By this time you know that the park is covered with fallen trees, branches, and debris from one end to the other. Dana, Scott, and Becca (the park groundskeepers) need all of the help they can get in order to get the park back in good condition so that we can reopen it to the public. I'm trying to organize a work-party to help clear the debris this Saturday, 28 January, from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. If you would like to help, or know someone who would like to help, please RSVP me at [email protected], so that I know how many people to expect. Dana says they already have most of the tools we'll need, but we can always use additional loppers, brooms, and wheelbarrows if you have them. Please bring your own work gloves and dress for the weather. Thanks! Teri Lenfest
Freak Winter Storm Damages The Park
By now, everyone knows that a record-breaking snowstorm pummeled the area several days ago. The snow on my railing measured five and a half inches. The following day warm air moved in above the freezing air creating an ice storm on top of the snow. I heard the pop, crack, and shuuuush of falling trees and branches almost non-stop for twenty-four hours. Falling trees and branches crushed roofs, carports, and some cars. They took out electrical lines and cable towers throwing tens of thousands of people into the dark. Thousands of people remain without electricity at this time. I don't own a car and the 903 bus does not operate in severe weather, so all I could do was sit on my thumbs and worry about what was happening in the park. Temperatures rose above freezing yesterday and it rained all day long, melting the snow on the roads and allowing metro to restore bus service, so I decided to make a trip to the park today to access the damage. We lost a lot of trees in my apartment complex and, while looking out of the window on the bus I could see almost nothing but fallen trees and branches lining the sides of the road all of the way down the street from my apartment to First Ave SW. The City of Federal Way is going to be very busy cleaning up all of this storm debris. Taking care of the roads and sidewalks will have first priority. Addressing any damage in the park comes way down at the bottom of their list of priorities. My bus doesn't take me all of the way to the park. I have to get off of the bus at First Ave SW and walk the rest of the way. Walking down the slushy sidewalk was very rough going and I had to climb over, under, around, and through two fallen trees that stood between the park and me. I'd received an email from Dana Buck, one of the park grounds-keepers, letting me know that they'd closed the park to the public, but I also knew that Dana did not have a camera and that she had not ventured deeper into the park than the meadow. As the "blog" person, I felt I was obligated to investigate and document the condition of the park. So, armed with my camera, off I went.
See what this sign says? Beleive it! The park is closed until further notice. The trail and the boardwalk are inaccessible and will remain so until further notice. I'll let you know when you can visit the park again.
Problems began long before I reached the boardwalk. After I passed the second bench, at the top of the ess in the trail, where the pussy-willows were getting all soft and pretty, a tree had split and fallen across the trail. This tree blocks the entire trail and is nearly impossible to get around, so please don't try. In between this area and the sign-in kiosk the trail is blocked with fallen branches, at face-level, in at least three places.
The apple tree has split and fallen over the sign-in kiosk and the sign at the head of the trail. There is no access to the sign-in kiosk. Several trees split and fell in the meadow. From the sign-in kiosk to the orchard spur, the trail is completely blocked with fallen tree after fallen tree and is completely inaccessible.
So, if you can't get down the trail from the sign-in kiosk, what about going through the orchard? My first stop was Marlake, which is covered in ice. From the house side of the lake I could clearly see that trees on the opposite side of the lake had splintered and fallen, but I did not go over there to investigate. The duck decoys are frozen into the ice on the lake, one of them upside-down, and are clearly not fooling any of the ducks. If anything, they're flying over, looking down, thinking about what that stupid duck is doing frozen in the ice, and flying on to warmer pastures, so to speak.
The orchard trail was also blocked by fallen trees and branches, but in the orchard you could leave the trail and beat your own trail through the crusty snow, which is what I did.
This tactic gained me access to the boardwalk trail. My plan was to follow the loop trail down the short end of the loop to Brooklake, then from there down the long end of the loop and back to the orchard. That was, if I didn't run into an insurmountable problem. The boardwalk is thoroughly trashed from one end to the other; but, for the most part, the debris is small enough to either pick up and throw over the side of the boardwalk or collect in the garden cart and remove from the park.
Once the weather clears up, the snow melts, and things dry out a bit, some of the debris can be blown away with the leaf blower or swept up.
Although debris that's easy to cope with is the norm, there are exceptions to the rule. This tree has fallen over the boardwalk on the short side of the loop trail, just before the bench where the barred owl was spotted.
