Construction fencing is in place and the contractor, Orca Pacific, will use the pathway along the shoreline of Lincoln Park to move all materials and equipment associated with the project. The path to the pool will be busy with construction related traffic each weekday from 6:00 am. to 5:00 pm, with possible work on weekends, through June 30, 2012. The contractor will be in control of this traffic and will maintain a high degree of awareness and customer service at all times.

The current phase of work addresses a variety of much needed large scale repairs, including replacement of part of the pool deck, pool gutters, and upper section of the pool shell. The contractor will also install a new plaster lining to increase the life expectancy of this gem.

After opening in 1941, Colman Pool has seen various improvements over the years; the last major renovation took place 20 years ago. It is Seattle’s only outdoor saltwater pool and a truly unique asset Seattle’s park system, and these investments will ensure it is available for the next generation of Seattle youth and adults.

For more information, please visit http://seattle.gov/parks/maintenance/colman_pool_renovations.htm or contact Garrett Farrell, Project Manager, at 206-233-7921 or garrett.farrell@seattle.gov. For after hours issues or emergencies, please contact the Parks Duty Officer at pager number 206- 982-4583.

Sunrise Heights and Westwood neighbors will have seen King County Wastewater Division crews doing field investigations throughout the fall. This is necessary field work to understand the characteristics of Sunrise Heights and Westwood neighborhoods and begin the process of selecting sites for the bioretention swales.

To learn more about the project visit the Barton CSO web page: www.kingcounty.gov/environment/wtd/Construction/Seattle/BartonCSO-GSI

Check out the Barton CSO Project Field Work video!: http://www.kingcounty.gov/environment/wtd/Construction/Seattle/BartonCSO-GSI/Video.aspx

The Barton Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) Control project team has been conducting ongoing field investigations since early September.

What have they learned:

Field work to date indicates that soils do not infiltrate well consistently across the project area at shallow depths (0-20 feet) although there is a larger, deeper soil layer called Vashon Advance Outwash that does infiltrate well. Field work will continue through mid-January to further examine the Vashon Advance Outwash soil layer to understand what happens to water once it has infiltrated into this layer and the relationship to the regional water table (aquifer). The project team’s goal is to site bioretention swales in the best possible location for intercepting stormwater runoff from the street and providing CSO control. The information gathered from the geotechnical testing will ultimately be used to design the bioretention swale system and determine the design for infiltrating into the Vashon Advance Outwash soil layer.

Next Steps

The project team will continue to survey streets within the project area, sample groundwater and collect and monitor data from the installed wells.

The data gathered from the field investigations will be plugged into a computer model of the project area. This model will be used to help the team determine the number of bioretention swales that will be needed to control overflows into Puget Sound from the Barton Pump Station.

Community meeting will held in early 2012 to share results of field work and discuss the locations and approach to the design of bioretention swales.

Block level outreach and design workshops will be scheduled with neighbors on streets selected for bioretention swales.

For more information contact Kristine Cramer at 206-263- 3184 or kristine.cramer@kingcounty.gov, visit the Barton CSO web page at www.kingcounty.gov/environment/wtd/Construction/Seattle/BartonCSO-GSI, or watch the Barton CSO Project Field Work video at http://www.kingcounty.gov/environment/wtd/Construction/Seattle/BartonCSO-GSI/Video.aspx

The Restoration Plan can be accessed at this link.

Written comments on the plan are welcomed and encouraged. The comment period lasts through Friday, February 10, 2012. Please send your written comments to Margaret Glowacki at margaret.glowacki@seattle.gov or via US Mail at: Margaret Glowacki, City of Seattle – DPD, 700 Fifth Ave. Suite 2000, P.O. Box 34019, Seattle, WA 98124-4019

To request a CD of the draft Restoration Plan, please contact Maggie Glowacki by email or phone 206-386-4036.

For general information about the SMP update please visit the following website:

http://www.seattle.gov/dpd/Planning/ShorelineMasterProgramUpdate/Overview/default.asp.

