Healthy watershed = healthy water

From one of our friends… Go Friends of the Monstorous Root Ball Team!!  (we are partial to the name)

Hello friends and neighbors!

Seattle Works Day is just 10 days away – if you’re looking to get outside and help your community, we still have 40+ open spots on our project along Longfellow Creek.  Please feel free to invite friends or family – there is plenty of work to do!  I am kind of biased regarding the project area, as I’ve led a few community walks along the Longfellow Creek trail the past year (and planning another one in June).  The creek is a tributary to the Duwamish and serves as an important ecosystem resource for West Seattle – particularly the Delridge/Youngstown neighborhood – unfortunately 100+ years of development has taken its toll and the creek conditions are highly degraded.  That’s where we come in!  We’ll be continuing much needed restoration work at the Brandon Street Natural Area site (a few blocks west of the Delridge Library, kiddie-corner from Camp Long).
Click here to register (select Friends of the Monstorous Root Ball team):
More details about the project below.  Hope you can join us!
Bryan
DATE: Saturday, May 18, 2013
TIME: Noon – 3.30pm
WHERE: King Conservation District – 29th Ave SW & SW Brandon St Seattle 98106 | Neighborhood: Delridge/West Seattle
# of volunteers: 60 | Minimum age: 7
Volunteers will be helping improve salmon and wildlife habitat in the Brandon Street Natural Area. This work will include: removing invasive species, spreading mulch to increase soil fertility, and maintaining the thousands of plants that have previously been installed by volunteers.
Volunteering is a great way to give back to your community. Longfellow Creek and the Brandon Street Natural Area are important to the urban ecology of Seattle. Longfellow Creek is one of the last four free-flowing, salmon bearing creeks in Seattle. It is vital to repair and enhance the habitat around this resource for salmon, wildlife, and the residents of this community. This work has been completed solely through volunteers in partnership with the King Conservation District for over seven years.
Celebrate
When the project is done around 3:30, there’s always a rocking party at Seattle Center’s Fisher Pavilion (food, drink [hosted beer], entertainment!)
Support Seattle Works
Your contribution supports Seattle Works’ year-round work to connect local organizations with enthusiastic and dedicated volunteers. They facilitated over 20,000 hours of volunteer service last year alone! Your investment and participation in Seattle Works Day helps them do it.Seattle Works Day provides an easy, effective and fun way to support your community. And hopefully it will be something that inspires YOU to continue connecting!

 

Sustainable West Seattle puts challenge to community

Sustainable West Seattle puts challenge to community  

$1,000 donation to Pathfinder K-8 School’s Earth Project at stake

WEST SEATTLE — Help Pathfinder K-8 School win $1,000 toward a rainwater harvesting system for its Earth Project!

Sustainable West Seattle will be giving its “Don’t Feed the Tox-Ick Monster” presentation at Pathfinder K-8 School Monday, Oct. 10 from 7-8 p.m. and is challenging Pathfinder to bring a crowd.

The challenge: If 40 or more adults show up to learn about protecting Puget Sound, then Sustainable West Seattle will donate $1,000 toward the school’s Earth Project. To help encourage turnout even further, free pizza will be provided. Pathfinder K-8 School is located at 1901 SW Genesee St.

Pathfinder K-8 School’s Earth Project aims to “empower students to discover their connections to the Earth, themselves, and one another” and is a collaboration between Pathfinder and the Nature Consortium — a nonprofit organization also based in West Seattle.

The School Garden is the most significant part of the Earth Project and has become an integral component of many of Pathfinder’s classrooms.  The garden affords opportunities to teach students about natural resources and healthy food. The rainwater harvesting system will help teachers educate students about the importance of conservation and the water cycle.

“This is a great opportunity to advance the school’s efforts to teach students about healthy foods and ecology,” said Bill Reiswig, parent of a Pathfinder student and a founder of Sustainable West Seattle. “All people have to do is show up for an hour and the school will get a gift toward a rainwater harvesting system. We’re trying hard to get the word out so that 40-plus adult community members show up.”

All West Seattle community members are invited to attend the hour-long event and enjoy free pizza. Sustainable West Seattle’s presentation will focus on actions each of us can commit to that help protect and restore Puget Sound. Audience members will learn about things like natural yard care, water retention systems, community volunteer opportunities, and more.  To learn more about the project, visit tox-ick.org.

