HyleBlog - Friends of the Hylebos

Getting Edge-y and Rain Gardens

Just as I entered into a brief "The Edge" phase this weekend (looking a bit like the Irish U2 guitarist, known for his scruffy face and black beanie), the bloke goes and gets embroiled in an environmental controversy in California.

On one side are conservationists and the state agencies charged with preserving public spaces, views and access. On the other, Mr. Evans with his green building plans and U2 environmental credibility, enhanced with the blessing of Mark Massara, an environmental lawyer and former Sierra Club official.

“Rather than fighting every project,” Mr. Massara said, “it’s a much more prudent exercise to try and inspire other landowners to do things that are not only in the best interest of the environment, but also to protect the homes and enhance the values here.”

This is not an unsual dilemma, when it comes to the environment. We often find ourselves contemplating whether it's better in the long run to oppose something, or to work with it to lessen its impact on the environment and support a long-range vision of sustainability.

I don't know enough about The Edge's project (nor is it in our area, of course), but being that we live in an urban growth zone, we typically can't choose between development and no-development. We focus instead on working with the development community, with landowners, and nudge, gently nudge, our communities to sustainability.

One interesting area we're beginning to work with is promoting practical Low Impact Development techniques. One such effort is the construction of rain gardens for homes and for businesses. Our friends at Stewardship Partners have developed a fantastic rain garden program, which we hope to be able to bring to the Hylebos soon. Stay tuned!

Sunshine is Quite Nice

OK, I'm kidding; it's awesome! Yes, the sun was resplendent today. I broke out the shorts, causing neighbors to suffer snowblindness. They better get used to it, because it's supposed to be sunny for several days.

Walking my dogs near Poverty Bay Park I could hear the Bald Eagles calling to each other. Wednesday, one flew past my window!

The sun and warmth has its drawbacks, though: possibly (and come on, is there any real doubt) earlier and earlier occasions of spring, as the world warms. And warmest January on record here, and a whole mess of plant and animla activities are happening way earlier than norm.

Happy Friday!

Ok, I'm cooped up inside the office, working on a couple of proposals. Hillary and I are finishing a really cool proposal for a project I cant' talk about yet (just trust me, it'd be oustanding!) and then I'm finishing up a grant proposal for building rain gardens. So, it's pretty much office work all day long, but this is the way conservation gets done. You gotta get the funds first!

Last Friday was freaky. This one has had its share of weirdness. Earlier today, Hillary's computer got hijacked and infected with a worm. It's beyond our powers to repair, so the computer is going off to the shop to be de-wormed. Then, when I went to get lunch today i was passing Celebration Park and darned if there weren't two young men - shirtless in the rain - beating the bejesus out of each other while a small crowd watched and another young man videotaped them. I called 911, but they were all gone when I returned so I assume they split before the police could catch them. But, really, that was just weird...and stupid.

It'll probably be on YouTube within hours...

Anyways, it's Friday. The weekend is almost here. We are closed Monday for Presidents' Day. Hopefully, you have a three-day weekend (or longer), too. Have a great weekend and keep it Green!

Hylebos Movie Premiered!

Last Saturday, the Friends and our friends at the Historical Society of Federal Way co-hosted the premiere showing of the documentary: THe Hylebos: Discovering A hidden Jewel by Federal Way resident Mary Longhurst. Andy Hobbs, AKA Face Fungus, wrote an article about the Premiere in yesterday's Mirrror.

The event attracted about 40 people (which I have to say is a pretty darn good turnout for a sunny saturday afternoon!) and aside from a few technical glitches, came off really well. Big thanks to Dianna Noble-Gulliford and Maureen Hathaway of the Historical Society who worked very hard to make the event a success!

Interesting Day, To Say The Least...

Freaky Friday, that's what we've got today. There was a fire last night in one of PSE's underground vaults the feeds our building. The result is that when we arrived this morning, half of the building's lights did not work, and our server and several key appliances had shut down. (I'm so glad we installed a battery backup on the server last year!) As the problem is being fixed we are getting power surges and circuits (with our computers attached) just shutting down. Fun stuff.

Happy Monday and Hylebos Preservation News

Zooooooooom! Wow, what was that that just flashed past me? Oh, it was the weekend doing it's best impression of a bad Nicolas Cage movie (is there any other kind?!) - Gone in 60 Seconds. (Of course, my weekend did not also feature Angelina Jolie; regardless of what the tabloids say about Brangelina, my own domestic situation is blissful). Ok, where was I? Yeah, that's right. Monday again.

It's looking like another busy week in the Hylebos. I'll be getting ready for Saturday's Premiere of the Hylebos documentary, The Hylebos: Discovering a Hidden Jewel, 1 PM at the FW Community Center. I'll be working on conservation projects that we are trying to get funded or are starting to come together. And it seems that I'm meeting with a lot of folks to work on the nuts and bolts of building relationships and partnerships to support our conservation efforts in and around the Hylebos.

