Months after the West Hylebos wetlands park closed because of storm damage, city parks maintenance crews and volunteers from AmeriCorps are making headway on rejuvenating one of Federal Way’s beloved gems.

The wetlands closed in November after a storm downed trees across the boardwalk. One large root from a tree took out a section of the boardwalk and caused safety issues for park-goers. Parks Department staff announced plans to repair and inspect the area in November but could not determine when the park would reopen.

Now, Jason Gerwen, Federal Way’s parks and facilities manager, has the goal of May 1 in mind.

“The annual Park Appreciation Day is April 25,” Gerwen said. “The hope is to get that boardwalk reopened after that event.”

And with the “Storming the Sound with Salmon” salmon release event coming up, there’s an added incentive to get the park ready for spring and summer.

Storming the Sound with Salmon is a partnership between the city and school district in that students raise salmon in their classroom and release them at West Hylebos.

Gerwen said AmeriCorps volunteers have held three community service events at Hylebos since it closed. During the first event, volunteers focused on removing storm debris, trees and cleaning up the area while the second two events in January — Jan. 16 and Jan. 19, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day — volunteers worked on “getting a good chunk of the boardwalk repairs done” and scrubbing the boardwalk of its “bioscum.”

“Northwest bioscum” is residue that made the boardwalk slippery, Gerwen said, noting that it’s about two-thirds of the way clean.

AmeriCorps volunteers have also pruned bushes along the trails and the nearby orchard so that the fruit trees will be ready to produce this season.

So far, the 60-65 volunteers have spent about six hours a day at each of the three events, 18 hours total, working on the wetlands repairs.

“It’s a ton of work and we’ve been able to see a huge amount of payoff in just this effort,” said Jackie Jamison, director of AmeriCorps. “For us, it’s a beautiful thing to see because working in school, those efforts take longer for the payoff.”

AmeriCorps, a tutoring program, has a longstanding partnership with the city. Jamison said every year the volunteers do somewhere between five to seven, sometimes 10, service projects with Federal Way.

Their members come from all walks of life ranging from tutors who are 17 years old and finishing high school or those who are finished with school and retired.

“This partnership we’ve had with the city of Federal Way Parks Department, those are some of my favorite days because you feel this connection to the community and you’re making it a better place with efforts right then and there,” Jamison said. “We’re just there to make it so other members of the community can come and enjoy the park and experience it together.”

Gerwen said there’s likely to be another AmeriCorps volunteer event at Hylebos by the end of this month. City spokesman Chris Carrell said he also expects an event on Park Appreciation Day to get the park returned to a safe condition with some fine tuning by parks crews a few days after that event.

After the boardwalk is fully repaired, the next challenge will be to level and raise it so that they keep it ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) accessible.

Gerwen said part of the boardwalk will also be rerouted because getting specific equipment to remove heavy branches on the boardwalk would “be a bigger task” than it would be worth, he said.

“I love the park, I think it’s one of the crown jewels of Federal Way’s park system,” Gerwen said, adding he’s been involved since 1999 and worked in state parks before joining the city of Federal Way. “We’re eager to get it open, it’s just a balance of keeping up with day to day operations.”

For those interested in volunteering at West Hylebos, contact Gerwen at 253-835-6962 or email jason.gerwen@cityoffederalway.com.

AmeriCorps volunteers pose for a photo during a day of community service cleaning up the West Hylebos wetlands, making boardwalk repairs and pruning trees. About 60 volunteers have each put in 18 hours on the park’s restoration since the boardwalk was damaged by a storm in November 2014. Courtesy of the city of Federal Way