The tree-well in front of the bench is full of water.
Unfortunately, just past this tree-well a tree has fallen in such a way that the root-wad tore up a section of the boardwalk. I made a full loop of the boardwalk trail and this is the only section of the trail that was damaged, as far as I could see, and it looks like it should be easy to repair. Maneuvering over this area was very difficult, but I was able to manage it. I do not recommend this to others. It was very slippery, very difficult, and very hazardous.
Just past that area another tree was down over the boardwalk. By this time my photos were getting really bad. My glasses were fogging up, due to the exertion, and so was the lens on my camera. It was spitting raindrops on and off, and that, in addition to the climbing over, under, around, and through the fallen debris, was leaving detritus on my camera-lens. I couldn't see where I was going and I couldn't see what I was trying to photograph and wiping my glasses and camera-lens off wasn't helping.
Just past that tree another tree was down over the boardwalk.
And just past that the boardwalk trail became completely impassable and I had to strike out off-trail in order to get around it. I'm unhappy to have to report that just past this point, another tree splintered off and landed, smack-dab, right in the middle of another one of my favorite tree-wells. It doesn't affect the boardwalk, but will challenge the frogs.
When I got to the bridge on the Brooklake spur, I discovered that another tree has come down over the bridge, requiring me to stoop down, climb over, and once again, struggle my way through. I must admit that, by this time, I was getting very tired. The physical challenges required to get this far down the trail were exhausting. Please, do not try this. It's too dangerous and not worth the effort. By the time I reached Brooklake I was exhausted.
Brooklake was full of water. So full of water that the stump I call the duck flo-tel was underwater. Just it's uppermost branches brushed the air.
At least Brooklake wasn't frozen, allowing some American wigeons free water in which to swim.
Returning down the long side of the loop, I discovered these two trees had fallen over the boardwalk trail. These two have always been leaning over the trail, but now you actually have to climb over them, instead of being able to walk under them.
And, in between that and the Stika spruce, we have this. More fallen trees and branches to maneuver through. By this time I was totally exhausted and these physical challenges were becoming increasingly difficult for me to surmount. All I wanted to do was get out of the park. I did not think that I could climb over, under, around, or through one more tree.
And, thankfully, I did not. Everything in the park wasn't indicative of destruction. Some things were simply gorgeous. Ice surrounded each limb and twig. When the temperature rose and the ice began to fall, it created piles of ice that looked every bit as if it had been produced by an ice-machine.
Caramel-colored fungus poked out of the snow creating beautiful photo-opportunities.
Stumps wore snow-white turbans.
Tiny cones polka-dotted the snow.
False lily of the valley berries looked like marachino cherries scattered in the snow.
Tiny fungi found shelter in moss-lined crevases.
And chunks of fallen wood kissed the snow with magical light.
Please stay home. Be safe. Be owl-wise. This, too, will pass. The park will be returned to order as soon as possible. I'll let you know when it's safe to walk the trails again. Until then, I hope that you and yours are safe and warm. Take care.
Teri I. Lenfest
January Comes In Like A Lamb
I'm back! Sort of. In December of 2010 my old computer decided to turn it's proverbial toes up and die. I replaced my pc with a Mac, and began the process of transferring my data over and learning how to use the new machine. Around November of 2011 my new Mac began giving me messages that the memory on my hard drive was almost full; then, having been ignored, flat-out declared that the memory on my hard drive was full and that my computer was unable to continue functioning unless I did something about it. Since then, I've purchased a number of external hard drives and worked diligently on resolving this problem. After transferring all of 2010 to an external hard drive, I was still left with well over 10,000 photographs. According to my computer, the photographs were the problem. My fault. Totally. I accept full responsibility for shooting myself in the foot. And everywhere else for that matter. I often take four or five photographs (sometimes more) of every subject in an attempt to get the best photograph I can for the blog. But, after I upload the photographs to my computer and create my blog, I fail to go back into my computer and delete the junk photographs. If I take five photos of a single object, it's only common sense for me to select the best photo of the five and delete the other four, but common sense is something that I'm sorely lacking. After having made an intense effort to climb out of the hole I dug for myself, I've managed to go through all 10,000 plus photographs, one at a time, culling and deleting the trash. I'm happy to say that, before I came home from the park today and uploaded new photographs, I'd culled my unwieldy mass of mayhem down to 536 photographs. I did that by going through every photograph in every event individually and evaluating it's merit. That was phase one. Phase two will consist of comparing all of the photos of a single object, such as a robin or a towhee, selecting the best of the bunch or those that have some defining characteristic that I need to illustrate a blog, and trashing all of the rest. That will be a slow process though. Right now, I've winnowed enough chaff in order to produce my first blog of the new year. So, away we go!
