Blog From The Bog

Cinco de Mayo

I injured my foot last week, so haven't been to the park for a while.  It rained cats and dogs yesterday morning, but turned really nice in the late afternoon.  So nice, in fact, that I had to fight the urge to take off and visit the park.  The weather-predictors had led me to believe that today would be a much better day, so I forced myself to wait until this morning to visit the park.  You should have seen the look on my face when I got out of bed, looked out the window, and saw all of those nasty black clouds in the sky.   I immediately checked my outdoor thermometer, only to discover that the outside temperature was only a paltry 47 degrees F.  Where is my bright, sunny, 57 degree day, I demanded of the heavens? Have patience my child, it replied.  So, donning my rain-gear, just in case, I took off for the park.  When I arrived at the park there were only two cars parked in the parking lot, but by 1 p.m. the park was full of running, yelling children, their parents, one young man on a bicycle, numerous baby strollers of one kind or another, and one chihuahua.

The annual Buds-N-Bloom Festival is coming up Mother's Day weekend, but I'm sorry to say that they've neglected to include West Hylebos Park as part of their tour for the second year in a row.  I simply cannot understand why they would do that.  The park is full to overflowing with buds and blooms!  I wrote the Buds-N-Bloom folks a letter asking them why we had been dropped from the tour, but no one has bothered to reply to it.  My suggestion is to forget about coughing up the $20 fee to take mother to the Buds-N-Bloom Festival tour and bring her over to West Hylebos Park for a free picnic among the blooms.

Blue bells are in full bloom.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So are the Forget-Me-Nots.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The apple trees, filbert trees, crab apple trees, pear trees, plum trees, and bitter cherry trees are in bloom.  This dark-eyed junco is loving it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As are the black-capped chickadees.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The false-lily-of-the-valley are erecting tall masts of feathery white blossoms.

 

 

 

 

 

 

False bleeding heart is in bloom all over the park, some of which are starting to transform into seedpods (which I think look like green beans).  My brother-in-law, in Oregon, says his bleeding heart plants don't form beans like this, but ours sure do.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Big-leaf maples are in bloom and starting to create the twin-winged-seeds that we used to call "helicopters" when I was a kid.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marlake is full of tadpoles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marlake is full of birds and ducks, such as this beautiful emerald-headed mallard...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

his snoozing mate.......

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hooded mergansers.......

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Red-winged blackbirds, both male......

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and female.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Violet-green swallows are zooming around like a squadron of little jet fighters, song sparrows and robins are singing in the trees, I heard a hawk crying in the sky today, and we've seen bald eagles quite frequently this spring.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We have black garden slugs.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

gorgeous banana slugs.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And look at this magnificent leopard-spotted gentleman!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Land snails are beginning to cross the gray gravel trail.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Garter snakes are beginning to come out to warm themselves in the sun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And frogs are.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Every.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

where!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brooklake looks beautiful!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Everything's nice and green.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And mothers are starting to bring their babies out to show them off.  Brush rabbits are munching grass in the meadow, including babies small enough to nestle in a teacup.  The park is alive with life and color right now.  You couldn't find a better place in which to enjoy a leisurely afternoon.  Hope to see you soon!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Teri I. Lenfest

Salmon Release

Today was the annual salmon fry release into West Hylebos Park.  The Issaquah Salmon Hatchery gifts our local elementary schools with fertilized salmon eggs every year.  While the salmon eggs grow into salmon fry, the students learn about the life cycle of wild salmon.  When the fry are large enough to survive in the wild, the students bring the young salmon over to the park and set them free.  In the past, this has been a rather laid-back event; school buses arrive at the park, the kids take their salmon fry down to the bridge crossing West Hylebos Creek, name them, release them, return to the meadow for lunch, then head back to school.  The city of Federal Way really went the extra mile this year, turning the salmon release into a fantastic event.

I arrived at the park around 9 a.m. and was instantly startled to discover that the Historical Society of Federal Way had painted the old Denny cabin a hideous gray.  I just stood in the parking lot with my jaw agape.  I knew they were going to paint the cabin, but I wasn't expecting them to paint it dove gray.  At the end of the day, when this tired old woman left the park, she was delighted to discover that the gray paint she'd seen in the morning had just been an undercoat and that painters were busy painting over the gray paint with a much more reasonable shade of brown.  It looks great, but, I have to admit that it's going to take a little getting used to.  The cabin has been a very red shade of brown for as long as I can remember.  All of the red is gone now, leaving the Denny cabin almost the color of chocolate.  Hey, who doesn't like chocolate?

