Workshops & Meetings
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2010 Beach Walk

The 2010 Shellfish Partners educational beach walk is coming June 26,11 a.m.–1 p.m., at Kopachuck State Park in Gig Harbor. This guided tour will lead you along the beach as marine creatures such as seastars, cockles, and moon snails are uncovered by the receding tide.
Find out why sand dollars stack up together like pancakes and why it is so important to leave oyster shells on the beach. Learn how each organism fills a niche and how humans fit into the web. Stop by booths staffed by local organizations that help keep water clean, protect human and environmental health, and work together to ensure that generations to come have the opportunity to enjoy these resources.

To register, contact Erin Ewald at (253) 845-9770 or (253) 884-9474, or email: erine@piercecountycd.org.


District Sponsors September Green Drinks Event

The Pierce Conservation District is happy to invite all interested friends and colleagues to the Masa restaurant on Thursday, September 2, 5:30-7:30 p.m., for a Tacoma Green Drinks event. Green Drinks is a loosely organized, informal gathering of local folks interested in sustainability, conservation, and environmental issues, who get together once a month just to have fun and meet new people.  You won’t be asked to solve any problems, sign up to testify for anything, or solicited for money.  So grab a friend and join the District for a fun evening of socializing, networking, eating, and drinking!

For more information about Tacoma Green Drinks, visit their website at www.greendrinks.org/WA/Tacoma.


Macroinvertebrate Workshop

June 19, 9 a.m.-12 p.m.
The Pierce Conservation District is happy to invite all interested friends and colleagues to the June 19, 9 a.m.-12 p.m.

We all know that salmon live in many of our local streams and rivers. But how many of us have ever given a second’s thought to what else lives in the streams? And have you ever considered that there are more ways to evaluate the health of a stream other than testing a grab sample for temperature, dissolved oxygen, heavy metals, and the like?
Stream Team is offering a 3-hour workshop on June 19 for anyone interested in learning more about freshwater macroinvertebrates: the mollusks, crustaceans, insect larvae, and worms that provide food for juvenile salmon, birds, and other wildlife. Stream Team, Pierce County, and other partners conduct macroinvertebrate sampling of many Pierce County streams each summer. The samples are analyzed for the specific types of macroinvertebrates found at each site. Sites that are dominated by pollution tolerant species indicate that there are long-term issues impacting the stream; while samples with a higher number and diversity of pollution intolerant species indicate the long-term health and relative cleanliness of the water. The macro data is so important, in fact, that Pierce County factors it into the final grade given to our local streams in their annual state of the streams report cards.
At the workshop, you will learn how different macro species indicate the health of a stream over the long term, and how this biological monitoring complements the chemical testing done by Stream Team volunteers and others. You will also have an opportunity to learn sampling protocol and practice using the sampling equipment. Interested volunteers will be invited to help Stream Team collect samples for lab analysis this summer.
You may register for the workshop by contacting Stream Team at (253) 845-2973 or streamteam@piercecountycd.org. Directions to the workshop site and other information will be sent upon confirmation of your registration.


Dip In to Test Water Clarity

The annual Great North American Secchi Dip-In event will run from June 26 to July 18 this year. During this nationwide monitoring event, volunteers measure how clear lake waters are by using a simple piece of equipment called the Secchi disk, which is a flat disk with black and white quadrants. To measure clarity, the Secchi disk is lowered into the water and the depth at which it disappears from view is recorded as a measure of the transparency. Water transparency can be affected by water color, algae, or suspended sediments.

Stream monitors are also able to participate in this event by measuring turbidity of their stream.

Transparency data collected by lake and stream monitors during this two week period will be submitted to the Dip-In program at Kent State University. These data are used to map regional differences in transparency across North America and to detect trends. Results from the previous years can be viewed at www.dipin.kent.edu.


Make your Mark on Stormwater

Did you know that catch basins (also known as storm drains) are the entry points for our underground stormwater system? And that stormwater systems lead directly to the closest body of water, whether it is a lake, stream, river, or Puget Sound? This means that all things that enter a catch basin ultimately end up, untreated, in our local waterways. Some unwanted things commonly found within our stormwater systems are motor oil, pet waste, grass clippings, fertilizers, and soil.

Help Stream Team educate neighborhoods about how their everyday activities could be impacting our local water quality by participating in one of the many curb marking events we are hosting around Pierce County this summer. Curb marking is great for families, scout groups, young children, adults, and individuals. Each of these events are from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. and directions will be sent upon registration. Please contact Melissa at (253) 845-2973 or melissab@piercecountycd.org to register.

June 12 - Puyallup Neighborhood
June 26 - Puyallup Neighborhood
July 31 - Fort Steilacoom Park Neighborhood
August 14 - Seeley Lake Park Neighborhood (Lakewood)
August 21 - First Creek Neighborhood (Tacoma)


Rain Water Collection for the Home

Part II
July 12, 6-7:30 p.m.
Puyallup
There was an overwhelming response to the rainwater collection workshops held this past spring through funding provided by the 2010 Puyallup/Chambers-Clover Small Grants Program. Dan Borba from Natural Rain Water was a very passionate and knowledgeable instructor on the merits and uses of collected rainwater and the construction of home rain barrels. Class participants left with new knowledge and a water conservation tool they constructed themselves to use this summer when the western Washington rains decrease, but irrigation demands increase.

Following up on the obvious enthusiasm for information about home rainwater collection and the use of rain barrels, we have scheduled another class this summer. This class will not be grant funded, so class participants will need to pay $53 to cover material costs. As with the last classes, there is a limit of one barrel per household, although those not making a barrel are welcome to come at no cost. Please contact René Skaggs at (253) 845-9770 ext. 106 to register. Space will be limited, so don’t delay!


It’s Hot! … Build a Rain Garden!

Rain Garden Cluster Installation
June 12, 9 a.m.-3 p.m.
Puyallup
Rain garden installations are the second part of the two part approach that Stewardship Partners has created for rain garden education. After the classroom workshops, where participants learn concept and design, we provide hands-on installation events to allow people to see how a rain garden looks as it is being created.

On June 12, Steam Team, Stewardship Partners and the City of Puyallup are partnering with local homeowners to install six rain gardens in a neighborhood in southeast Puyallup. By installing several rain gardens in one neighborhood, the benefit on water quality and water quantity is greatly increased.

Stewardship Partners creates the depression, forms the inflow and outflow, levels the bottom, and provides amended soils and mulch for each rain garden. Volunteers are then asked to shape, plant, and mulch the rain garden at the installation event. Installation is from 9 a.m.-3 p.m., with curb marking and other activities also happening. Please contact Stream Team at (253) 845-2973 or streamteam@piercecountycd.org to register.

Two more rain garden installations are being planned for September, and volunteers will be needed! Gig Harbor will create one at its downtown Visitor’s Center, and the City of Puyallup will install another cluster of six in a neighborhood yet to be determined. Keep an eye out for details in our fall newsletter.