The month of December 2011, ended up being one day short of breaking the standing record as the driest December ever. Then January 2012 slipped in like a lamb. This is supposed to be winter, folks! January and February have a reputation to uphold. Where are the ice, snow, and freezing temperatures? According to my outdoor thermometer at home the high temperature was 51 degs F today. Fifty-one degrees! In January!
It was so warm that people were roaming around the park in light jackets. Some wore even less. The parking lot was full to bursting, with cars coming and going on a regular basis, playing musical chairs with the available slots. The park was full of people. Had I chortled a pleasant hello at every visitor I passed it would have sounded like I was yodeling.
The Vargas family was having a good time walking the boardwalk trail. Luis Vargas is holding his son, Jayden. The older girls are Jenny and Nichole Vargas, while the younger one is their cousin Nalini Jeffords. Luis said that it was a very beautiful January day, which is what I think we were all thinking. You can't go wrong with a day like today. Even if you tried! The only caveat was the fact that the boardwalk was quite slippery in places. I slipped several times and saw others slipping as well. Quite a few visitors cautioned me to be careful because of the slick conditions. Time to get a group of volunteers together with some push-brooms and water to sweep off the slime.
It's hard to complain about a little slipperiness when Marlake looks like this!
Someone has put duck decoys on Marlake. I suspect the Buck Family were the culprits. Their ploy seems to be working.
I saw an American wigeon.
A couple of buffleheads.
And several ring-necked ducks. Of course, there was also the usual assortment of resident mallards on both lakes.
Someone has chopped down two beautiful trees near the Brooklake viewing platform. This tree used to stand right behind the bench nearest the entrance to the platform. It's been covered with beautiful frilly maroon-colored fungus this year and has always been a favorite spot for black-capped chickadees, song sparrows, and cedar waxwings to rest. I've even seen a downey woodpecker and a brown creeper on this tree, although not at the same time. Now the tree is gone. Why?
The other tree was to the right of the boardwalk just before you reach the viewing platform. Look at how beautiful this wood looks. I can't understand why somebody would chop it down.
Near Brooklake I saw skunk cabbage just starting to poke up through the surface of the water. This one is taking a little test run. Is it time yet? Ummmm, could still snow. Might be a good idea to wait a little longer. I could hear frogs croaking, but couldn't spot any. Last year, I started spotting amphibian eggs in February. Didn't see any today. I'll keep my eyes open. They could show up at any time.
The pussywillows are nice and fuzzy in between the old cabins and the meadow.
When I got back to the parking lot, I tried to take a photo of the pigeons sitting on top of that tall green tower. City pigeons moved into the park this summer and it looks like they've decided to stay. That green tower seems to be their favorite look-out perch and there are generally about as many pigeons up there as can fit at one time. Unfortunately, my camera started blinking at me, telling me that my battery was low. As I lowered the camera, I pushed what I thought was the OFF button and wound up taking this photo of my shadow instead. Look at how tall I've gotten since Christmas! Must be all of that good food I ate. Maybe I'll run into you at the park on my next visit. If you see me, don't forget to stop and say hello!
Teri I. Lenfest
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
Eyeballs poking up through the ground.
Trees growing ears. The better to hear you with, my dear.
Witches with a bad cold.
Remnants of a ghost scattered among the leaves.
Alien leaves left behind by a UFO.
Branches sprouting teeth. The better to eat you with, my dear.
Devil's fingers poking up through the ground.
Piles of greasy, grimy, gopher guts.
Rotting zombie flesh.
A devil's club.
Look out, we're coming to get you! Lock the doors and bar the windows.
BWAAA HA HA HA HA HA HA!
HAPPY HALLOWEEN FROM WEST HYLEBOS PARK!
Teri I. Lenfest
Girl Scout Troop 41865 Tours The Wetland
On October 26th, 2011, Girl Scout Troop 41865 toured the West Hylebos Wetland as part of their Forever Green Challenge. Their goal on Wednesday was to learn about salmon and salmon habitat restoration, which would earn each of them another green leaf to sew around the edge of their Forever Green Challenge badge.
