HyleBlog - Friends of the Hylebos

Photos from Lower Hylebos & Beaver Evidence

Here is a slideshow of photos I grabbed yesterday at the Marsh showing the Beaver Pond, chewed on alder stumps and water flowing over beaver dams.

Remarkable Day in The Hylebos

Today, Lili Allala (New Restoration Coordinator) toured several key Hylebos sites, including Lower Hylebos Marsh, Spring Valley Ranch, West Milton Nature Preserve and the Spring Valley Open Space. While I thought we would likely get rained on hard like the day before, the weather let up, and we were treated to sunshine and relatively warm, dry conditions.

Here is Lili at the Lower Hylebos Marsh. You can find out more about Lili on our Staff page.

Also, Wednesday's paper has a front page article on the forest health problems in Federal Way. It's nice to see the word getting out about this challenge.

I'll get some photos up later in the day from Lower Hylebos Marsh. The beavers appear to have been busy (surprise!). I counted at least 5 structures on the mainstem and around the marsh area. Water flow, though, was high and all dams were overtopped. Also, the beavs are taking out some of the excess alder trees on the site, so I'm very pleased with that. If we can just get them to focus on the alders, they'll actually do us a big favor.Remarkable Day in The Hylebos

At the Spring Valley Open Space, we surprised a great blue heron that must've been in a nearby tree. I didn't notice him until I heard a repeated sqawking and looked up to see the bird flying over us, insistently sounding his displeasure with our intrusion on his private Hylebos.

Usually herons are rather reticent with people, but this guy was so mad, he circled back to land in a tree nearby and casatigate us. I told him that we were sorry to have surprised him, and would leave shortly, but this didn't satisfy the heron. He blew a a few more rasberries our way, then took flight and headed south to Spring Valley Ranch.

More Good News at the lower end of the Hylebos

I recently learned that another project in our Hylebos Creek Conservation Initiative plan has begun. A 6-acre parcel near the mouth of Hylebos Creek is being restored with off-channel habitat, wetlands and re-vegetation. I'll have more details later, but wanted to share the news that more restoration is taking place!

Also, the beaver dam is apparently not blocking fish passage (or at least not all passage), as several coho have been seen in the Spring Valley Ranch area. I still question whether the dam isn't preventing some fish and perhaps less vigorous species than the coho, from getting upstream. Stay tuned...

More Action at Lower Hylebos

Friday, I had occasion to take another site visit to Lower Hylebos. This time, I saw several fish-wakes 
upstream of the 4th Ave bridge. Standing watch, looking for lunch, was a very determined great blue heron. I got with 20 feet of the snag he was on, and while he gave me the stink-eye, he did not budge from his spot. Too much fish action happening. Unfortunately, I did not have my digital camera and had to make do with the Blackberry, so the photos are a bit poor.

After the GBH's photo shoot, I trudged upstream and found that our friend the beavers, have built themselves a dam on the mainstem of the creek!

It's a sizable structure, creatiing about 3 feet of elevation behind and generating a side channel that the little buggers have tried to dam up, as well.

This is an example of the ways in which beavers can create stream channel diversity! Now, having this on the mainstem makes me a bit nervous, as it enhances the chance of upstream flooding.

I also wonder whether it creates a passage barrier for some species of salmon. The coho wouldn't be troubled by it. Pinks and chum, however, I'm not so sure.

One of my fellow ecologists suggested that the heron and beavers may have a deal going, with the beaver pimping salmon for the heron. Crafty. Very crafty.

I'm A Beaver Believer

I got a fantastic surprise today while visiting the
Lower Hylebos Marsh - a beaver pond! After pushing through the alder thicket to get to marsh #1, I was surprised by a very high water level. Brilliantly, I concluded that it was a very, very high tide. Fortunately, more intelligent minds pointed out that there were two beaver dams on the outlet tributaries.

While the site wasn't designed with beavers in mind - and in fact, I believe these are the first beavers on the Hylebos in my tenure - the critters' arrival signals just how well this restoration site is functioning. The new pond can be expected to provide high quality rearing habitat for juvenile fish. It's certainly created additional habitat diversity which can only benefit the system.

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.

Nice Day For a Hylebos Visit

Beautiful. Astounding. Natural. Sunny. Those are just some of the words to describe the Hylebos on today's visit to Lower Hylebos Marsh and the West Milton Nature Preserve. I took Laurie to see some of the prime examples of our work. Both sites were beautiful, yet starkly so, with winter's influence still dominant.

At the Lower Hylebos we saw this tree, recently fallen across the stream. This is the way nature redesign's her stream work.

We also saw two suspicious looking fellows pop out of the vegetation and walk briskly out of the site. I wonder what they were doing in there?

West Milton was partially frozen. Stomping through the muck was not nearly as muddy as usual, though boggy spots were still evident. (I think Laurie found one!) Everywhere, ice covered standing water, giving the site a stillness interrupted only by a retreating housecat, probably out birding. Don't get me started on the danger of housecats!

Here is a picture of me playing with the picket fence structure. (note my Arsenal scarf. Go Gunners!)

