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spring 2008 newsletter published
The newsletter will go in the mail about May 9, but it is available now at http://www.scn.org/savelake/NL.Spring.2008.pdf Note it is .pdf format. If you don't currently have the Adobe reader for .pdf, you can download it for free by going to www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html .
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U S Fish and Wildlife accepts petition
to study listing the late-run Kokanee as
an endangered species
USF&W is initiating a 12-month status review process through which they will decide on the question of listing the population. For more info, see their Press release . To view the petition, go to: www.scn.org/savelake/Kokanee.Petition.pdf
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Issaquah Resource Conservation Office
has made the following announcements
- Eastside Edible
Plant Sale on May 31, 9 am - 2 pm, at
the Pickering Barn.
Buy Edible Plants for Your Garden
and Kitche
- Learn to Be an
Organic Gardener
It's time to begin preparing your
garden for a bountiful spring and
summer.
May 20th from 7:00 PM - 8:30 PM
Pickering Barn
This is a FREE class BUT
please pre-register by Friday 5/16 at
425-837-3428.
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ISSAQUAH ENVIRONMENTAL COUNCIL (iec) ANNOUNCEMENTS
Spring Recycling Event Saturday, May 10, 9 am - 1 pm
New location! This years recycling event will be located at the end of NW Lake Drive, behind all Costco buildings. Follow the signs or print out this map. Also New! Recycle electonics free curbside! See this brochure for more details.
Recycle fluorescent lamps, compact fluorescents, batteries, scrap metal and more. TV's larger than 21" screens accepted at the event for a fee. All other electronics collected FREE at curbside. Watch for the brochure, check the RCO website, or call 425-837-3400 for complete details.
Issaquah Alps Family Hikes 3d Sundays monthly, 1pm
April 20 “Signs of spring along Issaquah Creek and lower Squak Mountain”. Experienced leaders and teachers will guide the hike lasting about 3 hours with a maximum elevation gain of 300 feet.
May 18 “Exploring Lake Sammamish State Park’s hidden treasures.” Meet at the Library and carpool to the Pickering Barn. There will be little elevation gain, but we will walk about three miles.
June 22 “Exploring the west side of Tradition Plateau.” The Adventure Trail and Wetlands Trail will lead us to Round Lake. We will gain about 600 feet of elevation and cover about 4 miles.
School age children and their parents are invited to join in a series of monthly hikes connecting the library and our outdoor environment. We will gather in the meeting room of the Issaquah Library for an introduction, storytelling, and an overview of library materials related to the topic.
Children under 18 must be accompanied by an adult. All participants need appropriate footwear, clothing, and a small pack with water and snack. This series of family hikes and earth friendly resources is being cooperatively sponsored by Issaquah Alps Trails Club, the Friends of the Issaquah Library and the Issaquah Environmental Council. Future hikes will explore other themes and areas and will be listed in the Issaquah Library monthly program flier. For more information contact Ann Fletcher or David Kappler at 425-392-3571 and www.issaquahalps.org
OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE OPENINGS:
King County currently has two vacant positions on the Conservation Futures Citizen Oversight Committee. This committee recommends to the County Council how the Conservation Futures Tax (CFT) should be allocated. CFT funds are available to fund public open space land acquisition throughout King County. This year we estimate that approximately $8 million in CFT funds will be available for distribution. If you have an interest in serving on this committee please contact Kathy Lambert’s office at (206) 296-1003.
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mountains to sound greenway PROJECT SCHEDULE
Use the web site below to sign up for these events:
SAT, May 10th
Restoration
Project
@ Issaquah Creek Park (Issaquah)
9:00 am~3:00 pm ~
sign up
Trail Maintenance @
Tiger Mountain (Issaquah)
9:00 am~3:00 pm ~
sign up
D.I.G. (Day in the Greenway)
SAT, May 17th
Restoration Project
@ Cybil Madeline Park (Issaquah)
9:00 am~3:00 pm ~
sign up
Trail Maintenance
@ Tiger Mountain (Issaquah)
9:00 am~3:00 pm ~
sign up
~ Work with Issaquah REI
Trail Maintenance
@ Squak Mountain (Issaquah)
9:00 am~3:00 pm ~
sign up
Nursery Work
@ MTS Nursery (Issaquah)
9:00 am~3:00 pm ~
sign up
Amanda Stanton
Volunteer Program Coordinator
Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust
911 Western Avenue, Suite 523, Seattle, WA 98104
Phone: 206.812.0122
Web:
www.mtsgreenway.org
Email: amanda.stanton@mtsgreenway.org
Linking Forests, Trails, Wildlife and History along I-90 in Washington State
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ISSAQUAH ENVIRONMENTAL COUNCIL (iec) ANNOUNCEMENTS
Bare Root Plant Sale
The King Conservation District's Winter 2007 Newsletter is now available at
http://www.kingcd.org/. Included in this edition is the King CD Annual
Bareroot Tree and Shrub Sale order form. If you would like to make a plant
order, select "2008 Bareroot Plant Sale" under Special Announcements on the Home
Page. Print an order form and mail with payment to King Conservation District
before February 8th, 2008. Remember that plant quantities are limited and sell
out quickly. So send in your order as soon as possible.
