HyleBlog - Friends of the Hylebos

More Mammals!

Seth Bynum has a great photo of an otter at Marlake recently at the FW News!

Hylebos Picnic at Federal Way News

Seth Bynum did a really nice job of capturing the Hylebos Annual Picnic. Pick up the hard copy for lots of photos. Also, you can check out our flickrstream below. These are all Seth's photos (isn't he great?!).

New Blog From the Bog Post

It's been awhile since I've blogged on the Blog from the Bog, but I was at the park Friday for a time and took a few pictures. Check 'em out.

West Hylebos on Monday

Monday afternoon, after the clouds had burned off, Laurie and I met up with longtime Hylebos supporter David Kaplan for a tour of the new boardwalk and interpretive signage. Though the temps had reached the low 70s, the cool green forest canopy lowered the temps in the park quite a bit, so that the walk was if not cool at least not too hot.

The park is exploding with lush, green vegetation. The park's salmonberries are a tempting orange color, but days away from ripeness yet. (darn it!). The tree canopy was alive with bird song, serenading us throughout our walk. It was too hot, however, for most other creatures. The only wildlife we saw were two juvenile garter snakes, who lit out for the underbrush as soon as we saw them.

I will be in a training workshop all morning Tuesday...possibly daydreaming of being out on the boardwalk, listening to birds.

Hylebos Days Photos

I've been catching up on the website and some of the great photos of our events. Here is a Flickr slideshow I put together from Hylebos Days. Thanks to Seth Bynum for sharing the photos with us!

Hylebos Days II At The West Hylebos

Saturday came off great as we unveiled the park's Welcome sign and dedicated the interpretive signage system. Lots and lots of folks came through the park yesterday, enjoying the sunshine and a relaxing stroll through the park.

I had the pleasure of touring the park with several of our supporters, including Barry and Lisa Johnson, and their daughter Annika, Kathy Olson and Mark & Joni Herwick. In addition, it was a great day to just meet people, answer questions, and enjoy the world's greatest place.

We'll be at the park again today from 11 to 4, so come on out for a Mother's Day treat - I meant the park, but we will also have cake to give to mothers.

Thanks to King County Councilman Pete von Reichbauer, State Rep. Skip Priest, Federal Way Mayor Jack Dovey, and Federal Way Councilmembers Jeanne Burrbidge and Dini Duclos and Judge Mark Eide for joining us for the sign dedication. Also, a big thanks to my board - President Bob Roegner, Vice-President Margery Godfrey, Secretary Rus Higley (who manned the MaST Center for Seth Bynum's presentation), Julie Brauns, Trish Bennett, and Chris Kelsey.

Now, with that said, here is an article on endangered Puget Sound Abalone.

Hylebos Days Are Coming (Rain is Going)

Three days away! Tonight, the Federal Way City Council will read the proclamation for Hylebos Days and then it will all be a blur (!) until Saturday when Hylebos Days gets started and we officially dedicate and unveil the park's new interpretive signage.

It has been raining and stormy all day, but the forecast for Saturday and Sunday is sunshine. Keep your fingers crossed!

One of the keystone events of Hylebos Days will be Seth Bynum's presentation: Hylebos - A Photographic Perspective. Seth has been photographing the wetlands for the past 5 years and has stories and visions to share. He is a very gifted photographer and really has created a treasure of images of our beloved wetlands.

Seth's book of photographs will be available for sale at the event and Seth will be signing copies of the book. Don't miss this event!

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!

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.

Links Fixed

Thanks to an alert HyleBlogster tipping me to broken links from this site to the park and directions pages on our website. Those have now been fixed.

I met today with the Buds & Blooms Committee. We're going to celebrate Hylebos Day in conjunction with the Buds & Blooms Festival taking place May 9th and 10th. I'll have more details on this later, but this is a brilliant way to enhance the public awareness of the park and draw people to the park.