HyleBlog - Friends of the Hylebos

A Fond Farewell to a Really Good Friend

We were joking earlier today about the double entendre's possible using the term "friend" from our name. But today the news is that we are saying goodbye to longtime Friends of the Hylebos Development and Communications Director Sheila Jackson. While we were making fun of the possible jokes about "leaving your friends" or "turning on your friends" the fact is that we are saying goodbye to a true friend.

Sheila has been with us since 2004 and has demonstrated a tremendous professional & personal commitment to the mission of the Friends. Sheila lives in the Hylebos Watershed and has always performed her job with the zeal of someone who knows the habitat we save is her own.
 

During her time here, Sheila has helped

modernize our fundraising efforts - one of the most critical operational areas for those of us depending on the kindness of supporters to continue doing our work. Sheila developed Ruby Dance - our annual fundraising dinner - from some general ideas we had about throwing a fundraising event. It's grown more successful every year and become one of the signature events of the year in the community.

While I'm sorry to see Sheila leave, I am personally excited for her in her new job as Development Director for the Multi-Service Center, another local nonprofit doing great work to improve lives and enhance our local communities.

Board and staff got together at the Indochine to say farewell to our friend, and happy birthday, as it was her birthday, too. 

Goodbye, Sheila. We'll miss you. But there's an always a spot for you at our restoration events and a seat for you at Ruby Dance!

Hylebos: A Photographic Perspective

Our exceptionally talented friend, Seth Bynum, has completed his book of photographs of the Hylebos (as regular readers of the HyleBlog know). Today's FW News has an article about the book.

It's Monday, Where's My Footprint?

I hope everyone had a great weekend. I had a good one, but spent most of my time driving kids from one place to another, making me wonder all over again what the carbon footprint of my family really is.

On the plus side, one of the places we went to was the Memorial Stadium to watch my daughters' TJ Raiders beat crosstown rival Federal Way 3-0 in a game that looks to have clinched the Raiders a playoff spot. One daughter was on the bench with a illness. The other got in the game and got an assist on the last goal.

...very disturbing orca news from Puget Sound whale researchers. The local population seems to have taken a huge (~8%) hit as whales have gone missing. The suspected culprit is starvation due to reduced Chinook numbers.

Valerie Easton makes a few interesting points about invasive plants that I hadn't heard before. 

...also disturbing economic news everywhere, and an article in the Times about how the economy is affecting local Puget Sound cities' attempts at economic development or redevelopment. Worrisome stuff, particularly in the Hylebos Watershed, where many of our cities are looking to redevelopment to boost the local economies.

The Battle Over Stormwater

...continues in Washington State, with environmental groups taking their case to the Pollution Control Hearings Board. At issue, is whether Puget Sound's smaller cities & counties should be required to work Low Impact Development into their stormwater requirements.

Port Project & Snails

The Tribune has a story about the Port of Tacoma clearcutting trees at the "Hylebos Marsh" to aid their effort to stem the spread of invasive snails.

The so-called Hylebos Marsh is slated for future development - IN EXCHANGE - for a Port mitigation project at the mouth of Hylebos Creek. Hylebos and the Commencement Bay environment will greatly benefit from newer project. No snails allowed there, either!

Nose Blowing Is Fun!

The big news is that today I can blow my nose again! Under doctor's orders, I was not supposed to blow my nose until today. It sounds easier to (not) do than it really is.

But there are other things going on in the world today that don't have to do with my nose...First off, Glacier Recycle a friend of the Friends got some nice exposure in the Auburn Reporter. Glacier is a new recycling company resulting from the merger of Larry Wilson and John Yeasting's former firms. The combined forces constitute the largest independent and leading construction materials recyclers in the area. Larry Wilson and his former company is a long-time supporter of the Friends and Glacier has continued that support.

On the downside of environmental issues, the Pee-Eye reports that abandoned fishing gear is killing thousands of sea critters in the Puget Sound region.

Wildlife experts believe nearly 4,000 nets and 14,000 crab pots lay abandoned in Puget Sound despite more than five years of removal efforts. The gear has already trapped and killed more than 30,000 animals, including marine mammals, fish and birds that dive for food.

The good news is that a state effort to locate and remove derelict gear is underway.

If urban critters are more your thing, Kathryn True writes about urban wildlife you may meet around the Seattle area - many of whom you certainly recognize from your trips to the Hylebos.

I'm baaaaaaaack!

Time flies when you're under anesthesia! I had a little fun last week, taking some personal time for a little sinus surgery (Ok, a LOT of sinus surgery). Everything went fine, thanks to the surgical skills of my otolaryngologist Dr. Mark Hegewald and his most excellent staff (including Stream Team volunteer Jayne Von Doenhoff) and I'm raring to get back into the swing of things.