The Historical Society of Federal Way opened up the old Barker cabin for the day so that the kids could go inside and see how their ancestors lived when they first settled in the Pacific Northwest.   Between Panther Lake Elementary School and Camelot Elementary school we had about a hundred students in the park, who were divided up into six groups, accompanied by teachers and volunteer leaders.

 

 

 

 

Mayor Skip Priest started the morning off with a short speech, during which he announced the Storming the Sound with Salmon project.  This grant will allow the City to expand salmon rearing to more schools and introduce stormwater education into our classrooms.  He also introduced the people who would be in charge of all of the activities that were slated to happen today.  In addition to the kids visiting the old Barker cabin, volunteers from the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery were going to dissect salmon so that the kids could learn about internal salmon anatomy, volunteers from EarthCorps were going to lead a salmon life-cycle game, salmon fry were going to be released into West Hylebos Creek, I was going to walk the kids over to Marlake and teach them about the life-cycle of frogs and how to find wildlife in the park, the kids were going to participate in habitat restoration by placing mulch around the young native plants that we planted in our latest restoration area several months ago, and each group would then plant a Western Red Cedar seedling.  The day would wrap up with a picnic lunch in the meadow.

Mother Nature cooperated with us in so many ways.  First of all, she presented us with a bright, sunny, 68 degree F. day, without a cloud in the sky.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As late as last Saturday, our local weather-people were predicting rain, tapering off to showers in the afternoon.  Instead, there wasn't a cloud in the sky.  My face got sunburned even though I was wearing a ballcap with a pretty substantial bill.

 

 

 

 

 

 

You couldn't ask for a prettier day, or a prettier place, to have a picnic lunch!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That was just one of the fantastic gifts Mother Nature presented us with today.  She also gave us the very first land snail of the season, which, of course, immediately began it's annual trek across the gray gravel trail, amid the thunder of several hundred 5th-grade feet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I led the kids on a walk down to Marlake, where I taught them about the life-cycle of frogs.  Mother Nature dug into her bag of tricks and came up with a different surprise for every group.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I saw a little garter snake down by the edge of the lake, but immediately after I spotted it, a crow swooped down out of a nearby tree, snatched the little snake out of the grass, and gobbled it down.  Later, another garter snake crossed the path in front of us and disappeared into the underbrush on the other side.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another group spotted a tiny baby brush rabbit.  It was so small that you could have put it in a teacup.

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the mother mallards decided to bring her babies out on the lake for the very first baby train of the season.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Although most of the amphibian eggs in the lake have hatched into tadpoles, this beautiful little pouch of amphibian eggs decided to float within a foot of the lake edge, then stayed there through four entire tours.  By the time I took the fifth tour down to the lake, I could see that the pouch of eggs was floating away, and I couldn't find them at all for the final group of kids.

 

 

 

 

A lot of the kids weren't nearly as impressed by the amphibian eggs as they were by the fact that the trout were hanging out, bugging, really close to the edge of the lake.  The kids could see the fish milling around near the pond grass and breaking the surface of the water.  Those fish were the stars of the show!

 

 

 

 

 

I must have spotted at least thirty, yeppers 30, red-legged frogs in the park today.  They were everywhere!  I spotted six here, and six there, and five somewhere else, and another three in the next pool of water.  The only place I didn't spot any frogs was under the bridge on the Brooklake spur.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had to woman my station, giving one frog talk after another, so I didn't get to see any of the salmon fry get released.  One group of kids got lost on their way to West Hylebos Creek though and after I turned them around and got them headed in the proper direction, I had an opportunity to look in their bucket and see all the little fish they were about to release into the wild.

 

 

 

 

 

After the kids departed, I walked down to the bridge over West Hylebos Creek and spotted one of the fry happily swimming around in it's new home.  I decided to name it Hylebos Harry.  Go, little Harry.  Stay safe, hide from pedators, find your way to the ocean, grow as big as you can, and come back to us in a few years.  Calm seas and following winds, as sailors say.  We're rooting for you, little guy!