WSU King County Extension presents: Tools for Resourceful
Living
WSU King County Extension, in partnership with the City of Lake Forest Park and
the city’s Environmental Quality Commission, is delivering a series of free
classes designed to help residents save money while reducing their impact on the
environment.
Local Food Year-Round: Simple Methods for Preserving Fresh
Fruits and Vegetables
Wednesday, May 14, 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.
Location: Third Place Commons, Lake Forest Park Towne Centre
To register or for more information, contact Darcy Batura, at darcy.batura@kingcounty.gov, 206-205-3130 or visit www.king.wsu.edu.
Come Volunteer with King County Parks - Winter/Spring 2008
Bring the family and friends and have fun planting trees and shrubs in
restoration projects or help with the last steps of a restoration project by
removing weed fabric. Our restoration projects are focused on restoring stream
and wetland buffer habitats for fish and wildlife and improving water quality.
In, addition, we have lots of dates to help build backcountry trails.
Join us on any of the Saturdays, from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM, or for trail work from 8:30 to 2:30, or if you have a group that wants to work during the week or on a weekend, give us a call to arrange an event. To sign-up and get directions, or for more information, call Tina Miller at 206-296-2990 or e-mail at tina.miller@kingcounty.gov
For more opportunities, go to: http://www.kingcd.org/
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kokanee op-ed
Following is an article that appeared in the August 3, 2007 Post Intelligencer.
Obscure salmon struggles to survive
MARK TAYLOR AND MATT MATTSON - GUEST COLUMNISTS
Beneath the surface of Lake Sammamish, a little slice of Washington's native salmon legacy is silently struggling to survive. Far from the minds of the water skiers and too few to register much of a blip on anglers' fish finders, the native run of Lake Sammamish kokanee salmon languishes in relative obscurity compared with the lake's other attractions.
Once so common that our ancestors harvested them to fertilize gardens, fewer than 1,000 remain today. The largest run of native kokanee in Issaquah Creek quietly blinked into extinction a few years ago, while the responsible federal agency did nothing to respond to citizen cries to protect them.
Today we have another chance to save a remaining native run of Lake Sammamish kokanee and, in doing so, preserve and restore another chapter in Washington's salmon tradition that would otherwise merely become a part of its history. We should not squander the chance to act this time.
Because of its acute need for cold, clean water and intact, healthy habitat, kokanee -- landlocked cousins of sea-going sockeye -- are indicators of a healthy watershed, and, conversely, their disappearance is among the first signals that something of ecological importance has gone wrong or has gone missing. That signal amplifies as it moves downstream toward Puget Sound. A healthy watershed fosters a healthy community and a functioning ecosystem that reaps economic and quality-of-life benefits throughout, for all its residents and visitors. That means not just the kokanee, but chinook, steelhead, whales and people.
The Lake Sammamish kokanee have survived this long facing much of the worst that human progress can dish out, even when it is exacerbated by Mother Nature's torrent. This past fall, it was amazing that a few of the little red fish made it up the rushing water to spawn, and even more surprising, their nests of eggs were not all washed away in the floods. They have hung on despite the worst of our land-use decisions, pollution and heating of the cool water they require, and now they are migrating to Lake Sammamish only to face ever-warmer waters and predatory warm water fish.
Rather than see how much more the kokanee can take, it seems like now would be a good time to offer these great fish some much-needed help.
Although a number of individuals and organizations in the basin are doing good things for kokanee, and the kokanee are responding, we can do more. Merely dodging their extinction for a few more years should not be the goal here; rather, real and lasting recovery should be.
Recently, a number of organizations, including ours, filed a petition with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to protect Lake Sammamish kokanee under the Endangered Species Act. Giving these fish that safety net will bring together current activities aimed at saving the fish, and encourage others to join us.
We failed to act sufficiently in time for the Issaquah Creek stock, and the result is that it is now a part of our unfortunate history with salmon. But we certainly have the time and the means to act to save the remaining stocks, and to keep another critical part of Washington's native salmon legacy going. This time, we should remember the Lake Sammamish kokanee in time to act, not just remember them in history.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mark Taylor is president of the Washington Council of Trout Unlimited. Matt Mattson is tribal administrator of the Snoqualmie Indian Tribe. Other authors of this essay are Joanna Buehler, president, Save Lake Sammamish, and Kathy Fletcher, executive director, People for Puget Sound.
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petition submitted to list Sammamish late run Kokanee as an endangered species
Trout Unlimited has submitted a petition to place the Sammamish late run Kokanee on the endangered species list. SLS was a co-signer along with King County, the City of Issaquah, People for Puget Sound and the Snoqualmie tribe. Our thanks go to Trout Unlimited and all those who volunteered to count the Kokanee fry in Lewis Creek at night and in all kinds of weather to provide data for this petition. To view the petition, go to: http://www.scn.org/savelake/Kokanee.Petition.pdf
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past SLS summer newsletters
To read any of the following SLS newsletters, click on the corresponding date:
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Is Lake Sammamish dying?
This is the headline of an excellent article on many facets concerning
the quality of Lake Sammamish. The article was written by Sarah Koenig and
published in the Redmond Reporter. This newspaper does not have its own
web site and gave permission to include it in the SLS site.
Go to article.
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