On a lichen-covered fence post leaning wearily out of wetlands-once-farmlands, a bird preens its bright feathers in the light of an early spring afternoon.

Everything out in the soggy expanse, from the slithering snake and the squeaking creature just out of eyeshot to the vegetation itself, pulses with life.

To get a feeling for what Auburn’s Environmental Park is about, there’s no substitute for walking it — preferably, without hip waders.

People will be able to do that just after 2:30 p.m., April 5 when the City celebrates the opening of its first elevated boardwalk through the park east of State Route 167 and north of West Main Street. The 1,700-foot-long boardwalk meanders through the park between West Main and the City’s bird viewing tower on Western Avenue Northwest.

City staff, contractors and volunteers will meet there from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Saturday for one last time before the grand opening to apply the finishing touches — landscaping, benches, picnic tables, directional signs, bicycle racks and interpretive signage. The crew will also install a permanent sign thanking the donors and sponsors who contributed more than $15,000 in cash and services to the project.

Members of the Washington Conservation Corps began work on the boardwalk Aug. 1. Half of the funding came from the City of Auburn, half from the Washington State Conservation Office.

Last Saturday, as she had been doing for two weeks, Theresa Hudgins, a Green River Community College student with a two-year degree in natural resources, was out in the park, volunteering her time. Hudgins, a mother of four, has done everything from putting in wattles — tubes of rice straw used for erosion, sediment and stormwater runoff control — to installing fences and organizing work crews.

“Today I’ve moved about 20 yards of mulch,” a ruddy-faced Hudgins said last Saturday, as she wheeled yet another full wheelbarrow to where it was needed.The work fulfills the requirements for Hudgins internship.

The boardwalk is a six-foot wide, wooden structure atop pin pile foundations, with curbing on both sides, and guard rails in places where it rises more than 30 inches above the ground, or where there are areas of seasonal standing water.

“It has three different viewing platforms,” said Auburn Planning Director Kevin Snyder. “We’ll get some of our amenities in next week. Each of the gateways, or headways, will have seating and bikeracks. We ask people not to ride on it because of its width. Park your bike and take a walk.”

The City is developing the 120-acre, first phase of the park to provide an open space that offers opportunities for wetland ecosystem restoration, fish and wildlife enhancement, water quality improvement, ecosystem-oriented and sustainable economic development, storm water detention and flood control, public education and recreation.

Volunteers last fall planted 3,000 native trees and shrubs in seven planting zones covering 93,000-square feet, along parts of the park bordering the east side of State Route 167 and the north side of West Main Street.

Plans ultimately call for the park to offer three viewing platforms, providing visitors with places to stop and stand, observe, learn, or just sit and relax as they take in all that the Park has to offer. Interpretive signs will educate visitors on the history of the area, how wetlands work and the different birds and mammals that live in or visit the Park. Funding for this project is through a Washington Wildlife and Recreation Program grant with matching City dollars.

An expanded parking lot on Western Avenue was recently completed as part of the boardwalk project and approximately 3,000 plants have been planted around and north of the boardwalk. Over the next several weeks.

Persons wanting to volunteer to help finish the project should check in at the bird viewing tower entrance on the west of Western Avenue Northwest, approximately a quarter mile north of its intersection with West Main Street between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. Saturday. Volunteers should dress appropriate to weather conditions and are encouraged to bring boots, gloves and shovels. Volunteers should expect to get wet as the ground is damp and there is standing water in some places.

For more information on the boardwalk and planting project, volunteering and the Auburn Environmental Park, contact Chris Andersen, Environmental Protection Manager, City of Auburn Planning and Development Department, at 253-876-1962 or candersen@auburnwa.gov.