 

 

 

 

 

And so, peace and quiet was once again restored to the park.  After the kids were gone, I retired to Dana Buck's house, where we sat on her sofa, facing Marlake, drinking wine, talking about our day, and watching as, one at a time, the ducks and birds that had gone into hiding when all of the kids showed up, returned to the lake.  The perfect end to a perfect day.  What's not to love?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Teri I. Lenfest

Advancing Leadership 2012

Today was the day scheduled to lead the 2012 Advancing Leadership tour through the park.  The rain slammed against my window so hard this morning that I was really beginning to have my doubts about the whole thing, but as the time slated for the tour approached, the weather began to clear up a little bit.  I wore my raincoat and rainpants anyway, just in case.  More than twenty-five hardy northwesterners showed up at the park raring to go.  They arrived about fifteen minutes late to find no parking at the park.  A group from Highline Community College had arrived ahead of them and taken all of the available parking places.  I'd only been given forty-five minutes total in which to get them through the park. which included the time I needed to present my little preparatory speech at the beginning.  My normal wildlife tour takes about two hours, so it was obvious to me that we weren't going to get very far through the park.  The way things worked out, these fun folks were destined to be late arriving at their next park as well.

I arrived at the park about twenty minutes early so that I could scope it out before our visitors arrived and decide on the best way to get them through the park in the available time, as if that's ever really happened.  I went down to Marlake first and startled my first bullfrog of the season.  I saw three male mallards, but no females, so the females must be on the nest.  I saw three female buffleheads, but no males......so, the males are on the nest?  Don't be silly!  Like that's ever going to happen.  A male and female red-winged blackbird were singing in the reeds and this beautiful northern flicker was calling from a nearby tree.  I saw three tiny red-legged frogs in the wet area in between the orchard and the blue gravel trail.  These little frogs were only about the size of a dime.  That was all the time I had to look for wildlife before heading back to the parking lot.  As it turned out, I could have spent another fifteen minutes exploring.  The only person waiting in the parking area was Margery Godfrey of the Friends of the Hylebos.  The fact that the Advancing Leadership group was late gave us time to plan our course of action.  Because I'm most knowledgeable about what lives in the park, Margery asked me to give the introductory speech, then we planned to split into two separate groups and head in different directions.  The plan half-worked, which is half more than it usually does.  You know what they say about the best laid plans.

Everyone followed me as far as the Deep Sinks, where two little red-legged frogs hung around to watch the show.  The frogs were so small and well-camouflaged that people had trouble finding them, so we spent quite a bit of our allotted time at the Deep Sinks looking for frogs.  In what seemed like an unreasonably short time, Margery started tapping her watch, letting me know that my time was up and it was time to turn the group around and head them back to the parking lot.  But, we've only gotten to the Deep Sinks, said I.  Too bad, we're out of time, head 'em out.  Bwaaaahahahaha, like that's really going to happen!  Instead of heading right, and out of the park, at the fork in the trail, Margery continued around the short side of the loop.  Whoops!  Her end of the group was now in the lead, and so far ahead of me that I wasn't able to head them off and turn them around, so I opted to follow Margery.  Her end of the group actually made it all of the way down to Brooklake, while my end of the group got delayed looking for amphibian eggs at the owl tree and talking about the baby barred owl.

This beautiful spotted towhee was singing it's heart out in a tree near the meadow, where we spotted three brush rabbits munching down on fresh spring grass.  Needless-to-say, we were very, very late arriving back at the parking lot. I made sure that everyone had cards with my contact information and the link to the blog.  That way, they can get in touch with me if they want to get the full two-hour tour.  So, ahhhh.....the city is expecting me to get 100 fifth-graders through the park on Monday.  Considering how well two of us did with less than thirty adults, what do you think our odds are on Monday?  It's going to be exciting!  Life in the wetland is never boring!  I love this life!

 

 

Teri I. Lenfest

Wildlife Walk

L - R:  Margery Godfrey (Friends of the Hylebos), Dylan Mendenhall (EarthCorps), Lina Rose (Earthcorps), and Hollie Shilley (City of Federal Way Public Works Department) went on a wildlife walk in the park today.  They got a first hand look at the variety of amphibian eggs that are in the park right now, while they scoped out good spots to release salmon fry later in the year.