When I talked to their leader, Haley McLaughlin, about arranging this trip, I reminded her that it was nearly November, and the tour was scheduled in the late afternoon, so the girls needed to be dressed for bad weather and have shoes with good traction on their feet. Always be prepared! I know, that's the Boy Scout motto, but it works for Girl Scouts as well. When the girls arrived at the park, they were dressed in many layers of appropriate clothing and ready to go. Thank you, Haley! Well done!
Look at all of these smiling faces! Are they cute, or what! The girls in the front wearing blue vests are earning another badge. The circle in the middle is actually the center of a flower. Each task they perform earns them another flower petal to sew around the outside of the circle.
I arrived at the park a little bit early, so took a side trip over to Marlake to see how it was doing. The mallards no sooner spotted me than they swam over and poured out of the lake looking for a handout. They encircled my feet for a few minutes, doing their best to beg, but finally gave up and milled around in the grass when their best efforts at conning me out of food failed. Sorry, my friends......you need to find your own food and not rely on people to feed you. Although the male mallards we saw at Soos Creek Fish Hatchery were sporting beautiful, shiny, metallic green heads, you can see that the gents at Marlake are still lagging a little behind the curve. Their autumn plumage is almost complete, but not quite, so they still look a little scruffy.
As you can see, our recent rain has caused the water level in Marlake to rise. It's not quite back to it's optimal level, but it's getting higher all of the time. When I photographed the baby frogs last month, my toes were nearly touching the nearest water lily pads. Now, the area I was standing in is underwater again, as it should be. Marlake is a manmade lake that is totally dependent upon rainfall for it's existence. When it doesn't rain, the lake begins to dry up. Now that the rain has returned, the lake is beginning to look more like itself again.
On the way back to the old cabins to meet the Girl Scout Troop, I ran into this cute little slug. Later, I learned that the girls really like slugs, so this picture is for them! Slugs are some of the little garbage disposal units that live in the park. They'll eat nearly anything, including one another, and help keep our park nice and clean. We love them, too!
Unfortunately, when I got back to the old cabins I discovered that the sanican was locked. I had consumed a full cup of hot tea on my way over to the park and was in need of this facility, as were several of the scouts, but we were locked out. That's only happened to me once before in the park, but it's no fun, no matter how infrequently it happens. When you're leading a tour group through the wetland, it's important to have the sanican open and available for their use. Several of the girls had interesting suggestions regarding how we could resolve this problem. In the end, we chose to find a nearby facility after the walk instead.
I talked to the girls about the Barker and Denny cabins as we walked down the trail towards the Hawthorn tree. Only two of the scouts had visited the park before. Since learning about habitat restoration was one of their goals for this walk, we spent a few minutes at the Hawthorn tree, while I explained to the girls how we transformed that area....
From this....
to this.......
to this.....
to this!
We didn't see any barred owls in the park yesterday but, as we traveled down the boardwalk, one of the scouts taught me how to hoot like an owl. We had such a good time hooting, that I decided to post this photograph of the baby barred owl just for the scouts. Girls, this is the baby owl I told you about when we were at the tree well where the red-legged frogs live.
We didn't see any frogs yesterday either, but we talked about them. Right now, the overnight temperatures are dropping into the high 30's, so it's too cold for the frogs to hang around. They don't have any fur to protect them from the cold, so they bury themselves in the mud or forest debris to keep warm. This is a red-legged frog. If you visit the park at warmer times of the year, you will find these frogs hanging out near the tree-wells.
When we got to Brooklake, we discussed where West Hylebos Creek begins and ends and how salmon come up the creek each autumn to spawn. I talked to the scouts about how the salmon go from this......
to this.....
to this! These scouts range in age from Kindergarten to 3rd Grade, so I told them about how, when they get into 5th Grade, their class will probably have an opportunity to raise salmon from eggs to fry, then set their salmon fry loose in West Hylebos Creek. 5th Graders in Federal Way do that every year. It's so much fun!
As we left Brooklake, we spotted two little Douglas squirrels playing among the trees. They were the cutest little things and looked like they were having great fun chasing one-another around. I told the girls how to tell the difference between an Eastern Grey Squirrel, that they might have living in their yards at home, an Western Grey Squirrel, and our native Douglas Squirrels. Douglas squirrels are much smaller than either of the grey squirrels and they have nice peach-colored belly fur.