In 2008 the Green-Duwamish Map first edition was printed and released at the April Earth Day “Duwamish Alive” celebration. Since then, the partner organizations who helped create the map have handed out nearly 30,000 maps to volunteers, visitors, school groups, and other interested parties.

In 2009, the Green-Duwamish map won the prestigious Exhibit Award from the Association of King County Historical Organizations.

In April 2011, we printed another 30,000 maps, and included all recent updates, including new bike routes and trails, heritage sites, parks, habitat restoration areas, as well as new photos and images.

For more information, or to order maps, please click here!

Please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to assist DRCC/TAG with the map’s distribution. We want to provide maps for free to school children, local libraries, community centers, tour participants, and other visitors to the Duwamish River.

Click here to donate to the map project, in any amount.

There are between nine and 13 sites that will receive improvements that may include signs, benches, bicycle racks and minor landscaping. The first three sites to receive minor improvements to further open these spaces for public use are located in southwest Seattle at:

• SW Bronson Way – Existing large parking lot next to Salty’s Restaurant with outstanding views of Elliott Bay and the City skyline. Needed improvements include separating parking from pedestrian/view area, a hard surface for benches and bicycle racks and landscaping;
• S Fidalgo St. – Located in the Georgetown neighborhood between industrial uses, this street end is adjacent to the Duwamish River. Improvements could include clear signage from nearby streets, simple bench/table and minor landscaping; and
• Spokane St. E on the east side of East Waterway - Located under the West Seattle Bridge, the area is flat and dirt-covered. Needed improvements include clear signage, benches, minimal landscaping and a potential stairway/path to the water’s edge.

The Parks and Green Spaces Levy provides funding planning, design, permitting and construction for these projects. Seattle Parks is currently in the design phase and anticipates construction starting this fall.

Seattle voters passed the Parks and Green Spaces Levy in November 2008. The $146 million Levy provides improvements to neighborhood play areas, improved playfields, reservoir lid parks, community gardens, safety upgrades at city owned cultural facilities and funding for a healthy ecosystem for Seattle. This “green” funding has three types of projects: Forest and stream restoration, community gardens and shoreline access.

For more information, please visit http://www.seattle.gov/parks/levy/environment.htm or contact Cheryl Eastberg at 206-386-4381 or cheryl.eastberg@seattle.gov. For more information on Levy funded projects in your neighborhood, please visit http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/docs/Shoreline%20Fact%20Sheet.pdf

How big is your footprint and what can you do to make a difference?

• King County EcoConsumer Waste Calculator – assess your consumer impact on the county and state
• Seattle Business Carbon Footprint Calculator – assess your business impact using an Excel spreadsheet tool
• ZeroFootprint Youth Calculator – useful for students and teachers to assess impact of personal choices
• Paper Calculator – assess your impact based on paper purchases for towels, tissues, and the like
• Household Savings Calculator – useful tools for helping save the planet starting at home
• Greenhouse Gas Calculator – convert CO and CO2 into other units including Kilowatts of power
• Water Footprint Calculator – determine your impact on the Earth’s water supply
• Low Carbon Diet Calculator – determine if your food is also contributing to CO loading
• Eco-Cool Remodel Tool – King County tool to help envision greener domaciles and what to consider
• EnergyStar Home Energy Yardstick – take the Energy Star home assessment and see how you rate

You can also help reduce your use of paper and therefore save in the conversion of trees into pulp and the attendant issues associated with that process.  Here’s some ways you can reduce your use of paper.

You have a choice when it comes to how much junk mail, credit card offers, catalogs and phone books arrive at your home and workplace.

Help your recycling reduce bulk by opting-out of phone books and taking your name off catalog and junk mail distribution lists.  Here’s links to ways to do this:

• YellowPagesOptOut
• Catalog Choice
• Credit Card Opt-outKing County Office Paper Reduction Tips

Reduce, Reuse what you can, and then Recycle.  It’s pretty easy. Do you have a question about recycling, composting or reducing waste? Ask Charlie, CleenScapes online inquiry and question form.

Seattle ecycling stations are open from 8:00 am to 5:30 pm seven days a week except major holidays.

