ST Calendar and Volunteer: Printable Page

On the Horizon
Join Stream Team and the Nisqually Land Trust to plant an 8-acre site along Red Salmon Creek on February 28 and March 7 (9:00 a.m-12 p.m. both days). With more than 4,000 bare root plants, many hands will be needed to complete this project. This planting is part of a larger effort to restore habitat along Red Salmon Creek and its tributaries by the land trust. Stream Team has helped with several other planting events on Red Salmon and Washburn Creeks in the last several years. Red Salmon Creek is an independent tributary to the Nisqually estuary and supports wild salmon runs.

District and Stream Team Annual Meeting
The Pierce Conservation District and Stream Team invite volunteers, cooperators, project partners, and interested members of the public to join us at our annual meeting and awards ceremony on February 2, 2009, at the Puyallup Pavilion. The evening’s featured speaker will be Jaime Pinkham, a Nez Perce Tribal member who has vast experience with many of Washington State’s natural resource agencies.

Mr. Pinkham has a long history of working for the environment, and is currently the Watershed Director for the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission. He has also worked for the Washington State Department of Natural Resources as a Field Unit Manager and Legislative Liaison, as well as the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and was the Director of the National Tribal Lands Program for the Trust for Public Lands. Mr. Pinkham has been instrumental in the reintroduction of grey wolves to Idaho, the acquisition of tribal ancestral homelands in northeastern Oregon, and regional salmon recovery efforts.

Mr. Pinkham has a strong message of native spirituality and its connection to environmental protection and rehabilitation. We are thrilled to have him speak at our annual meeting and welcome you to join us.

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
• Thursday, February 19, Tacoma
• Thursday, March 19, Lakewood
• Monday, April 20, University Place

Puyallup Watershed
• Thursday, February 5, Orting
• Thursday, March 5, Buckley
• Thursday, April 30, Edgewood

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.


	Calendar of Volunteer Opportunities and Events				Close Window
	On the Horizon Join Stream Team and the Nisqually Land Trust to plant an 8-acre site along Red Salmon Creek on February 28 and March 7 (9:00 a.m-12 p.m. both days). With more than 4,000 bare root plants, many hands will be needed to complete this project. This planting is part of a larger effort to restore habitat along Red Salmon Creek and its tributaries by the land trust. Stream Team has helped with several other planting events on Red Salmon and Washburn Creeks in the last several years. Red Salmon Creek is an independent tributary to the Nisqually estuary and supports wild salmon runs. District and Stream Team Annual Meeting The Pierce Conservation District and Stream Team invite volunteers, cooperators, project partners, and interested members of the public to join us at our annual meeting and awards ceremony on February 2, 2009, at the Puyallup Pavilion. The evening’s featured speaker will be Jaime Pinkham, a Nez Perce Tribal member who has vast experience with many of Washington State’s natural resource agencies. Mr. Pinkham has a long history of working for the environment, and is currently the Watershed Director for the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission. He has also worked for the Washington State Department of Natural Resources as a Field Unit Manager and Legislative Liaison, as well as the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and was the Director of the National Tribal Lands Program for the Trust for Public Lands. Mr. Pinkham has been instrumental in the reintroduction of grey wolves to Idaho, the acquisition of tribal ancestral homelands in northeastern Oregon, and regional salmon recovery efforts. Mr. Pinkham has a strong message of native spirituality and its connection to environmental protection and rehabilitation. We are thrilled to have him speak at our annual meeting and welcome you to join us. 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 • Thursday, February 19, Tacoma • Thursday, March 19, Lakewood • Monday, April 20, University Place Puyallup Watershed • Thursday, February 5, Orting • Thursday, March 5, Buckley • Thursday, April 30, Edgewood 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.
	Stream Team 5430 66th Avenue East P.O. Box 1057 Puyallup, WA 98371 Phone: (253) 845-2973 Toll Free: (866) 845-9485 streamteam@piercecountycd.org