 It sure was a beautiful day to take a walk!  It was only 51 degrees F., but it felt much warmer than that.  There was plenty of filtered sunshine available to help lift our spirits.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lina was lucky enough to spot the very first red-legged frog of the season.  It was a tiny little thing that was sitting at the Deep Sinks.  Yay!  I've been eagerly awaiting their return!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For those of you who are interested, this is the list of volunteer events that EarthCorps has scheduled in the Federal Way area this Spring and Summer.  It's hard work, but we have a lot of fun doing it.  These events are excellent volunteer activities for scouts and church groups to take part in.  Pack a lunch and bring it with you so that you can have a picnic after you've finished working.  I'm looking forward to meeting you and working side-by-side with you helping to restore wildlife habitat.

 

 

 

Teri I. Lenfest

Habitat Restoration at Blueberry Farm

EarthCorps scheduled some habitat restoration work to take place on the blueberry farm side of the park today.  Last night, the television weather-people were predicting cold temperatures, high winds, rain, and the possibility of a rain/snow mix.  Not very conducive weather for coaxing volunteers to roll up their sleeves, get out there, and play in the dirt.  It was 38 degrees F. when I walked out of my apartment door this morning.

Never-the-less, seven  hardy northwesterners showed up at the park in their grubbies, ready and willing to work.  This is a before photograph that I took while everyone was clean and fresh.  Left to right:  Lina Rose (EarthCorps), Nicole McLeod, Dylan (EarthCorps), Dave Back, Nancy LeMoine, and Pooja Patel.  EarthCorps provided coffee and water; but, unlike past Friends of the Hylebos work-parties,  this was a bring your own lunch kind of event, which everyone did.  They all looked yummy, too!  During lunch, I took everyone for a walk over to the fish-ladder.  The fish-ladder was full of fast-moving waterfalls.  I love it when it's like that!  The sound alone is exciting!

 

 

 

 

 

Since this is very early in the year and most of the plants still look like nothing but bare sticks, Dylan and Lina tied pink ribbons around each plant so that we'd be able to find them all later and could build mulch dams around them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Poojah has removed a plant from it's pot, loosened it's roots, and is now placing it into the hole that she dug for it's new home.

 

 

 

 

 

Here, Lina's trying to loosen up the roots on a stubborn plant that has become very root-bound in the pot.  It's important to loosen the roots up before you stick the plant in the ground or it won't do well.  Some of the roots, especially those of the nine-bark, had become so rootbound that the only way to loosen them up was to whack them repeatedly with the sharp end of a shovel, then dig your fingers in there and pull.  I'm not talking about any sissy pulling either, I mean pull really hard.  You need strong fingers for this kind of work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After successfully planting one plant, Nancy is preparing to dig a hole for the next.  Sometimes, it seemed as if the plants were multiplying.  The more we planted - the more there seemed left to plant.

 

 

 

 

Dave's getting ready to give one more plant a new home at the Blueberry Farm.  Dave comes from Fremont and took a train and two or three buses in order to get here.  I am sincerely impressed!  I wish we had more volunteers that were that dedicated.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This plant is all settled into it's new location.  All told, seven volunteers planted and mulched 75 native plants today, including:  salmonberry, cloudberry, hardhack, twinberry, thimbleberry, nine-bark, and Nootka rose, among others.

 

 

 

 

 

This is what the area looked like before we started planting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And, this is what the area looked like after we finished.  Dylan is carrying some of the buckets we used in our mulch brigade.  In order to build mulch dams around all of those plants, some of us shoveled mulch into those buckets, while the others emptied the buckets around the new plants and formed the mulch into donuts.

 

 

 

By the time we finished, the temperature had risen to 45 degrees F. and some blue sky was peeking out from the among the clouds, not to mention the fact that we had no rain, snow, or rain/snow mix.  The weather was perfect all day! Among the seven of us, Pooja was the only one who managed to stay somewhat clean.  She worked like a demon, but came out of the process virtually unscathed!  I wish I could figure out how to do that!  I always end up covered with mud from head to toe.  The next work-party will be in West Hylebos Park in March or April.  Check the EarthCorps site and/or this blog for more information.  The weather should be beautiful and most of the plants should be blooming.  We'd love to see you there!

