly by indigenous peoples of this area; 2) the shells were part of seabed sediments dating back to when the marine coastline was further inland. The shells would have been moved around as the glaciers advanced and retreated and then covered over by glacial sediments. Only to be unearthed by mighty moles.
The sledding hill is part of a geologic feature known as a drumlin—an elongated hill formed by the movement of glacial ice sheets. The end of the once-tapered end of the drumlin was cut off when the LBA Park ballfield was built. Which explains its relatively steep face and the localized exposure of the shell fragments.
Trail Improvments Coming Soon
For those of you who access the trails in the LBA Woods from the Boulevard/Log Cabin Road round-about: this communication tower adjacent to the water tower will be permanently removed once the antennae/receivers are relocated to the top of the water tower. This means a future of better trail access and trail signage for this bike-pedestrian entrance.
