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Myrna Lopas finishes planting a Douglas fir tree at the Wilcox Flats planting on October 25. She and 37 other volunteers planted 1,400 trees and shrubs in areas cleared of blackberries and reed canary grass near the Nisqually River.
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Winter Water Quality
Monitoring Schedule Quarterly stream monitors need to sample their stream between December 21, 2008, and March 14, 2009. Bimonthly volunteers are scheduled to monitor during January and March. This time of year flows tend to be higher and faster than during summer and early fall, so please take care when entering a stream to collect samples or measure flows. Volunteers can choose whether they wish to follow a quarterly, every other month, or monthly stream monitoring schedule, depending on which works best for each individual. You may give Isabel a call at (253) 845-2973 if you have any questions about which monitoring schedule you should follow or if you are interested in scheduling a water quality monitor training. |
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Partnerships Benefit Nisqually
Watershed Plantings |
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Continuing a long-standing partnership with our friends in the Nisqually River watershed, Stream Team co-sponsored plantings this fall along Tanwax Creek and the Nisqually main stem.
On October 18 and November 1, five acres of reed canary grass along Tanwax Creek were planted with more than 6,700 trees and shrubs to provide shade, minimize the reed canary grass, and improve habitat diversity. Overseen by the Nisqually Tribe’s Natural Resources Department, this project joined another planting completed last year on an adjacent parcel that now provides continuous habitat improvements to a large stretch of stream. Members of the Nisqually River Education Project also worked to help complete this planting. On October 25, Stream Team and another frequent partner, the Nisqually Land Trust, worked together to plant a section of the Nisqually River known as the Wilcox Flats near McKenna. Hardworking volunteers enjoyed the camaraderie of working together to plant 1,400 trees in areas that had been cleared of blackberries and other weeds. The 2008 planting season closed out on November 15 as another phase of the Nisqually estuary restoration project was planted. |
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Stormdrain Stenciling
Did you know that your home is waterfront property? Yes, it’s true! Stormdrains carry surface water run-off along our neighborhood streets, directly into the nearest stream, lake, wetland, or Puget Sound. Water flowing through these stormdrains does not receive any sort of treatment before entering the receiving water body. This means that whatever we put down our stormdrains will wind up in these waterways as well. Stormdrain stenciling is a simple, fun way to prevent stormdrain pollution in your neighborhood. You can let everyone in your neighborhood know anything dumped in the street ends up in our waterways by stenciling the message “Dump No Waste” next to stormdrains. Stormdrain stenciling is a great activity for many sorts of organizations such as neighborhood groups, scout groups, and school groups. Interested? Please contact Stream Team at (253) 845-2973 for information on checking out our stenciling kits. |
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A combination of area school kids and several dozen hardworking volunteers completed a 5-acre planting along Tanwax Creek in south Pierce County. Goodie Moeschl (planting an alder tree, above) is one such volunteer who participates in many plantings through the Nisqually Stream Stewards program.
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Multi-Year Planting Concludes
on a High Note |
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It is with great pleasure that Stream Team concludes a very large, multi-year planting project at the South Prairie Creek Preserve. Since 2005, hundreds of volunteers have helped plant thousands of plants along both the main stem of South Prairie Creek and two of its tributaries. This fall, a 100’ buffer along both banks of what is known as Tributary 1 (a.k.a. Inglin Creek) were planted with over 2,330 plants by more than 150 volunteers. On September 27, a warm sunny morning brought out 90 volunteers, who in short order completed about two-thirds of the planting. In celebration of National Public Lands Day – also on September 27 – the Tacoma REI store partnered with Stream Team, and provided cool “Volunteers Get Dirty” t-shirts to all who participated on that day. On October 4, over 50 people completed the remainder of the planting along Trib. 1 in just a few hours, and were not hampered in the least by a few rain showers. A few extra plants and loose ends were handled in November by a Puyallup-area homeschool group and the Seattle based Earth Corps. Stream Team is grateful to all the enthusiastic volunteers who helped at the South Prairie Creek Preserve this fall. In addition to the many individuals and families, we would like to thank REI (both their Tacoma store outreach coordinator Brianna Charbonnel, as well as all their employees who volunteered); Boy Scout Troops #677, #577, and #619; Girl Scout Troop #40572; and students from Washington High School and Harrison Prep. |
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These young scouts show off their new volunteer t-shirts, courtesy of the Tacoma REI store.
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A crowd of 90 volunteers spreads out to help plant more than 2,330 trees and shrubs along this tributary to South Prairie Creek.
