City of Redmond Council member Hank Myers joined Waste Management employees in planting native trees and shrubs along Bear Creek in Redmond at a Mountains to Sound Greenway volunteer event on Thursday.

Bear Creek Park, a natural area in the urban heart of Redmond, provides a wildlife corridor through the city. Sockeye salmon travel through Bear Creek; beavers live along the creek and a report of a bobcat came in from the day before the event.

Waste Management employee Robin Freedman also joined Myers at the event, which was staffed by Mountains to Sound Greenway and EarthCorps staff and crews.

The Mountains to Sound Greenway is the 1.5 million-acre landscape connecting Puget Sound and central Washington that has sustained generations through the abundance of its natural resources. Alpine peaks, wilderness lakes and forests connect by road, rail and trail to rural towns and city high rises, where local residents live, work and play in communities deeply rooted to the land around them.

Twenty years of conservation have protected the natural heritage of the Greenway.

The Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust was founded in 1991. The nonprofit Greenway Trust works to promote public land acquisitions, connect a continuous regional trail system, teach people of all ages about the importance of conserving forests and wildlife, improve recreation access, create new parks and trails and mobilize thousands of volunteers.

The Greenway Trust is leading a bipartisan campaign to have the U.S. Congress designate the Mountains to Sound Greenway as a National Heritage Area. For more information, visit www.greenwayheritage.org.