HyleBlog - Friends of the Hylebos

Lick The Slug?

We had a good board meeting last; personnel policy was approved, which is a big piece of work completed.

There is a long tradition in the nonprofit industry of generating funds off the exploitation of executive directors. We get pies thrown at, are dared to swim across bodies of water, dressed up in salmon suits and other outlandish costumes. Last night, though, I was disturbed to hear the first mention of a potential new exploitative tool that I may yet suffer by: the banana slug lick.

Not that I want to encourage this, but how much money would you donate to the Friends to see me lick a banana slug?

Remember the new floodplain rules that were supposed to help our Orcas and salmon and help prevent flood damage losses? Well, you may want to call the federal government and/or your local government agency as The Times (Seattle) reports that the new floodplain development rules in the Puget Sound Region are being largely ignored.

This underscores the point that one of the first steps in saving Puget Sound has got to be ensuring compliance and enforcement of existing environmental regulations. 

And finally, in the NYT's The Well a harrowing first person account of working in a factory where environmental and health regulations are ignored (and/or haven't yet been adopted).

Board Meeting Tonight

Wow. I spent my weekend driving up and down I-5 and expanding my carbon footprint (and a growing sense of environmental soccer dad guilt). I hope you had more of an opportunity to get out in the mostly good weather than I did.

Tonight is our monthly board meeting. The big item on the agenda is adoption of our first-ever personnel policy. This is an important step for our organization, putting in place essential elements of a stable, thriving (and from a management-employee standpoint, predictable) organization. I'm really proud of the work that our board committee did in putting this together.

On top of that, I have a couple of articles that caught my attention.

There was a news article on the Veterans Conservation Corps program, an excellent program helping out veterans by providing them with environmental restoration skills.

And from the Casablanca, Gambling! I'm Shocked files: This one sounds like tobacco industry all over again...except to the whole planet! Thanks, Big Oil!

Sign Up For A Bird Tour of the Hylebos

Hylebos Creek Explorations Wetlands to Commencement Bay
Date:	Saturday, May 2
Time:	8:00 AM to Early Afternoon
Leader:	Adele Freeland
Highlights will be Hylebos Wetlands Park, Spring Valley, Fife Heights, and Hylebos Waterway in Tacoma. This is an excellent time to look for migrants and to listen for bird song. We hope to see songbirds, flycatchers, breeding waterbirds, and birds of the woods. (Right: Red-breasted Sapsucker at Hylebos Creek.)
BRING: Lunch or snacks and drinks. We may walk about two miles.   MEET: At 8:00 AM at the South Federal Way Park &  Ride. We will be carpooling!   DIRECTIONS: Take I-5 to the exit to Hwy. 18. Turn west. Hwy. 18 becomes So. 348th. The Park & Ride is at 901 So. 348th (three lights west of I-5 on 348th).   Limited Space: Reservations: Email Adele - maamfree@comcast.net  or leave a phone message at (253) 874-2874.

Dam Cam!

This is extremely cool. NOAA has published a time-lapse photography feature of the Merrimack Village Dam removal. I watched this several times - it's mesmerizing!

Hmmm. Maybe we could do something like this at one of our upcoming restoration projects...Hillary?

Happy Earth Day

Happy Earth Day to all denizens and citizens of the Hylebos and Planet Earth! While saving the Earth is still very much a work in progress, it's a worthwhile thing to do. As the Superhero The Tick once commented when a supervillian threatened the planet with destruction: "Not the Earth! That's where I keep all my stuff!"

I'm sure there are more serious and inspirational quotes out there about conservation but I keep coming back to that; one, because I like a good superhero quote and a laugh and, two, because it underscores a simple truth about our efforts to save the planet. This is our home.

There are plenty of environmental issues to choose from among the rubric of Earth-saving. This is why I think the Hylebos Conservation effort is so important. It's our home. Ground level. This is where we live. It's our clean water, our clean air, our green forests.

If we want to observe the maxim of "thinking globally, acting locally," well, then, this is our chance.

When you participate in a Hylebos restoration project (volunteer by contacting Hillary), or help us count salmon or test water quality...when you send us a check to support these programs..or celebrate Ruby Dance with us...you are making the world better in ways you can touch, see, experience and share with your friends and loved ones.

Thanks for sharing the journey with us and helping make the Hylebos a healthier place to live, work & play. Together, we are making a healthier watershed, a healthier community and yes, a healthier planet.

Good News for the Earth
Not too far in the good news department there is a new plan to preserve an additinoal 7,000 of forestland in the Raging River Valley as part of the Mountains to Sounds Greenway effort.

Don't forget to check out Google's special Earth Day logo. It's pretty cool.

Boeing Earth Day Fair

I took a visit down to the Auburn Boeing Plant this afternoon to set up our booth for Boeing's Earth Day Fair, happening tomorrow, Earth Day (natch). Intuitively, I knew the plant was a large facility, but I guess it only hit me as I was walking across the parking lot (seemingly forever) in the heat, trying to hold on to several foam core posters. Not recommended!

