Mountains to Sound Summer Camp volunteers Amy Spens and Esther Ruggles were back after spending part of their summer on Tiger Mountain, but last Saturday’s 9 am start might have been a little early.

“Where’s the coffee?” Spens asked.

About 100 volunteers arrived early Saturday, Sept. 26 at Tiger Mountain’s High Point Trailhead to honor the 16th annual National Public Lands Day and formed up work parties. Members of the state Conservation Corps — modeled on the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s who spend up to a year maintaining public lands — led the work crews.

They pulled up invasive English holly and Himalayan blackberry bushes and others spent all day closing off the link between the Swamp and Ruth Kees Big Tree trails.

Flanked by preservation partnership members from the City of Issaquah, Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust and the state Department of Natural Resources, Commissioner of Public Lands Peter Goldmark thanked the crowd assembled there and was honored to shed a little sweat with them to sustain the preservation of the land trust.

“National Public Lands Day is an important day to appreciate the beauty and bounty of our state,” he said. “Whether you are talking about recreation, clean water, or revenue for our schools, public lands provide wonderful benefits for all Washingtonians.”

Once known as an economic engine in the area for mining and timber, Tiger Mountain nowadays attracts visitors from across the Puget Sound — making High Point Trailhead one of the busiest in the state.

Jointly managed by the City of Issaquah and the state Department of Natural Resources, Tiger Mountain State Forest has more than 4,500 acres of land there has been set aside for recreation and wildlife habitat. Overall, more than 65 miles of trails and 29 miles of gravel roads wind their way through 13,500 acres of protected land there. Of the 1.4 million acres in the Mountains to Sound Greenway corridor, over $200 million has been spent to secure 800,000 acres are preserved as public land.

Event co-host Doug Schindler of Mountains to Sound Greenway said that the cooperation between the three agencies made limiting development and protecting the natural beauty of Tiger Mountain possible.

“We want to preserve this heritage that we have for future generations,” he said.

Mountains to Sound Greenway regularly schedule tree planting and trail maintenance events all along the corridor throughout the year.

Schindler and DNR manager Doug McClelland said efforts were also underway to restore part of the upper Tiger Mountain Trail which was washed out during last year’s flooding. McClelland said the trail would be rebuilt by next summer and hoped to secure FEMA funding to support the construction of a 200-foot suspension bridge over the mudslide-damaged area.

“These trails don’t build themselves,” he said. “Don’t take it for granted. Chip in were you can.”