• North Station: 1350 North 34th Street (located in the Fremont/Wallingford area at North 34th Street, near Carr Place North)
• South Station: 8105 5th Avenue South (located south of the First Avenue South Bridge)

You can even see the waiting lines on-line at this link: http://www.seattle.gov/util/Services/Garbage/Recycling_&_Disposal_Stations/index.asp

For other recycling options in the Puget Sound area, visit the Take It Back Network.

Environmental Stewardship in King County, the 2010 Annual Report for King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks, describes the department, what it was tasked to do and what it accomplished in 2010. The report provides maps, facts and figures to convey the breadth of department responsibilities and includes overviews of executive initiatives, performance measures and results, and awards won by the department in 2010.

The 2010 Annual Report describes accomplishments by the department’s four divisions:

• Wastewater Treatment;
• Water and Land Resources;
• Solid Waste, and
• Parks and Recreation.

The report also outlines the 2010 achievements of the King County GIS Center, and includes an overview of finances for the department and its divisions.

Environmental Stewardship in King County, the Department of Natural Resources and Parks’ 2010 Annual Report, is available in PDF format, and is available in sections for faster download. To request a paper copy of this report, please call 206-296-6500.

Click here to download he full document  - Environmental Stewardship in King County, 2010 (6.5 Mb).

Puget Sound is sick. Polluted runoff from sealed surfaces like paved streets, sidewalks and rooftops is the number one source of toxics entering Puget Sound each year. This toxic mix threatens human health, the economic vitality of the region, and the survivability of the Sound’s most emblematic species: salmon and orcas.

The good news is that local community members can adopt behaviors that will reverse the damage to Puget Sound and restore it to health. Our citizens are the stewards of the same streets, sidewalks and rooftops that convey 14 million pounds of pollutants into Puget Sound each year. Pollutants include motor oil, pesticides, fertilizers, grease, paint, heavy metals, and bacteria.

There are simple actions people can take to become stewards of Puget Sound. Among the most important are:

1. Keeping water on-site with rain barrels, rain gardens, and porous surfaces,
2. Practicing natural yard care,
3. Picking up pet waste,
4. Walking, biking, or riding public transit instead of driving,
5. Planting and protecting native evergreens, and
6. Using car wash facilities instead of washing cars on driveways.

1. Keep water on-site with rain barrels, rain gardens, and permeable surfaces

A big part of the problem with polluted runoff is that it runs quickly over hard surfaces and collects toxics that flow directly into our streams, rivers and Puget Sound. Rainwater retained onsite that percolates through soil can cleanse many of the toxins.

Keeping water on-site may sound counter-intuitive. One might think “if the polluted rainwater runoff is bad for Puget Sound, then it must be bad for my yard.” But that isn’t exactly true. A healthy soil profile with lots of microbes and fungi can help degrade many of the pollutants like hydrocarbons that wash off our streets and driveways. Some mushrooms can absorb heavy metals too, although they do require proper hazardous waste disposal. So filtering rainwater through healthy soils is a first step toward cleaning the water that goes into Puget Sound.

There are many ways to retain water on one’s property. You can use rain barrels to collect water that is later used to water gardens. Or, you can build a special kind of garden called a rain garden to absorb rainwater. Or, you can replace cement surface with permeable surfaces that absorb water. Learn more about each of these alternatives at https://rainwise.seattle.gov/

2. Practicing natural yard care

Directing rainwater into porous surfaces for absorption is half the solution. The other half is making sure that those surfaces have the ability to break down pollutants. Soils rich in organic matter that have lots of microbes are critical to solving polluted runoff because those microbes can start metabolizing and degrading many pollutants. Soils that have chemicals added like synthetic fertilizers, pesticides (herbicides, fungicides or insecticides) and other unnatural chemicals don’t develop the microbial populations that are necessary to break down pollutants. So any garden made to absorb rainwater should be organic.

