Beth Compton didn’t celebrate her 25th birthday by going bowling or clubbing, or even out to eat. Instead, she and about 14 friends cleared blackberry bushes and ivy from Cavanaugh Pond Natural Area, which is just off the Cedar River Trail and Renton-Maple Valley Highway.

Compton and her friends were joined by about 10 other people Saturday. The clean-up was sponsored by Friends of the Cedar River Watershed.

Compton and her friends stayed four hours.

“We cleared out a huge area,” she says.

But with a chocolate birthday cake, the cleaning didn’t feel like work.

“It was fun,” Compton says. “It went by really quick for being four hours. It was a good time.”

Saturday was Compton’s first project with Friends of the Cedar River Watershed. She heard about the group through the teens in the church youth group she leads.

“I love volunteering,” Compton of Bellevue says. “I wanted to do something new, and give back. It was good for the environment and a good way to get our friends to mingle,” she added of her and her husband Matt’s friends.

Compton and Matt so enjoyed Saturday’s clean-up that they plan to participate in another project with Friends of the Cedar River Watershed to celebrate their one-year wedding anniversary on Sept. 22.

“We thought it was such a good idea my husband suggested we do it for our first year anniversary,” Compton says.

Emily Garland can be reached at emily.garland@reporternewspapers.com or (425) 255-3484, x. 5052.