HyleBlog - Friends of the Hylebos

Great News for the Hylebos

King County Conservation Futures has allocated $132,000 to purchasing a beautiful piece of property in the Spring Valley neighborhood. The city of Federal Way proposed the funding and has allocated matching funds towards the purchase.

There's a lot of work left to do, but the county grant is great news - wanted to share it with everyone. I'll have more details later as this project progresses.

Holding Steady on Monday

What a weekend! Friday night started with a great concert by The Hold Steady at the Showbox SoDo. I was accompanied by those two madmen, Skip and Andy, who I must reveal started a crazy mosh pit near the stage. Meanwhile, I just enjoyed the music of an on-top-of-their-game Hold Steady. It was a great start to a cold but sunny weekend.

Back at the Hylebos, Hillary has finished the restoration work for the year. Now, we're truly in planning and preparation mode for 2009. I'm finishing up the next 3-year Strategic Plan for consideration at our December board retreat and, oh year, the budget! And by tomorrow (I hope) I'll have the Development Director position listed. So, if you know any talented development folks who want to work for a hardworking, effective conservation organization...point them our way.

Puget Sound Agenda Dissed Again
I mentioned the Puget Sound Parnethsip draft Action Agenda a while back. Well, the group of scientists who were critical of the earlier efforts have echoed concerns about the draft agenda, calling it an inadequate effort.

...and finally, the Word of the Year for this year (2008, for those keeping score at home) has been announced. It is... (ta da!) Hypermiling. But, cranky, old William Safire thinks Frugalista should be the king. I'm not enamored of either, frankly. Well, this is your Hylebos Conservationista signing out. Cheers!

PSE Supports the West Hylebos Wetlands!!

PSE has been a great friend of the Hylebos for many years now, providing support to projects and sponsoring our Ruby Dance.

I'm excited to announce that PSE is building on that history of Hylebos support with a recent $2,500 grant to support the Forest Health Program at the West Hylebos Wetlands, as well as the interpretive sign project at the boardwalk.

Two years ago, we began an effort to survey, map and assess the forest of the West Hylebos Wetlands. The idea is that we needed to know the condition of the forest in order to be proactive in protecting its health. From that, we developed a management plan that guides our efforts to control invasive plants and re-plant the forest with native trees and shrubs. PSE's grant will make it possible for us to restore more area in the coming year than we'd anticipated. If you like the idea of a healthier West Hylebos, thank PSE.

Additionally, as part of the boardwalk replacement project, we have been working on the design and installation of new interpretive signs - they should be installed the last week of December (keep your fingers crossed!). PSE's grant will also support our activities there.

I am personally delighted to continue our partnership with PSE in conserving and restoring our favorite forested wetlands, the West Hylebos. I want to thank PSE's Gary Nomensen for his interest and support, without which, this wouldn't be possible.

Alright, it's Friday. Get out there and have fun in the Hylebos (safely)!

Lawsuits, orcas and Stephen Baldwin (?!)

Good news is coming in to Hylebos HQ this week. We received word that our West Milton project will receive a sizable grant from a settlement of a Clean Water Act third party lawsuit. I can't talk about the details until all the i's have been dotted and such, but the money will provide critical stewardship of the site.

In the past year, the Friends has received several of thes settlements for our projects. We are not involved in the legal side of the suits. The Friends doesn't sue and in general, doesn't approach conservation in an adversial. (Though I certainly recognize the value of groups that do this work). To do watershed conservation right, though, you have to be able to work with all stakeholders and so we do not get into enforcement issues or lawsuits.

However, some of the groups (plaintiffs and defendands) that do, have been generous enough to send settlement money to the Hylebos for Hylebos conservation projects. This has become an important source of income for restoration projects, particularly the maintenance phase, which is usually hard to fund.

I'll have more news about this in coming weeks, but suffice it to say, the West Milton project is getting a shot in the arm!

Recent news form the Puget Sound regarding Orcas has been dire. Reacting to the news of 7 missing, and thought to be dead Orcas from the Southern Puget Sound population, the Puget Sound Partnership decided to add Orcas to their newly released (still draft form) Action Plan.

And finally, thank God, but Stephen Baldwin will stay in America. I can't imagine an America without the talented thespianism of Stephen. In fact, when I'm feeling low I pop a DVD of The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas into the player and suddenly, everything seems right again. Thank you, Stephen Baldwin. Thank you for keeping America's rank of third rate hack actors full.

Preserve Open Space, Protect Your Health

There are a lot of benefits to preserving open space. When we talk about our goal to preserve 745 acres of habitat from the West Hylebos to Commencement Bay, we usually list the benefits of clean air, clean water, native species habitat, the aesthetic qualities of green space, even the economic values. Sometimes, we even talk about making a healthy community. Well, here's new research that powerfully underscores the link between urban health and preserved open space  The Hylebos Creek Conservation Initiative will indeed make our communitieis, and their residents healthier!

...and a not-too-surprising link between use of so-called "bug bombs" and health. These always sounded like a really bad idea to me, so I've never entertained the thought of using one.