When we arrived at the Deep Sinks, we discovered that the fallen tree had been removed from the boardwalk and the boardwalk had been repaired. Thank you, City of Federal Way! Unfortunately, a tree fell over the Deep Sinks last year that almost obscured it. The tree that fell this year, fell over top of the other fallen tree in the opposite direction, completely obscuring the Deep Sinks. You can look, but you're not going to see anything. I'm sure the frogs will appreciate the privacy, but we're sure going to miss being able to watch the frogs. This platform has always been a prime viewing location, but those days are over. Such is life in the wetland. Things are always changing.
While we were there, the girls posed for a photograph on the newly-opened viewing platform. The girls were promised a yummy snack when they got back to the parking lot. Since they all love slugs, their Scout Leader promised them a peanutbutter and banana slug sandwich. Yum! Who could pass that up?
Girl Scout Troop 41865 - Thanks for coming to visit West Hylebos Park! You were more fun than a barrel of monkeys! I loved taking you on a tour of the boardwalk and telling you about our park. I hope you all come to visit us again!
Teri I. Lenfest
Leadership in Action
Leadership in Action, EarthCorps annual benefit dinner and auction was held at Sand Point the evening of October 22nd, 2011. The benefit dinner was very well attended and enjoyed by all. While attendees chatted with one another, perused the auction items, and enjoyed an assortment of beverages, wait-staff circulated through the crowd offering trays full of delicious hors d'oeuvres, including bamboo rice and towering vegetable stacks.
At 6:30 p.m., guests were seated to a delicious meal of either chicken champignon or roasted vegetable Napolean along with an autumn Swiss chard and mustard greens salad.
L to R: Mark Freeland, Adele Freeland, Chris Carrel, Executive Assistant Steve Cain, Carol Cain, Mayor Skip Priest, Margery Godfrey, Pat Godfrey. Look at all of those smiling faces!
During dinner, the guests were welcomed by the Board President, David Albano. Steve Dubiel, Executive Director, then presented a talk about the Leadership in Action program.
Federal Way Mayor Skip Priest presented the EarthCorps Alumni Award to Karmila Parakkasi for her efforts to monitor the critically endangered Sumatran Tiger population and help preserve the habitat in which these tigers live. Washington State Senator Scott White was presented with the Cynthia Sullivan Award for outstanding support of environmental restoration. Senator White is a tireless advocate in the fight to protect and preserve the wilderness around us.
The Awards Presentations were followed by a short video honoring EarthCorps volunteers from around the world. Then it was time for the live auction to begin, and a lively auction it was, indeed! Guests could bid on anything from a trip for two to Costa Rica to 99 bottles of beer from around the world. Bidding was fast and furious, led by a very talented auctioneer, who encouraged guests to open their wallets and support the cause - which they did, admirably.
Half-way through the live auction, bidding was discontinued for a while so that EarthCorps famous Dessert Dash could take place. Guests at each table decided how much they were willing to bid for the opportunity of selecting the dessert of their choice, then runners from each table were allowed to race to the dessert table and make their selection, with the table bidding highest having first choice and the other tables following in descending order. Once each table had claimed their dessert, the live auction began anew. There's nothing like a little sugar to help the bidding process!
The evening was capped by live bluegrass music. What can be better than that? Everyone had a grand time! If you weren't able to attend this year's dinner, you missed a fun evening! Perhaps, we'll see you next year!
Teri I. Lenfest
Habitat Restoration
Habitat restoration has been taking place in the West Hylebos watershed for more than a decade. When the Friends of the Hylebos Wetland first began salmon habitat restoration along West Hylebos Creek, it was more or less experimental. Whereas, people had tried to improve habitat here and there around the world, attempting to fully recreate habitat as it had been before mankind came along and disturbed it was unknown territory. No one had ever written a textbook about how to recreate a native forest, with it's inter-related over-story, under-story, and mid-story. The whole adventure was a bit of a mystery. What comes first - the chicken or the egg? An enormous number of volunteers have participated in a huge number of work-parties in order to achieve what you see today. A variety of approaches have been tried. Some approaches, such as building ELWDS (engineered large woody debris), and coir hummocks over-planted with native vegetation, have been abandoned. Other approaches have proven to be more successful and have been expanded upon.