We rounded up our trip at the West Hylebos Wetlands, where we met with Diana Noble-Gulliford, Marie Sciaqua and Paul Gulliford from the Historical Society. They had been entertaining a group of kids from Silver Lake Elementary. Diana and Marie showed the students Barker Cabin and then the kids took a tour of the wetlands.

I mentioned the long partnership and natural affinity between the Friends of the Hylebos and the Federal Way Historical Society and Diana joked that "we shared the same mother." So true. Ilene Marckx was a big part of both organizations. I'm glad we'll be sharing space with the Historical Society at the park for Hylebos Days.

Cold But Beautiful in the Hylebos

Today, I met Matt Perry, who is the new field representative for Congressman Adam Smith (9th District), covering environmental issues. Matt and I toured the Lower Hylebos Marsh, West Hylebos Wetlands and Spring Valley Ranch this afternoon.

Although it was cold (reeeallly cold), it was an incredible day in the Hylebos: stark and crisp. Lower Hylebos and Spring Valley Ranch are growing; even with the leaves off the deciduous trees, the wetland vegetation was manifest, asserting itself over the floodplains, while the red osier dogwood and alders are growing tall spires toward the sky. (although, someone has taken it upon themselves to "prune" the alders at LHM. More on that later).

The West Hylebos boardwalk was still caked in packed snow/ice in some areas and the waters were high, though not at flood stage. The boardwalk decking suffered its first casualty down near the T intersection towards Brooklake. A large alder branch speared the edge of the boardwalk, gouging out a 12-inch piece of the decking.

Also of note, the no-slip decking is getting slippery, as algae builds up on it. This is something we're probably going to have to address with Parks, sooner rather than later.

So, a big Hylebos welcome to Matt Perry. I look forward to working with him and thank him for a reason to spend 2 hours outside on a beautiful winter day!

All Plan And No Play

Well, it's been a busy, busy week, keeping me from my regular bloggings. The biggest deal on my desk right now is our three-year strategic plan. I'm finalizing recommendations for the board meeting next Monday, which, if approved, will guide our work for the next three years. I'll blog next week on the results of the board meeting.

Tuesday, I met with colleagues from Cascade Land Conservancy. Alison Van Gorp and Jeff Aken came down to the F-Dub to talk about the Cascade cities program and environmental action in the cities of the Hylebos Watershed.

After that meeting, I was off to the Lower Hylebos Marsh to meet with Jennifer Steger and Robert Taylor of NOAA, who were giving a site tour to NOAA's General Counsel, Jane Kuxton. We had a really nice visit and it's always a treat to have the big decision-makers from DC come out to see Hylebos Conservation on the ground.

Before they arrived, I had some time to play around on the adjacent city of Tacoma site and take photos.

I'll get the photos up in the next day or so. Back to the plan!

Fresh Hylebos Served Wet and Soggy Daily

It's Monday. TIme when we come back to the office, look around and say, "What fresh Hylebos is this?" Since Friday, the weather has continued its Goth outlook, dipping even farther below the average June temperatures. There was a brief 30-minute lull Sunday afternoon, during which I mowed what's left of my lawn (which is being converted to native plants) and tried to remove weeds and prune bushes. There has been so much rain during April, May and June, that after pruning a branch, the bush would actually grow it back before my eyes. The weeds just laughed at me. Is that all you got? and boom! They'd pop back replacement weeds just like that.

I'm telling you, Nature is really starting to develop an attitude...

Hillary and I started off early in the morning at the Lower Hylebos Marsh, meeting NOAA's Paul Cereghino and a group of oil spill responders from the national, regional and state levels. Fortunately, the rain was rather generous and I was able to wake up without the aid of caffeine!

Of course, HyleBloggers know that I'm a sucker for a public outhouse opening. I'm still waiting for the city of Federal Way to throw a proper party to celebrate the Historical Outhouse at the Hylebos. Nonetheless, if I can duck out of work today, I'm driving up to Mount Rainier to help the feds cut the ribbon on the new Bio Toilet!

The Rogue River, Oregon's 2nd largest salmon river aside from the Columbia, is getting close to losing its last dam.

And soon, for the first time in more than 100 years, the Rogue could flow unimpeded for 157 miles from the Cascade foothills to the Pacific Ocean. Four dam modification projects are in different stages, three on the main stem and a fourth along Elk Creek, a major tributary.

The Rogue isn't alone, according to the Oregonian.

The most recent tally by the conservation group American Rivers estimates about 273 dams were removed between 1999 and 2006. Last summer, Marmot Dam on the Sandy River was taken out, the largest removal in Oregon history. This summer, the Chiloquin Dam on the Klamath Basin's Sprague River is set to come out. Plans are under way to remove other dams on the White Salmon and Elwha rivers in Washington.

Speaking of water...California and the entire Southwest have been in a water crisis for decades. Only recently, have they begun to realize it, though. In the NYT this weekend, an article about efforts in California to stem development where there are not sustainable (or at least, long-term) water supplies.

Tracking things in the Silly City. The Parks Department wants to battle global warming by extinguishing beach fires...at two beaches. Fight the Power, SPD.