Thanks to everyone for your help!  Nothing could have been done without you!

 

Teri I. Lenfest

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

FROM

WEST HYLEBOS PARK!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MAY ALL OF YOUR DREAMS COME TRUE!

 

Teri I. Lenfest

 

Here We Go Again!

I don't know any other way to say this.  It seems like the park has said this in every way they possibly can.  I have published this repeatedly.  And yet, here we go again!  Dogs are not allowed in West Hylebos Park.

 

 

 

We've said it this way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We've said it this way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We've said it this way.

 

 

 

 

And, I've blogged and blogged and blogged and blogged untl I'm blue in the face and ready to pull my hair out.  And yet, today I meet.....

 

 

 

 

 

This cute little dog.

 

 

 

 

And this little dog.  Notice that not only are both dogs in the park, but neither dog is on a leash, and both dogs are very small.  This dog's name is Molly.  When I told Molly's owners that dogs weren't allowed in the park, one of them said, "I know."  When I told her that if she really loved her dog, she'd take her out of the park.  She looked at me as if I were nuts and demanded to know why.  When I told her about the coyotes, she pshawed and informed me that if the coyotes came after her dog, she'd simply shoo them off.  These girls were very young and extremely naive.  I hope that Molly doesn't have to pay the price for their naivete.  She's so darned cute that it breaks my heart to know that she belongs to owners who care so little for her welfare.

So, much as I hate to have to do it, I'm forced to address the "No Pets Allowed" issue head-on one more time.   In June of 2008, the Federal Way Mirror published an article entitled "Coyotes Bring Concern To Residents".  In this article they quoted Tom Keegan, section manager for upland game and fur bearers for the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.  "The suburban coyotes tend to be great scavengers of whatever is available, including pets," he said.  The Federal Way Mirror went on to report that, by the end of May, residents of a neighborhood off of 344th St. were spotting coyotes at all hours of the day and that at least two cats had disappeared. 

On September 20th of 2010, King 5 News broadcast a video-clip of a woman who claimed to have been surrounded and attacked by a pack of coyotes while walking her dogs in Hylebos Park.  Although we subsequently proved that the woman had not been walking her dog in West Hylebos Park, but at least a mile north of the park, the woman was still surrounded and threatened by the coyotes.  Those of us who work in West Hylebos Park believe it was the presence of the dogs, not the woman, that provoked the attack.

On January 23, 2012, the Federal Way Mirror published another article entitled, "Coyotes: Federal Way man wants to shoot them," by Greg Allmain.  In this article, the Mirror quoted a citizen, Donald Barovic, with property in the West Hylebos Creek area, as stating that coyotes prowl his property and are killing and eating his livestock.  Mr. Barovic stated that he'd seen seven coyotes in the past four days and that, "they are becoming very aggressive and hungry, and I lost six goats."  According to the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife, coyotes have been known to eats cats and small dogs.  The Mirror has published past reports on pets that were likely mutilated and eaten by coyotes.

On December 23, 2010, I met a man and woman who were absolutely frantic.  They'd been walking their two dachshunds when a pack of coyotes appeared.  The dogs got excited, broke loose from their owners, and went after the coyotes.  The owners had managed to locate one of the dachshunds and shut it up in their car, but they requested my help in locating the other dog.  After an intensive ten-minute search, we located the other dachshund.  It had been killed by the coyotes, who were in the process of devouring it when we found them.  The owner of the dachshund was heart-broken and wanted to go back and get a shovel from his vehicle so that he could bury his pet.  I advised him that it was not a good idea to try to take the dog away from the coyotes, as the dog was coyote-food now and the coyotes would defend their food.