The best things to add to your soil are organic compost and woodchips. You can work compost into your annual/vegetable beds, but topdressing soil with two inches of compost works fine. Raking a one- to two-inch compost/sand mix into your lawn can help absorb more rainwater as well. Woodchips in perennial beds and natural areas help create an environment similar to a forest floor in the Pacific Northwest, encouraging beneficial fungi. Soils in need of nitrogen can benefit from a “mulch sandwich: two inches of compost with three to six inches of woodchips on top. Avoid bark. It repels water and resists breakdown, suppressing the fungal populations that plants need. Woodchips can be obtained from tree trimming crews working in your area.

• To learn more about natural yard care, visit http://your.kingcounty.gov/solidwaste/naturalyardcare/index.asp
• The Dirt Exchange in Ballard is a good source of compost, wood chips, and bio retention soil mix
• Mariposa Naturescapes is a West-Seattle business that focuses on natural yard care: http://www.mariposanaturescapes.com/

3. Picking up pet waste

Creating a poop-free Puget Sound is more important than you might think. According to King County, there are more than 200 tons of pet waste deposited in the Puget Sound region every day, and water runoff flushes it into streams, rivers and Puget Sound. Dog poop contains things like E. coli, Giardia and Roundworms – nasty stuff that we don’t want in Puget Sound. The very best thing you can do when walking your dog outside is to bring plastic bags, pick up the poop, and dispose of it in a trash can. Do not contaminate your compost with pet waste. This is one of those rare cases where throwing something away is the best option. Or, if you have trouble managing your dog’s mess in a dog-run, you can line it with arborist woodchips 1-foot deep to allow beneficial fungi to filter pollutants.

4. Walking, biking, or riding public transit instead of driving

Each year, one-half of an Exxon Valdez oil spill worth of oil flows into Puget Sound. It’s rather hard to fathom. Leaks from cars and hydrocarbons from exhaust are responsible for a significant amount of pollution. Also, the copper in brake pads can have toxic impacts. Copper is also being linked to the disruption of salmon olfactory (smell) senses and may be disorienting them, impeding their ability to spawn. Furthermore, car tires contain zinc, another toxic heavy metal. We can all drive less to reduce pollution. When you have the option, choose to walk, bike, or ride the bus instead of driving a car.

5. Planting and protecting native evergreens

Our native forests are integral to our success in reducing polluted runoff. Native evergreen trees are stormwater-holding tanks. For example, a mature evergreen can absorb as much as 250 gallons of rainwater a day – more than a 12-foot square rain garden built to SPU specifications to mitigate a 400 square foot roof. However, we are losing our native forests not only to development, but also to invasive species like English Ivy, Holly, Laurel, Knotweed and Himalayan Blackberry.

You have a lot of options to help plant and protect our native evergreens. If you have a large yard, you may consider planting evergreen trees. If you have an evergreen that has been taken over by English Ivy or Wild Clematis, you can periodically cut the vines at the ground and at chest level to keep if from fruiting and re-infecting forest restoration work elsewhere. If you prefer getting some social time in while saving the Sound, consider joining restoration efforts.

• Groups that run forest restoration projects include: The Nature Consortium, the Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition, EarthCorps, or Green Seattle Partnership.
• Good trees and shrubs to plant include Madrona, Doug Fir, Western Hemlock, Western Red Cedar, Evergreen Huckleberry, Shore Pine, Pacific Rhododendron, Salal and Sword Fern. Non-native plants (Rosemary, Thyme, fruit trees) for food or ornament are fine, as long as they’re not invasive.
• Garden Cycles is a West-Seattle based business that removes invasive species: http://gardencycles.com/
• The West Seattle Nursery has a good selection of native plants: http://www.westseattlenursery.com/

6. Using car wash facilities instead of washing cars on driveways

Finally, there is the car wash. Soaps can include phosphates, which can lead to low oxygen levels in our waterways, thereby killing fish through oxygen depletion. Soaps can also include phthalates that have been linked to reproductive problems and obesity. So, it’s best not to wash your car on your driveway and let soap wash down the storm drains. Going to a carwash is a much better alternative because the soapy water doesn’t go untreated into storm drains. If you are considering a high school fundraiser, ask your local carwash if they will give you discounted gift certificates for resale instead of washing cars in a school parking lot.