More on that later, let me cap this Monday Morning blog with news about progress towards a Hylebos habitat preservation that is coming together. The family of longtime (and Lifetime Stewardship Award winner) Ted Enticknap are working with the city of Federal Way to sell for conservation purposes, a wonderful stretch of wetland and stream off the North Fork of Hylebos Creek. 

This property is just a beautiful section of the Hylebos. It would be a great addition to the 425 acres we've already helped preserve along the Hylebos, and I know that Ted would be happy knowing that the property will be protected in perpetuity.

Although we're not mentioned directly in the Mirror article, this is an effort the Friends has been working on for several years along with the city of Federal Way. Earlier work led to the 2007 preservation of the Hidden Lake property, 10 acres alongside Spring Valley Ranch. And, I'm betting that there'll be more to come!

Some Water Quality News

The primary source of pollutants to the sound come from our freeways and roads. The State of Washington has recently settled a lawsuit over roadway pollutants in which WSDOT will be setting up to 20% of a project's funds to upgrade existing roadway's stormwater facilities. Given how many roads were built with little or no stormwater facilities (reflecting the standards or lack thereof, of the day), this should make a big difference for water quality.

At the same time, some environmentalists are pushing a bill in the State Legislature that would jack up taxes on petroleum and chemical producers to raise money for Puget Sound restoration (although, current environmental accounts are already being raided for the general fund; so, you've got to give the Green Label on this a jaundiced eye)

Standing In Line...

Alright, here's a tip for those eating lunch at Marlene's Market: Friday is Americorps lunch day. The Americorps volunteers for Federal Way Schools meet across the street on Fridays, so they all go to lunch at the same time. That's like 70 people all in line at the cashier!

...anywho, while waiting in line, I struck up a conversation with an Americorps volunteer named Adam, one of the 76 Americorps volunteers working to make our Federal Way schools better places for kids and their families. FW Schools has the largest Americorps education program in the nation, another example of how they're doing more with less in these challenging economic times.

I was very impressed with Adam and the presence of the Americorps team in our local schools. They're supporting before-school programs, after-school programs, family resource programs. You name it. Americorps is making a huge difference in our community.

You may have noticed a slight interruption in blogging service. I took a nasty spill on the ski slopes a few weeks back, while trying to add a double barrel-roll flip to my jump, and sprained several blogging ligaments. After intense physical therapy, I am back and ready to blog. Let's get started.

You heard it here first: We are co-presenting a premiere of the wonderful documentary The Hylebos: Discovering a Hidden Jewel, filmed and directed by Mary Longhurst. The event will take place February 6th at the Federal Way Community Center at 1 PM.

Bad news from the world around us: Asia's smog is polluting North America's air. I ran into two people this week who mentioned a terrible environmental problem with used tires being shipped from America to China where they are being burned for energy. Really?! Am I naive to think that's such a bad idea that no one would attempt or allow this to happen? I'll look into this and post some links later.

Also in the One World, One Environment theme, the Pacific Ocean (and one would think, all other oceans) is becoming more acidic due to global carbon emissions.

Freakonomics is a fascinating blog for those who are interested in the economics of everyday life. There's an interesting interview up today with , author of 59 Seconds, a self-help book purportedly based on actual research (now, that's something new!). My favorite quote of the day, from the piece:

today it’s so hard to get anything past the ethics boards, compared to the good old days, when you could just electrocute people and call it science. You can hardly do anything these days!

Ah, yes, those were the good old days!

Happy New Year!

I had a brief break over the New Year holiday, which was very nice.

Saw a couple of movies (Avatar and Up In The Air). Both are excellent. Go see them both - you won't be disappointed.

I read a couple of books by Paul Auster, and author I was previously unaware of, but who is apparently regarded as one of the best contemporary authors out there. I read Man in the Dark and Leviathan. Incredible books. His writing style and ideas blew me away.

It was nice to have a hard, hard rain this morning to welcome me back to the office. It was a very Hylebos greeting.

I've been away from my Thinking Locally column for a couple of months, but have rung in the New Year with a new column. There'll be a more regular stream of columnizing from me in the coming months.

The rain brings to mind the threats of flooding, particularly in the river valleys. Sandi Doughton writes about concerns that global warming is worsening the flooding threat by melting glaciers. As they retreat, the glaciers release sediment and boulders into the rivers that drain the mountain.

The issue of dredging the big rivers like the Green, Puyallup and White, has long been contentious. On the one hand, people are concerned for their homes and businesses, but dredging significantly damages salmon habitat. How will this new wrinkle of warming-enhanced deposition affect that debate? It's gonna be interesting.

It's An Abbreviated Week

The holidays are such a fun time. Amidst all the celebration and time with friends and families, the list of things to do - grants to write, reports to submit, invoices to send, etc. - grows, while the number of days shrinks. So, if you see me running around like a squirrel in a nut factory, that's probably why.

Anyways, today I had a meeting with Mary Longhurst, and Diana Noble-Gulliford and Maureen hathaway from the Historical society. We're putting together plans to co-host a premiere of Mary's Hylebos documentary. Stay tuned. We should have the date set within the next week.