And finally, while I was laid up, recuperating from my sinus surgery (and admittedly, fairly addled by the pain pills), I watched a lot of TV. I even ended up getting drawn into the last few episodes of this season's Project Runway. That's why it's shocking to see the show's next season locked up by a legal dispute.I just hope - for the childrens' sake - that we can resolve this dispute and free Project Runway for the next season...

Things Cooking In The Hylebos

Thursday already?! Time's flying and the rain's stopped falling. Hillary is gearing up for a big West Milton planting effort on Saturday.

We've also been knocking around some exciting projects for next year (and 2010). I can't talk details yet, but I think you're going to like what we're working on!

One article on the web today caught my attention. In Southern California, according to researcher Jane Hull, you're more likely to get killed by the air than the cars.

Happy Hylebos Monday

There's something magical about a blue sky morning like today, after a week of poudning, wet weather. It feels as if Ma Nature had decided to punish us, but then, sometime over the weekend, decided we weren't all that bad, after all, and decided to let up give us time to work our dogs without drowning.

And if I know the Hylebos, the fish have been using the higher waters to migrate upstream in numbers over the weekend. Today would be a great day to make an excuse to go do some fish-watching...

We all know that parks provide many, many important benefits to our communities. Here's news on a Canadian study that claims that urban parks can narrow the gaps between rich and poor, particularly in the crucial matters of health.

The difference in the rate of deaths between the richest and poorest was roughly halved for those living with the most greenery around them, compared with those with the fewest green spaces, the researchers found.

"The size of the difference in the health gap is surprising and represented a much bigger effect than I had been expecting," said Mitchell.

"So the key message is green spaces are another tool for governments to combat this health gap between rich and poor."

Speaking of parks...here's a story about writer Bruce Barcott's (Measure of a Mountain) perspective on how global climate change is affecting Mt. Rainier.

Declining snowfall enables trees to grow where they once couldn't, creeping into alpine meadows. Warming temperatures have allowed alpine meadows to climb up the mountain's slopes, with plants growing higher than they had earlier

Some different sectors of the economy are getting greener. First up, old school retailers are putting more cahs into being envirosenstive. And there's the prisons. Being sent up river doesn't mean you have to pollute the river.

As the Flight of the Conchords sang, at the end of your life, you're lucky if you die. And if you do, there's a green option in funerals, too. All in all, composting ain't a bad way to go, I guess, if you don't mind the worms.

More on Plans for Puget Sound

More on the draft Puget Sound Action Plan here, here

Topping the list of actions needed are buying ecologically critical lands and beefing up efforts to rein in pollution flowing off hard surfaces such as streets and parking lots after heavy rains. The list of steps proposed by the Puget Sound Partnership looks far beyond the shores of the Sound itself and spans the spectrum -- from actions as simple as scooping dogs' poop to undertakings as complicated as overhauling state water law.

Some were mildly critical of the lack of accountability:

"They're largely in the ballpark on the things that need doing," said Kathy Fletcher, executive director of the environmental group People for Puget Sound. "The part that is probably most crucial and still needs to be fleshed out is the funding, and the who's-going-to-do-what part, and how will they be held accountable.

others were perturbed at the lack of action:

Asked Seattle environmental activist Fred Felleman, "We're going to study how to restore herring, instead of restoring them?"

Tom Holz, a planner who has joined scientists in criticizing the partnership's early efforts as too lackluster, said he lost count of the number of times the draft plan spoke of convening a new process or study of some kind.

"The (partnership) must build a fire. They haven't even got the kindling lit," Holz said in an e-mail.

Oh, and work continues on the Friends' ark...

Draft Puget Sound Plan Released

The folks over at Puget Sound Partnership have released their long-awaited draft action plan. The draft plan is said to focus on protecting undeveloped prime habitat, encouraging - but not mandating - low-impact development and other changes to how we develop land. I'll be reading through this soon, but if you want to get a jump start on me, you can find the draft action plan here (look for the button at the top of the page).

As usual, Bill McKibben has something interesting & incisive to say about global climate change. Over at Yale 360, McKibben posits some ideas about the climate challenges facing the incoming President.

...Oh, and it's raining cats, dogs and other mid-range sized mammals...

Non-Historic Day Going Well

Nothing much going on today. Yesterday was historic, so today has sort of an anti-climactic, non-historic feel in comparison.

Hillary is out at the West Milton site, getting ready for the weekend's planting. I'm in front of the computer looking at a grant proposal...

It's a little bit out of the Hylebos' neighborhood, but the NYT has an article on Orca researcher Alexandra Morton, who does her work up north in Canada. I interviewed Ms. Morton about 15 years ago for an article I was writing at the time on farmed Atlantic salmon. She has a fascinating story and is researching an incredibly important issue for Pacific salmon and coastal ecosystems. She was one of the first people to really sound the alarm about the effect of farmed salmon on wild Pacific salmon.

Closer to home, Adele Freeland has posted on the Blog from the Bog about the Tuesday's rain storm and flooding. Nice photos, Adele!