One method we've used to eradicate invasive Himalayan blackberry bushes is to chop as much of the blackberry bushes out as we possibly can, then cover the roots, and what remains of the canes, with dense black garden cloth, staking the cloth down around the edges. We leave this garden cloth in place for at least two entire growing seasons. The black garden cloth absorbs the heat from the sun and essentially bakes the blackberry roots until they're nothing but hard, dry, dead hulks. Once we've determined that the roots are dead, the garden cloth is removed, the roots are dug up, and the area is planted with native vegetation and mulched. Several years ago, the area you see covered with black garden cloth in this photograph was completely covered by Himalayan blackberry. The blackberry was so dense that the canes completely covered this beautiful little hawthorn tree. You couldn't even see the tree! It just looked like a big hill of blackberry vines. I participated in the work party that removed the blackberry canes from the area, exposing the tree, so this little tree has become quite precious to me. The black garden cloth, on the other hand, has been viewed as quite an eyesore by our visitors. Over the intervening years, I've been asked numerous times about when we were going to pull that ugly plastic up.
I'm glad to say that time has come. On Saturday, October the 15th, almost thirty volunteers joined a work party sponsored by EarthCorps to remove the black garden cloth from around the hawthorn tree and plant over two hundred native plants in this area, including: trees, shrubs, native berries, and ferns.
I was busy in Bellevue, attending Steamcon III, so wasn't able to participate in the work party.
But Adele Freeland participated and planted about a dozen plants, including the one she's standing in front of. The next time you visit West Hylebos Park, take a look at the outstanding job these hearty volunteers performed. We owe them a great big round of applause for all of their hard work. If you, or your group, would like to participate in a future work party, please check the EarthCorps website for volunteer opportunites throughout your community. It's hard work, and dirty work, but work you can take great pride in accomplishing, and it gives you bragging rights. You can actually point at a tree and say, "Ten years ago, I planted that tree. Look at how big it is now!"
Teri I. Lenfest
Annual Fish Trek
Every year, at just about this time, Adele Freeland and I have to make our annual fish trek. Sometimes the two of us make the trek alone. At other times one or more friends join us. The trek involves visiting the Soos Creek Fish Hatchery, the Green River bridge, Flaming Geiser State Park, and West Hylebos Park in search of fish, usually stopping at the Black Diamond Bakery for lunch. October 20th was the chosen day for this year's trek.
When Soos Creek looks like this, it's a pretty good indication that the fish are running.
Dead fish carcasses are left in the creek to decompose. This decomposition deposits valuable nutrients into the water, enriching the creek for future generations and providing a valuable food source for birds and other scavengers. I've never met a seagull who would pass up a free meal, especially one that just lies there peacefully and doesn't take any effort to catch. Unfortunately, the gulls don't limit their food intake to dead salmon carcasses, but also relish the newly laid eggs that are hidden in the gravel. Although food is abundant in the creek at this time of the year, there's still alot of squawking, screeching, pecking, and feather-pummeling going on as a result of the gull's territorial disputes.
Soos Creek was full of fish: big fish, little fish, fish with and without humps, bright red males, and brown or greenish females. Some in pairs, like those on the left.
Some gathered in huge masses like those on the right.
Some jumping clear out of the water as if dancing in joy.
While others struggled to surmount a fish ladder that was closed at the moment, repeatedly beating themselves against the barrier in vain attempts to reach the other side. Their drive to reach the gravel in which they were spawned is so intense that they will literally beat themselves to death attempting to reach it.
There were even fish that appeared to be albinos. They were like huge ghost fish scattered among their smaller, darker, relatives. Very appropriate for Halloween, don't you think?
The mallards seemed to coexist peacfefully with the battling gulls.
As you can see, the males have regained their gorgeous metallic green plummage. They are stunning!
We found two wooly-bears crawling down the shoulder of the road in-between where Adele parked her car and the Green River bridge. They're looking for a nice cozy place to winter-in.
Adele Freeland looked for fish from the middle of the Green River bridge.
There were some fish making their way up the river, but not as many as we'd hoped for. We have visited the river when there were so many fish in the water that you could almost walk across the river on the backs of the fish. Our timing was wrong last year and we didn't see a single fish. Perhaps we missed the big run this year as well, or perhaps the big run is yet to come. I read in a recent news article that British Columbia is seriously concerned about the future of our salmon. They've detected a new and extremely deadly virus in some of the fish they've examined this year. This virus appears to begin in wild fish, but spreads to the farm fish populations as well, and has reputedly wiped entire populations of fish out. The thought of seeing our creeks and rivers devoid of salmon returning to spawn makes me very sad. Let's hope that science finds a way to stop this deadly virus in it's tracks!