Coyotes love to eat rabbits, of which West Hylebos Park has plenty.  Without the coyotes to keep the rabbit population down, we'd have rabbits coming out of our ears.  The coyotes also keep the rabbit population down on my sister's farm.  Every spring she can hear the rabbits screaming as the coyotes turn them into dinner.  It upsets her so much that she's been known to stick her head out of the back door and scream at the coyotes to leave the bunnies alone.  When the coyotes kill the rabbits on her farm they tend to eat the top half of the rabbit down to about the level of the intestines and then leave the bottom half of the rabbits behind as garbage.  Dead cats have been found on and around Twin Lakes Golf Course in exactly this condition.....neatly severed in half, as if by an guillotine, the top half eaten and the bottom half left behind to mark the kill.  A friend of mine, in Federal Way, lives in a home whose backyard runs directly into Dash Point State Park.  She and her husband have often seen coyotes at the park end of their property.  Last autumn one of the their beautiful cats went missing.  The cat has not been seen since.  So, we've documented cats, dogs, rabbits, goats, and chickens being killed and eaten by coyotes in Federal Way.

Rebecca Gorodyskyi took this photograph of a coyote pup at Marlake.  We know that a pack of five coyotes was visiting West Hylebos Park and that this pack had cubs last year, so we suspect that the pack has grown to at least seven to nine coyotes.  A full-grown coyote weighs fifteen to forty-five pounds.  How much does your dog weigh?  Do you really think you can get your dog away from a hungry coyote?  Do you really believe that a coyote won't defend itself against an excited canine?  Do you really want to take that chance with your beloved pet?  Think about it.

 

 

Teri I. Lenfest

Boardwalk Reopened

 

 

Yes, the stubborn ice has finally melted off of the boardwalk trail and the trail has been reopened to the public.  The debris that was laying on top of the ice, or trapped within the ice, is now laying on the boardwalk.  Be especially careful of your footing in these areas.  There is one substantial area on the long side of the loop trail between the Sitka spruce and the Brooklake spur and two smaller areas on the short side of the loop between the Brooklake spur and the owl bench.  Pleae be careful in these areas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Destroyed pussy-willow branches have been piled up on top of the bitter cherry between the old cabins and the meadow.  Several smaller trees or branches have fallen in the area of habitat restoration near the hawthorn tree.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Marckyx commemorative stone is completely hidden beneath the fallen branches of a crab apple tree. 

 

 

 

 

 

Although the boardwalk trail has been reopened to the public, the orchard trail and the trail around Marlake are still impassable.  Even though you can't get down the orchard trail because of fallen trees and branches, you can skirt around the blocked areas by leaving the trail.  You cannot do this on the Marlake trail.  The fallen trees on the Marlake trail leave you with no option other than to turn around and go back the way you came.

 

 

 

 

Even though you can't get down the orchard trail, it may be worth the time to go over there and check out the area around the tree-fall anyway.  I've been seeing an enormous number of birds over there, entire flocks actually.  Today, the area was alive with dark-eyed juncos, black-capped chickadees, Steller's jays, Bewick's wrens, spotted towhees, varied thrush, and robins.

 

Mallards are arriving and pairing up.  Between the two lakes, I saw mallards, ring-necked ducks, American wigeons, buffleheads, and hooded mergansers, plus I saw a red-winged blackbird not far outside of the park.

 

 

 

 

 

Here and there I heard frogs croaking their love song.  "Croak".....here I am, darling.  "Croak"......I want to share my love with you.  "Croak"....I long to feel your cold, wet, lumps and bumps.....next to mine.  "Croak".....join me in the underbrush, Sugarpie.  I need your love.  Gonna dance tonight!  Eggs soon?  Who knows?  I spotted the first ones in February last year.  Could spot eggs any time now.  You better believe I'm looking!

Even though I was concerned about whether the false-bleeding-heart would survive, because that entire area is pretty well crushed under downed limbs and debris, I spotted some tiny new leaves of bleeding heart poking up through the ground today.  Yay!  Last night, the weatherman warned us not to let ourselves get too excited about this sudden streak of warmer weather because we could really have some serious weather ahead of us.  Still, brand new false-bleeding-heart leaves are making an appearance.  How can I not do my little Snoopy dance of joy?

 

 

 

 

When wood is newly cut, it has the most amazing color!  This photograph comes no where close to doing this dying branch justice.  The color of their life-force takes my breath away.  Red hot oranges and warm golden glows light up the usually drab browns and greys of a winter wetland.  Death and decay and life and beauty and re-birth all mixed up in one.....that's the nature of the wetland.

 

 

 

 

 

With a goodly number of crazy blue birds thrown in for comic relief.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Get out there and enjoy it while you can!  The signs are down and the boardwalk is open.