Why we should become stewards of Puget Sound

There is a lot at stake. Citizens are losing their rights to fish and swim in the Sound’s waters or to make their livelihoods from local fisheries and ecotourism. Warnings are posted around the Sound alerting people to the dangers of eating fish and shellfish. Over the past decade the gross revenue earned by Washington’s shellfish industry fell by two-thirds to $55 million in 2008 due in large part to pollution-related harvest closures.

We are also losing the salmon and orcas that underpin the identity of Pacific Northwest residents and help to drive tourism to our region. Puget Sound’s Coho Salmon are classified as a “Species of Concern.” Our orcas are the most PCB-contaminated marine mammals in the world and our Southern Resident Killer Whales are a federally listed “Endangered Species.”

We can reverse these trends. Exciting efforts are being implemented throughout the region to staunch the flow of polluted runoff using rain gardens. Seattle’s Street Edge Alternative Project (SEA Streets) used rain gardens and evergreen trees and shrubs to effectively reduce stormwater pollution by 99 percent. This creative use of “green stormwater infrastructure” actually beautified the community, increased its carbon sequestration capacity with lots of vegetation, and is promoting natural drainage. King County Wastewater Treatment Division now plans to implement similar “green stormwater infrastructure” in the Sunrise Heights and Westwood neighborhoods of West Seattle to reduce combined sewer overflows (CSO) at the Barton Pump Station.

Together, the citizens of Puget Sound can take small steps, like picking up dog poop, volunteering in a forest restoration effort, and going to the carwash – and large steps like building rain gardens – to restore Puget Sound to health. Through collective effort, we can hope to see robust salmon and orca populations once again.

EWG’s 2011 Bottled Water Scorecard grades more than 170 bottled waters on the fullness of their disclosures on their labels and websites. Nine out of ten of the best-selling brands didn’t answer EWG’s basic questions:

• Where does the water come from?
• Is it purified? How?
• Have tests found contaminants?

For more information check out the Environmental Working Group’s website – http://www.ewg.org/.

Upon learning that Fish & Wildlife may no longer fund the statewide program, Seattle Council President Richard Conlin requested that Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) find a way to support the program for Seattle school children. SPU is offering additional support for the program at a cost of $10,000 per year through the Restore Our Waters program.

“Environmental stewardship starts young,” said Council President Richard Conlin. “Kids learn best by seeing and interacting with nature and wildlife. The Salmon in Schools program is a successful example of hands-on education. I had to do something to preserve this valuable resource, and I hope that other municipalities and organizations around the state will do the same.”

The Salmon in Schools program, established in 1991, is an educational project that encourages respect for our aquatic resources and promotes responsible behavior toward the environment. Large tanks and salmon eggs are provided to both public and private schools and students learn about the salmon lifecycle and the interrelationships between water quality and habitat issues by watching the salmon hatch and grow into fry. Eggs are provided by state and tribal hatcheries. The salmon are released into local streams after about 12 weeks. Statewide, an average of 495 schools participated each year, reaching 40,000 students. Approximately 50 of those schools are in Seattle.

In addition to supplying the eggs and providing and maintaining the tanks, Fish & Wildlife funding has supported administering the permits necessary to release the salmon into the streams. All schools raising salmon require permits and staffing the administration of these permits will need to be resolved for the program to continue.

Fish & Wildlife is exploring ways to continue the program with private or non-profit funding if the cuts become permanent, and in the meantime SPU has offered to assume the cost of maintaining the tanks used in Seattle schools. SPU will also continue partnering with local watershed groups, Seattle school district staff, and teachers to implement and maintain the educational component of the program.

“This program is an engaging way for youth to garner an understanding of the important connections between salmon and healthy waters,” said Ray Hoffman, Director of Seattle Public Utilities. For this year, salmon eggs have already been delivered to schools across the City and kids and grown-ups alike are excited to watch them hatch, grow and swim away down one of Seattle’s streams.