Even if I wasn't really excited about this work, there's nothing like recovery from sinus surgery to get you jazzed about anything other than recovery from sinus surgery.

It also helps when the Times features an article on someone like Andy Batchco, a retired engineer who has been doing great restoration work at Miller and Walker Creek's over by Normandy Park. I've written about Andy and his compatriot Tony Cassarino a few times before. Tony has had me over a few times to talk stream restoration and view their handiwork. This is how Puget Sound gets restored, my friends, one creek at a time. One community at a time.

I missed the MacNeil-Lehrer Newshour special on Puget Sound stormwater, but stumbled on Robert McClure's post on such here. (which you can access here)

And Portlanders are making noises about tackling ivy in the 5,000 acre Forest Park. $1.5 million a year? Yow.

(This was supposed to go up October 6th, the day before my surgery. So, just pretend, ok?!) It's Monday, a rainy weekstarter after a rain blast of a weekend. I'm betting that we'll see more salmon swim up the Hylebos in search of fame, fortune and a nice bed of the right mix of glacial gravels.

In the Meantime...
Pond Scum! It's the hot new thing and if this market takes off, we of the Hylebos have plenty of pond scum to sell. Oh, I see a lucrative new fundraising mechanism.

The once every four years updating of the King County Comp Plan entails some potential nudgings of the Urban Growth Boundary. The question is are these sensible adjustments that take heed of the needs of local communities, or the quickening of steps on a slippery slope? And when is a boundary a boundary?

If You're Like Me...
...then you use one or more Brita water filters around your home, all in the name of good, clean drinking water. You also probably haven't given much thought to the environmental impact of said water filters until reading the following story in the NYT. (Also, if you're like me you can name almost every Hannah-Barbera cartoon character, nail quite a few of the voices, sing the theme song to H.R. Puf N Stuf, and still can't quite believe that Joe Strummer is dead.

Flotsam and Jetsam on the World Wide Web

Get Smart!
Seattle Public Utilities and Vulcan Properties are collaborating at the South Lake Union redevelopment to build (what appears to be) the world's largest bioswale. Great idea. Let's see projects like these tried in the Hylebos.

Get Dense!
A new report on smart growth and directing population growth into dense, urban centers.

Puget Sound-region residents want growth in dense urban centers, according to a new report, which has resulted in a plan to promote such density.

Reality Check, an event the Urban Land Institute hosted April 30 at the University of Washington, asked 250 participants how the region should accommodate the 1.7 million new residents and 1.2 million new jobs expected in the region by 2040. Participants included corporate executives, small-business owners, developers, elected officials, conservationists and civic leaders.

So, according to the way this is written, they asked the very people who want the region's residents to live in dense new urban centers, where the people want to live?! That would be the wrong approach.

Ruby Dance Rocks the Hylebos!

Chinook salmon returned to Hylebos Creek early last week - Yeah! And last Saturday, One hundred n inety-seven friends of the Hylebos turned out to the King County Weyerhaeuser Aquatic Center to celebrate those fish and to raise funds to support Hylebos conservation efforts.

More than $30,000 was raised for Hylebos Creek conservation at the Friends’ 4th annual Ruby Dance Stewardship dinner. (Yes, it was a dinner, but no fish were on the menu. Didn't think that would set a good tone for the fall salmon runs)

Our event emcee was KING-FM 98.1 Host Sean MacLean, of whom I've blogged before. Sean kept the silent auction bidding moving along tastefully and with good cheer. And he kept us on schedule during the program, which I always love. The only complaint I could have is that he spilled the beans about a certain individual falling victim to a weasel attack!

And what can I say about Tom Murphy, our keynote presenter?! I was so honored that Tom chose to be our speaker. He has done an outstanding job with the Federal Way Public Schools and working in our area to help build community.

Tom presented a powerful dissertation on the importance of green space to quality of life, and the role of conservation in helping to build a quality community. "There is no neutrality," he said, when it comes to protecting the environment. You either choose to be a part of the solution, or you are part of the problem.

I want to thank my good friend Mike Hrachovec for urging the attendants to support the Friends with donations. They did, and we saw our biggest fundraiser yet to date. There's about a million people I want to thank, too, the staff and board who worked so hard on this, our sponsors, like Boeing and schnitzer Steel, and on and on. I want to, but you know what? That'll all be on the web page and I have a sinus infection and I'm tired, so there.

Yes, Metropolitan Market supplied the wine and cheese and now I'm delivering the whine.

Suffice to say, that we had a fun evening and the money raised will support the Hylebos Creek Conservation Initiative, our program for preserving and restoring 745 acres of stream and wetland habitat in Federal Way, Milton, Fife, Edgewood and Tacoma.