-Amy Waterman, Sustainable Seattle

Back in March Sustainable West Seattle awarded $1,000 toward a native plant education project at Sanislo Elementary for their participation in the Don’t Feed the Tox-Ick Monster campaign.  Now Steve and students from Sanislo are preparing planting areas for environmental education. 

The goal is to prepare a site where students can plant and identify a number of native herbs (foamflower, trillium, inside-out flower, fringecup, piggyback plant, and swordfern) along the path that is currently infested with ivy.  Students will be pulling ivy and mulching the flat areas, but they need capable adults and caution to get ivy in the steeper portions (slopes are risky on knees, backs, and ankles).

Much progress has been made with the regular work parties held the 4th Saturday of every month.  Thank you for supporting Sanislo’s wetland makeover!

Saturday April 28th from 10AM – 1PM (Join for an hour or all day)

Where: Sanislo School Wetland: 1812 Myrtle, Seattle, WA 98106
Meet at front of school.

What to bring:   Gloves, hand tiller (we’ll have extra, but write your name on your tools), weather-appropriate gear (rain or cold), hat/eye/sun protection, food/water/bottle, sturdy shoes/boots.  Snacks and water provided.    

http://pugetcreekwatershedalliance.org ; Steve Richmond (206) 650-9807

Steven Richmond / Garden Cycles
GARDEC*932JF; http://gardencycles.com
(206) 650-9807; FAX (206) 763-0144

Photo by Thom O'Dell http://www.djc.com/news/co/cis.html?id=12009476

Speaking of mushrooms… we hope that other community volunteers with a passion for Puget Sound will help this outreach campaign mushroom in their communities by becoming Tox-Ick Ambassadors. We have all sorts of free resources available for outreach volunteers including our 45-minute PowerPoint presentation, this website, posters, and tri-folds.  If you know of potential advocates, direct them to cate@tox-ick.org.

The picture below shows examples of the types of planting the County and its designers would like to install in the Barton Basin area.  The purpose of the installation would be to help the landscape absorb more water so that we have fewer Combined Sewer Overflows (CSO’s).  Ultimately, these designs are intended to help clean up Puget Sound.

Native shrubs are a key tool in combating the Tox-Ick Monster because they help retain stormwater on-site.  They are much more effective than lawns at keeping stormwater on-site.  In fact, urban designers calculate lawns as 98 – 99% impermeable.  Native shrubs are great, especially in combination with organic soils, because microbes in the soil can help break down some of the pollutants found in stormwater, and the plants help the landscape act like a sponge and absorb water.

According to King County’s Native Plant Guide: “The single best ground cover for northwest gardens, salal is a do it all plant. Long recognized as one of the best foliage plants for flower arranging, it is also one of the most adaptable in the native repertoire. It can be grown short, if pruned back, hedged into wave like drifts, allowed to grow rampant and irregular to five feet or more. It will also grow where almost nothing else will, in deep understory forest groves, moist or dry soils, in full sun or deep shade. It does have a harder time in full sun, but if well watered or near the coast, it can survive. It does not transplant well, but it is generally available at garden centers.”

Other good native shrubs (pictures courtesy of Mariposa Naturescapes) to consider planting in your yard include:

Sword Fern

Pacific Rhododendron

Evergreen Huckleberry

Excerpt from the People For Puget Sound website:

“Sound and Vision, a film in eight parts, explores issues facing the near shore environment. It is a film about the oceans, told through the stories of people working to clean up, protect, and restore habitat in Puget Sound and beyond.” Learn more!

We want to see Don’t Feed the Tox-Ick Monster go viral.  To support that goal, Cate White will be giving a presentation at the 2012 Storming the Sound Conference (produced by People for Puget Sound and the WA State Department of Ecology).

During the hour-long presentation, Cate will discuss how individuals and community groups all around Puget Sound can adopt the education campaign.  The presentation will include an overview of the free resources that are available, tips on helping the outreach campaign take root in your community, and advice on how to find funding to support outreach efforts.  The conference will be held at IslandWood on Bainbridge Island, 9AM-4PM.

(image credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_network_analysis)

Sage Taber, WSHS student, and her fellow Earth Service Corps members have built momentum for the rain garden at the school.  The Corps will coordinate with Stewardship Partners and Sustainable Seattle to plan and build out the rain garden.  We will be putting out a call for volunteers to help plant the garden in the next month.  Once the garden is built, the Corps will work with Sustainable Seattle and Friends of the Cedar River Watershed to integrate the rain garden into the school’s science curriculum.

Sustainable West Seattle has issued a challenge to the community… if 50+ people attend an hour-long presentation about simple things we can all do to restore Puget Sound, we’ll award $1,000 toward a school rain garden.

The school’s student-led Earth Service Corps is coordinating the rain garden project with other local nonprofits including Stewardship Partners and Sustainable Seattle. Rain gardens are an excellent first line of defense against the polluted runoff that threatens the health of Puget Sound and its most emblematic wildlife: salmon and killer whales. The students’ aim is to turn the rain garden into a permanent feature that can be used for science education for years to come. Please help them attain their vision!

West Seattle High School is at 3000 California Avenue SW