Teri I. Lenfest

Recovery Update

 

 

The workmen finished repairing the damaged section of the boardwalk about 2:30 p.m., then Becca got the leaf-blower out and blew the boardwalk clear of debris.  She did a beautiful job.  Most of the boardwalk looks like this now.  Thank you, Becca!   What a difference!  Still, there are parts of the boardwalk that are still covered with ice.  Thick ice.  Some of this ice measured out at one inch thick.  It's going to take at least several days of warmer temperatures to melt that ice.

 

 

 

I spent four hard hours trying to clear the ice from the boardwalk today.  I started down the short side of the loop trail and, after four hours, had not managed to clear all of the ice from there to the Brooklake spur.  I didn't go down the long side of the loop trail at all.  I kept working at it, then giving up, then sitting and resting for a few minutes before going back and tackling it again, but I finally had to throw in the towel.  I simply didn't have any energy left.  I'm almost 66 years old, after all!  I don't have nearly as much stamina as I used to have in my younger days.

 

 

 

 

 

Where I was unable to remove the ice all of the way across, I tried to at least clear one side of the boardwalk so that people could get through.

 

 

 

 

 

 

You wouldn't think that would be necessary, especially since the boardwalk is roped off and posted with a "closed" sign.  Still, I was halfway down the short side of the loop, vainly struggling to remove the ice, when two women came cruising by, for all the world as if the park was open to the public.

 

 

 

 

 

 

My hard work was well rewarded, even if I didn't manage to remove the ice from the trail.  I saw buffleheads and ring-necked ducks swimming on Brooklake and a bufflehead and hooded merganser swimming on Marlake.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dark-eyed juncos were hunting in the meadow grass.

 

 

 

 

 

 

While there must have been twenty or thirty robins working the grass in the orchard, with one sitting in a nearby tree on guard duty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And a downey woodpecker was all over what we used to call rabbit-run.  With a tap-tap here, and a tap-tap there, here a tap, there a tap, everywhere a tap-tap.  It was hard to get a picture of her because she didn't stay in any one place for more than a couple of taps.  By the time I'd locate her, she'd be flying away to another tree.

 

 

 

 

 

I'm totally exhausted.  Jason Gerwen says that he doesn't want to re-open the park until all of the ice is off of the boardwalk.  After struggling with it today, I don't think the ice is going to go away until the temperature goes up way above freezing and stays there for a while.  Rain is supposed to move in tomorrow and stick around all week.  If the temperature goes up into the 40's that should do the trick.  I'm pooped.  I plan to let Mother Nature finish this job.  I'll let you know when the ice is gone!

Teri I. Lenfest

 

Volunteer Work-Party Cancelled

I've spent eleven years working in the West Hylebos Wetland.  Most of those years were spent working in the park when it was under State jurisdiction.  During the years that the State had control of the park nothing got done unless a hardy group of volunteers got together and did it themselves.  The West Hylebos Wetland was like one of the poor-step-children of the State park system.  After all of those years, getting things done using a volunteer work-party has become second nature to me.  That's why I rushed to the park as soon as I could after the storm, surveyed the damage, and starting working to get some volunteers together to help clean up the mess.  I've got to stop doing that!  It's totally unnecessary now.  The City of Federal Way takes it's park responsibilities very seriously!  Jason Gerwen, of the City of Federal Way Parks and Recreation Department, is always on the ball.  When something needs to be done, he makes sure it gets done properly, and in a timely manner.  I received an email from Dana Buck, one of the park grounds-keepers, last night, letting me know that the City had sent six truckloads of workers over to the park yesterday and that they'd cleared the boardwalk of all of the big stuff.  My hat's off to you and your crew, Jason!

 

That does not mean that the park is open to visitors yet, despite the fact that I met several people walking the boardwalk today in defiance of the closure signs.  This man walks the trail every afternoon and has ignored the signs telling him that the park is closed.  If you choose to ignore the signs and are injured in the park as a result, you are liable for your own injuries.  Please stay home until we let you know that the park is safe to visit.