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Friends of Wapato Lake
The community is joining together through Friends of Wapato Lake in a comprehensive effort to restore this treasured urban lake in south Tacoma. Neighbors, students from the University of Washington Environmental Sciences Program, and a host of lake enthusiasts are teaming up with Metro Parks and the City of Tacoma to help enhance and protect Wapato Lake’s water quality through monitoring, research, outreach, and advocacy. Neighbors of the lake began meeting with city and agency representatives last summer, and together they planned a kick-off event for the Friends of Wapato Lake coalition. For three hours on November 22, interested members of the public were asked to join in a community wake-up call to learn what we can all do to help improve the quality of Wapato Lake through our actions at home and in the park. Visit www.metroparkstacoma.org/friendsofwapatolake to learn how you can become a Friend of Wapato Lake. |
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Salmon-Safe Label Supports Farmers
Can healthy, sustainable agriculture and productive fish and wildlife habitat mutually support each other? According to Stewardship Partners, a Seattle-based conservation organization, the answer is Yes! They’ve brought Salmon-Safe farm certification to the Puget Sound region and are now partnering with the Pierce Conservation District to support Pierce County farmers. Salmon-Safe is a third party labeling program that evaluates and recognizes various farm operations (orchards, vineyards, dairies, vegetable growers, livestock producers, etc.) that adopt water quality and habitat conservation practices to benefit native salmon and overall stream health. The program was founded in Oregon in the late 1990’s and has had a successful track record with more than 150 Oregon landowners certified and a variety of marketing and promotional campaigns carried out. Stewardship Partners brought the program to Washington in 2004 and since then 50 farms have been certified Salmon-Safe throughout the Puget Sound region. Another 25 vineyards have been certified throughout the State. The Salmon-Safe label has received national recognition as one of the most reliable eco-labels in the country and is supporting the economic viability of fish-friendly farming by tapping into the growing consumer demand for local, sustainable food. Salmon-Safe certifications are conducted by independent assessors who evaluate a farm operation’s compatibility with best management practices that protect water quality and fish and wildlife habitat. Salmon-Safe guidelines require farms to: Once certified, a farm is able to use the Salmon-Safe logo as well as marketing and promotional materials, such as point-of-purchase hang tags, farm stand banners, stickers, farm signs, and website promotions to distinguish their operation and products and gain positive recognition in the marketplace and in the community. Through a partnership with the Pierce Conservation District, Stewardship Partners is expanding its outreach to area farmers. With funding from the District and the Greater Tacoma Community Foundation, Salmon-Safe assessments and supporting marketing and promotional materials are being offered for free to area farmers. For more information about the program, see the Stewardship Partners website at www.stewardshippartners.org or contact them directly at (206) 292-9875. |
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The Salmon Safe logo certifies that locally grown foods have been produced in an environmentally sensitive manner.
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This new poster designed by northwest artist John Pitcher shows how a rain garden can be incorporated into yards and landscapes. Publisher: Good Nature Publishing.
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Rain Gardens Help Protect Our Streams – Classroom and Installation Workshops
As our area grows, increasing amounts of native forest and prairie lands are replaced by roads, roofs, driveways, and other hard or impervious surfaces. Rainfall that formerly was intercepted by the forest canopy or soaked into the soils now becomes stormwater runoff flowing across the landscape. This creates two problems. Localized flooding can occur as too much water floods yards, streets, and parking lots. In addition, stormwater can wash a variety of pollutants into local creeks and rivers, and ultimately Puget Sound. While modern developments include highly engineered solutions for stormwater management, rain gardens offer a low impact development approach that enables individual homeowners to help protect streams and wetlands. Rain gardens work like a native forest by capturing and infiltrating stormwater. Rain gardens reduce flooding by absorbing water from impervious surfaces; filter oil, grease, fecal bacteria from pet waste, and toxic materials before they can pollute streams, lakes, and bays; help to recharge the aquifer by increasing the quantity of water that soaks into the ground; and provide beneficial wildlife habitat. In a nutshell, rain gardens are modest depressions in the landscape of people’s yards where water is directed. Rain gardens are typically excavated to a depth of about two feet, and then a mix of highly amended, compost-rich soil is placed in the depression filling it to a level about 6-12 inches below the surrounding landscape to enable ponding to occur during periods of heavy rain. This soil and compost mix soaks up water which is rapidly retained. Rain gardens are finished off with a variety of plants that do well in both wet winter and dry summer conditions. While many of these plants are native to the Northwest, a number of non-native ornamentals may also be used to create a colorful, attractive landscape. Rain gardens are easy to create but they must be built carefully. They have to be designed to accommodate the correct amount of rainfall. Soil conditions must also be carefully assessed during the design to determine the depth of the soil and compost mix. To learn more about how you can incorporate a rain garden into your yard’s landscape, as well as other low-impact development practices, join us for a hands-on classroom workshop on rain garden design and construction. The Pierce Stream Team, Stewardship Partners, Native Plant Salvage Project, and the Clover Chambers and Puyallup River Watershed Councils are offering Rain Gardens – The Key to Managing Drainage and Protecting Puget Sound classroom workshops beginning in February. Workshop participants and volunteers are also invited to learn more by participating in an actual rain garden installation workshop to be scheduled later in the spring. The complete rain garden classroom schedule: Clover Chambers Watershed Puyallup Watershed All workshops will be scheduled in the evening hours and registration is required. Participants will be sent site-assessment instructions in advance to help maximize their learning at the workshops. Contact Stream Team to register and for more details: (253) 845-2973 or email streamteam@piercecountycd.org. |
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For more current news and information, download a copy of our quarterly newsletter, the Tahoma View.
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