Pierce County, WA - The Pierce County Council issued a proclamation at its April 26^th meeting instituting May as the County’s “Wildfire Awareness Month.” The proclamation underscores how wildfire risk and severity in Western Washington is trending in the wrong direction, along with the need to deliver meaningful action to mitigate these risks.

Over the past few years, wildfires have begun to show up in our “backyards.” With our summers getting drier, hotter, and smokier, we're all looking for ways to protect ourselves from wildfire risks.

For the first time this year, PCD raised live animals in our very own office-coho salmon! We raised them for Salmon in the Classroom, a partnership between Foss Waterway Seaport (FWS),  (TPS), and our Environmental Education team. We helped FWS teach lessons, provide tank support, and troubleshoot tank issues at 12 Tacoma elementary schools. When all was said and done, we had our salmon for about four months, raised them from eggs to fry and then released them into the wild. There was so much to learn and do to raise our coho, which took a lot of time and attention, but it was completely worth it!

Restoration efforts continue at Pierce Conservation District’s South Prairie Creek Preserve! In mid-October, we kicked off the fall planting season with a large-scale plant installation effort on the north floodplain. Between October 2021 and March 2022, several new planting areas were the focus of our revegetation efforts near a very important section of South Prairie Creek. The work accomplished this planting season was made possible by the collaborative efforts of staff, interns, the Washington Conservation Corps, Earthcorps, and many community volunteers.