Jim Heaney, vice president of the Cape Arago Audubon Society, left, and North Bend High School key club member Brennan Bishop use a device to pull invasive plant species from the area around Pony Creek at NBHS on Saturday, Feb. 9, 2008.- World Photo by Alex Powers

Volunteers organized by the Cape Arago Audubon Society dug in under a somewhat sunny sky Saturday in an effort to continue restoration work at Pony Slough in North Bend.

Urbanization and the invasion of foreign plants such as Scotch broom or Himalayan blackberry have reduced the area of wetlands by as much as 90 percent on the south side of Coos Bay, according to the local Audubon chapter.

Organizations including the Coos Watershed Association, SOLV, Audubon, South Coast Business Employment Corporation and volunteers from local schools have banded together to help restore the slough in an ongoing series of planting and weed-pulling events. The efforts will help ensure the usability of remaining wetlands on the south side of Coos Bay by indigenous species of animals, birds, fish and plants.