Even if our timing was a little off this year, the Green River was beautiful. Standing in the middle of the bridge, searching for salmon, was a delightful way to spend the afternoon.
Our next stop was lunch, then we were off to visit West Hylebos Park.
Teri I. Lenfest
Salmon Season
Adele Freeland and I have been counting salmon returning up West Hylebos Creek to spawn every year for the last decade so. Even though the Stream Team has been abolished due to insufficient funding, getting out there and looking for fish is in our blood now. When autumn rolls around, the two of us get itchy feet. We can't wait to get out there and start looking for fish. We need our fish fix! About one o'clock yesterday afternoon, the sky was blue, the sun was shining, it was chilly, but not cold.......perfect fish weather; so, Adele suggested we grab our polarized lenses and make the rounds in search of salmon.
The first thing we did was fortify ourselves at the Warthog Barbecue in Fife, where we filled our stomachs with the best pulled-pork sandwiches and potato salad in the area. If you're headed in that direction and feeling hungry, you can't beat the Warthog. Stop in and give it a whirl. You won't regret it! http://www.warthogbbq.com.
Next stop was the 4th Street bridge in Fife. After patiently scanning the water for several minutes, Adele decided to take a stroll down the path, while I continued focusing on the water east of the bridge. She'd hardly started down the path when I spotted a huge salmon, flipping and flopping, as it allowed itself to be washed backwards beneath the bridge. The current was running very fast in that direction so, by the time I made it over to the other side of the bridge, the fish had vanished. I yelled at Adele that I'd just seen a huge fish being swept under the bridge and she hurried back to help me search for it. I thought that it had probably taken refuge in this bend in the creek where salmon ofter pause for a rest, but I couldn't spot it. Several minutes later, Adele spotted it jumping out of the water west of that area, near some fallen logs in the creek. Whoohoo, our first salmon of the season!
Our next stop was the Milton Nature Preserve. This used to be a natural area where the east fork of Hylebos Creek meandered and salmon spawned. It was turned into a farm decades ago, during which time the owner of the property straightened the meandering creek out, running it down one edge of his farm. This arrangement was not friendly to spawning salmon and the salmon disappeared. When the Friends of the Hylebos Wetland began restoring the habitat in this area, salmon hadn't been seen in this fork for decades. Initially, we built ELWDS (engineered large woody debris) in the creek to create riffles and pools, then we built hummocks and over-planted them with a variety of native vegetation. The resulting shade would keep the water cool and create places where the fish could hide. Eventually, the Friends of the Hylebos Wetland decided to move the creek back to it's original position, returning the creek to it's former meandering ways. The ELWDS were replaced by natural log formations, the bed of the creek was graveled, and the entire area was planted with willow stakes, returning the area to a wild state. Salmon were spotted spawning in the creek the very first spawning season after the creek was restored; but, as you can see in this photo, we failed to find a way to prevent silt from washing back into the creek and covering up the gravel. Today, the east fork of Hylebos Creek is gorgeous, but there's no sign what-so-ever of gravel on the bottom. Without gravel, salmon can't dig their redds and lay their eggs, so salmon have abandoned the east fork of the creek once more.
Our next stop was Birch Street. Years ago, the Friends of the Hylebos Wetland held work parties to clear the invasive reed canary grass from the land adjacent to West Hylebos Creek on both sides of Birch Street. After the reed canary grass was cleared, the area was back-planted with a variety of native vegetation, including trees, shrubs, ferns, and berries. The year following the planting, more volunteers returned to the area to survey what had lived and what had not, getting a better idea of how to go about restoring habitat to it's natural condition. No one had ever done this before, so we learned as we went along. The culvert over West Hylebos Creek at Birch Street was a popular place for fish-counters to stand and watch for returning salmon. Today, reed canary grass has once again taken over the area. Copious amounts of poison nightshade is growing in the area. It's even growing into the creek itself. It appears that the area is also being used as a dump, as we had to climb over abandoned mattresses and cushions, etc., in order to get close to the creek. A lot of volunteers, including myself, worked very hard to restore the Milton and Birch Street areas of the creek and it makes me very sad to see them in their current condition.