I met a very nice woman named Eva who is helping to organize the fair and is a reader of my Thinking Locally columns. She was really very nice!

So, if you work at Boeing Auburn, stop by the Earth Day Fair tomorrow and say hi to Hillary, Laurie and Me.

The wonderful folks at Washington Native Plant Society are helping us out with our native plant tours on Hylebos Days. Check out their website - it's chock full of native plant info.

Thoughts on a Sunny Monday

It is a very, very nice and sunny Monday and I hope you are outside enjoying it instead of at a computer, like me. (Of course, if you were, you probably wouldn't be reading this right now...but I am sacrificing logic for my narrative).

After another whirlwind trip to Spokane and back I am glad to be, well, back here. I'm a Western Wa. boy, all the way. Speaking of that part of the state, mining has taken an immense toll on the environment. The Spokesman ran an article on poisonings of swans.

Saturday, Hillary and Team Hylebos were removing invasive weeds from the Lower Hylebos Marsh as part of our Earth Day efforts.

(Editorial note: While The Friends recognizes Earth Day, we strive to make appreciation and stewardship and ongoing part of life in the Hylebos. Earth Day is great for enhancing public awareness, but let's face it, the Earth needs our attention 24/7/365.) Hillary, Laurie and I will be participating in Boeing's Earth Day Fair at the Auburn plant on Wednesday. If you work at Boeing, stop by and say hi.

A truly large-scale volunteer event was taking place in the Duwamish estuary in Seattle. Wow, 1,000 people. I wonder if we could get that many on one day?....

Oh, and of course, I should mention that my Thinking Locally ran in the Saturday Mirror. This week's column focuses on Tom Murphy's efforts to lead the district through its biggest budget crisis ever.

Meanwhile, don't forget to watch Frontline's documentary on the decline and fall of the Puget Sound and Chesapeake Bay, Tuesday on PBS.

Are You Ready Kids??

It's Friday. I'm headed off to Spokane for yet more youth soccer. You cannot imagine my excitement.

The fine folks over at Herons Forever are doing great work to protect and advocate for the nesting colony at the Black River site in Renton. Check them out! It's nesting season.

Not as noble a bird, but there is a duck nesting over several eggs in a planter next to Marlene's.

Thanks to Laurie, who hipped me to the Help Protect America's Wetlands petition.

It's the 10th anniversary of Spongebob Squarepants. Now, that's something celebrate.

Have a great weekend!

Bring on the Spring!

I'm finally back in the office after a morning spent mostly out in the sunshine and the tranquil beauty of  the Hylebos. Hillary and I began the day early, with Megan Erkinnen of the Milton-Edgewood Signal.

We put on hip boots and hiked through the West Milton Nature Preserve. 

The dogwoods and willows are just beginning to bud out and the site has the sparse look of winter about to leave.

The wetlands are still charged up, full of water from the recent rains.

Our crews have completed a significant amount of thinning of the dogwoods and willows and the site looks vastly different than the last time I visited. The thinning will allow the trees to spread out their branches more and also will allow more light into the site to promote growth of the underplanted species. 

In the stream itself, the large wood debris is doing its job, creating habitat, making the stream change course, add a little pool hab here, a little gravel spill there. It's magic stuff!

The site just looks incredible. I don't have anything articulate to write, but...Go, Team Hylebos!!!

More wood crammed in at every angle. Note how several pieces are hanging above the water. This is future in-stream wood.

I did take some pics..and also uploaded some video to our YouTube Channel.

After West Milton, Hillary and I went over to the West Hyleboss Wetlands to meet with the 2009 Advancing Leadership class. This was our 8th (I think) annual tour with the group for their annual quality of life day.

We had a great hike through the park and overall much better than a morning spent stuck to my computer!

Oh, man, warm weather is coming. I love it. Bring on the Spring!

Starting the Day with the boys & Girls Club

Today started very...early at the Boys & Girls Club Breakfast at Emerald Downs. Laurie and I were both there, sitting at Tom Pierson's table (Thanks for the invite, Tom!). I have already smashed my record for most times in a suit & tie in a calendar year.

After that, it was home for a quick costume change and off to the Lower Hylebos Marsh where I met several officials with the Puget Sound Partnership to talk about the Hylebos Conservation effort and our model for habitat conservation. The rain held off, we had a very nice walk & talk, and by the end of our meeting the sun  was shining. It ws beautiful!

As any visitor to our Lower Hylebos Marsh site can attest, alders are nothing if not opportunistic pioneers. The little buggers get a cameo article by the ever excellent Lynda Mapes, who reminds us that despite their role in the allergen-induced misery of many Puget Sounders, alders play an important role in our forest ecology.