 

 

 

 

The trees that had fallen and were blocking the trail at the head of the ess after the third bench have been removed.  What's left of the tree was popping with black-capped chickadees today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Melting snow has left the hardhack near the meadow surrounded by a lake of ice water.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Although the sign-in kiosk and the sign at the head of the trail have been freed from the fallen branches of the crab-apple tree, there is no clipboard on the kiosk on which to sign-in.  Note to Jason:  Someone is using the little plastic information holders on the sign-in kiosk as an ashtray.  They're full of cigarette butts.  It would probably be a good idea to just remove them, if that's possible.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The fallen trees in the meadow have not yet been cleaned up, although I know that Scott and Dana Buck are working hard to get that done.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marlake is no longer frozen, so the buffleheads...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and ring-necked ducks have returned.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The trail leading around the back side of Marlake is completely blocked by fallen trees, such as these two willows, and is impassible.  The coyotes and river otters have recently visited that side of the lake, but it's impossible for a human to get through all of the debris.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The grey gravel trail through the orchard is still blocked by fallen trees and branches and several of the fruit trees in the orchard have been splintered or lost limbs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Widow-makers are still hanging from some of the trees.  These will probably not be removed, so it's always wise to pay attention when you're walking the boardwalk and be aware of what's hanging over your head.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A lot of the larger debris that has been cleared from the boardwalk has been thrown to either side of it, crushing areas that are usually covered with false-lily-of-the-valley, salmonberry, and hardhack.  It'll be interesting to keep an eye on these areas over the next couple of years to see how well nature recovers from all of this trauma.

 

 

 

 

 

Although the large trees and branches have been removed from the boardwalk, the boardwalk is still covered by a lot of smaller fallen debris.  There are also sections of the boardwalk that are still covered with snow.  This makes for very treacherous walking.  It would be very easy to slip and fall on this stuff and, if you fall and break a limb halfway down the boardwalk, who's going to hear you cry for help?  Be safe.  Stay off of the boardwalk until the debris has been completely cleared.

 

 

 

 

Besides, there is one section of the boardwalk that was torn up by a falling tree and has not yet been repaired.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's a view of the underside of that torn-up section.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When I was there, Tom Boyd and Joe Sonnen were hard at work trying to repair the damaged section.  They really had their work cut out for them!

 

 

 

 

 

Fallen trees over the Brooklake bridge have snagged one-another on the way down, ending up forming a teepee-like construction.  Another tree started falling near the Brooklake spur, pulling some of it's root-wad out of the ground, before it's upper limbs became enmeshed in the small-stubby branches of a neighboring tree.  How long this tree will be able to maintain it's precarous grasp before finishing it's fall and smashing into the boardwalk is anyone's guess.  When I looked at the tree from one angle, I decided that it would miss the boardwalk if it continued falling, but when I looked at the same tree from the opposite side, it looked to me as if it would slam into one side of the boardwalk if it fell.  All I know for sure is that I sure don't want to be standing under it when it decides to finish it's trip.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The face of the West Hylebos Wetland has been altered significantly by the violence of this storm.  The beautiful arch with the robin's nest in it is gone now.  I loved pointing that nest out to visitors and telling the the story about the baby robins who hatched so close to the boardwalk.  A tree that fell long ago and had been propped up at an angle used to be a favorite place for tree-frogs to sit.  That tree is gone now.  Another tree has splintered and fallen on top of a tree-well that has tradionally been a favorite place of mine to spot red-legged frogs.  This is the same spot where the tree that has started to fall can be found.  Those two things have completely altered the topography of that tree-well.  It'll be interesting to see how this affects the frogs, especially if the semi-fallen tree completes it's fall.  At the Troll Hole, falling branches have completely obscured what was left of Snoopy.  Some trees have fallen into the creek, taking their shade with them.  It'll be interesting to see how all of the extra sunlight these areas will receive now will change the things that grow and live there.  

So, to sum this all up.  Work has begun to clear up the storm damage in the wetland.  A huge amount of progress has been made.  A huge amount of work still needs to be done before the park will be safe to walk in again.  The City of Federal Way deserves a great big round of applause for accomplishing so much in such a short time.  Well done!  Thanks, Jason!  Please pass my thanks on to all of the rest of your crew.  We'll let you know when the park is ready to receive visitors again.  Until then, please obey the "Park Closed" signs and stay safe.

Teri I. Lenfest