Our next stop was 372nd Street. This area used to flood every year, but the old culvert was replaced by a new, larger culvert and the yearly flooding has been averted for the most part. Adele and I could see that the areas on both sides of West Hylebos Creek have now been barb-wired off and posted as sensitive areas. I think this is a very good thing. Although the vegetation on the south side of the culvert has grown to such an extent that it's no longer feasible to stand at this spot and look for fish, it's still possible to count fish on the north side of the culvert as they pass under the road and exit on the other side. By the time we reached 372nd Street, our sunshine had vanished and it was starting to sprinkle; so, instead of standing around looking for fish, we decided to make a run for it and try to get to the Blueberry Farm side of Brooklake before the storm got any worse.
You know what they say about best laid plans! Ours certainly went awry. We hardly got out of the car at the Blueberry Farm before the sky opened up. This little red-legged frog hopped across the path in front of us and hid in the debris on the other side, but it was pouring down rain, my camera isn't water-resistant, and I was trying to photograph the cute little amphibian through a plastic zip-lock bag. I only got one shot at it, then the frog vanished into the brush. Trying to take photographs through a wet plastic bag didn't work very well, if you ask me. Oh, well, back to the drawing board.
This is what it looked like by the time we got to Brooklake.
This great blue heron was sitting on the fallen tree near the edge of the lake, patiently waiting for the rain to stop. I took this photograph from an area that was about two feet square and absolutely dry. The rain was pouring down all around me except for that tiny spot. How lucky is that?
All of this rain we've been getting lately is replenishing the water in the fish ladder, which is exactly what the coho are waiting for. If this keeps up, we should see coho spawning in the gravel just south of Brooklake any time now. I can hardly wait.
Adele and I wanted to visit West Hylebos Park, but the rain was coming down so hard that we decided to stop for coffee and try to wait the storm out. Sitting around at Austin Chase in my wet clothes, sipping on a salted caramel latte, made me so sleepy. I was glad when the rain finally stopped so that we could continue on our way. It didn't take long. It rained just about long enough to sip on a latte and make a pit-stop, then we were back on the road.
When we got to West Hylebos Park, I was delighted to see that the security fence had been removed from around the old Denny cabin. Restoration of this historic cabin seems to be moving right along. I'm so excited!
In accordance with the season, someone has decorated the historic Barker cabin with corn sheafs. Someone needs to add a few pumpkins as well. Hmmmm, that might not be such a good idea. The rabbits and other wildlife would probably eat them, so sitting them in front of the cabin might be an exercise in futility. The animals would be happy though.
The spur to the Deep Sinks is still closed due to the fallen tree. I talked to Jason Gerwen, from the city, and he said that it may take several months to remove this tree and repair the damage done to the boardwalk, so please be patient. For your own safety, I suggest you avoid this area. You can see it from the main boardwalk, so there's no need to walk down the spur to get a closer look. Talking about safety issues, the wet boardwalk is as slick as snot in some areas, so please be very careful. If you own shoes with really good traction, such as boat shoes, you're going to need them. Remember, the loop trail is 1.1 miles long and can be quite deserted at this time of the year. If you slip on the boardwalk and hurt yourself, you could lay there for a very long time before someone discovers you and goes for help. Thank goodness for cell-phones! But, even with a cell-phone, it's going to take a while before the EMT's can locate you and pack you out of the park. Be careful and stay safe! Ahem.....says the woman who learned to yodel by slipping on the boardwalk and sailing through the tulies! Should I use my "Mother" voice......."Do as I say, not as I do!" Okay, nuff said!
To the left of the trail, just past the information kiosk, one of the trees is absolutely dripping with sap right now. It's one sticky mess from top to bottom. Neither Adele, nor I, could resist touching these amber drops, resulting in both of us having to deal with very sticky fingers for the rest of the day. I usually see the sap running in the spring. I have no idea why the sap has chosen to run out of this tree in mid-October. It's awfully pretty though, don't you think?
Water is returning to the wetland!
Remember, this is October! Cotton soaks up water and holds the cold next to your skin. You can become hypothermic very quickly at this time of the year. Dress accordingly, be careful, and enjoy the wetland being wet!
Teri I. Lenfest
Recent Posts
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- Rainy Day Adventure - Hylebos at Flood
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