About Sustainable West Seattle
Sustainable West Seattle is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization that educates and advocates for urban sustainability in our local community.

SOURCES: http://www.tox-ick.org         http://www.sustainablewestseattle.org

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Contact: Cate White
cate@sustainablewestseattle.org  |  (646) 957-6225

6th Annual Duwamish River Festival – SWS Will Be There!

down to the Duwamish Waterway Park, 7900 10th Avenue South in South Park, Saturday, August 27 for the 6th Annual Duwamish River Festival.

Sustainable West Seattle is one of the participants and we’ll be helping set up the festival from 9:00 am that morning and will be tabling and helping out when the Festival kicks into gear at noon through 6:00 pm.

Sign up for the Walk, Bike and Paddle events on Brown Paper Tickers.  This is a special 9:00 am event which begins at Seacrest Park in West Seattle’s Alki neighborhood.  You can walk, bike, kayak or standup paddle from Seacrest down the Duwamish Waterway to the Waterway Park.

The festival is free and will include live music, free lunch, kids activities, interactive booths,kayak and boat rides and more! Arrive in Seattle style and walk, bike, or paddle to the annual festival. Walk/bike/paddle participants receive an event shirt, a refillable water bottle, and a map at the start. Buttons will also be given at the Walk/Bike/Paddle finish line.

The Duwamish River Festival has been a summer favorite event in South Seattle since 2005, attracting hundreds of people each year.

Seattle’s Duwamish River is listed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as a Superfund Site – one of our nation’s most toxic rivers.  The Duwamish River Festival is one way that the Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition/TAG ensures that River communities can learn about and comment on the River cleanup.

This year’s festival will feature updates on the Duwamish River Superfund cleanup, children’s art activities, kayak and boat tours of the river, local live entertainment and artwork, boat rides, free food, environmental health information, Bert the Salmon, healthy yard care, and more. Attendance is expected to be between 750-1,000 people throughout the day.

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Learn Local Watershed & Ecosystem Basics This Saturday

Join the Rain Water Walking Tour to learn local watershed and ecosystem basics.  People for Puget Sound is hosting this walk, which begins at the Home Depot parking lot –  7345 Delridge Way SW, at 10:00 am on Saturday, August 13.  The walk is co-sponsored by Sustainable West Seattle, Stewardship Partners, and the City of Seattle.

At the beginning of the tour you will learn about the ecology of the Longfellow Creek watershed, traditional polluted runoff management methods, and the effect of polluted runoff on local fish habitat.

The tour will then follow the legacy trail along Longfellow Creek, up 150 stairs, to the High Point neighborhood to view sustainable development solutions to polluted runoff. An optional discussion will conclude the event from 1:00 to 2:00 pm  at the High Point Community Center.

  • Learn about polluted runoff as the single biggest unaddressed source of pollution of Puget Sound
  • Learn about solution to help reducing the runoffs
  • Advocate to friends and networks to do the same
  • Become citizen activists campaigning for clean water

The tour is free and family friendly. Please wear comfortable shoes. This is an interactive walking tour. There are only 30 spots available so RSVP to Emily Fales at EMfales@uw.edu.  For more information call Franziska McKay at 206-382-7007, extension 161.

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Help Create California Avenue Rain Garden Saturday

Join Sustainable Seattle and Alleycat Acres in digging the first rain garden in the Russell Foundation-funded Sustainable Rain project.  Come help create a rain garden in West Seattle this Saturday, July 30, from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm at 5902 SW California Avenue SW, near corner of SW Juneau St.

Come help create this garden at a business/residence, protect the Puget Sound, and support sustainable businesses. Come for as long as you can, meet great folks, and learn about rain gardens.

Bring shovel (if you have), gloves, and water to drink. Bring kids if you can supervise them.

For more information, contact Amy Waterman,Project Lead,  amy@sustainableseattle.org, by phone at 206-719-0534.  Check out the Sustainable Seattle Stewardship Develpment at  http://www.sustainableseattle.org/programs/stewardshipdevelopment.[mappress mapid=”407″]

 

Help Restore Native Forest in West Duwamish Greenbelt

The Nature Consortium is seeking volunteers on a regular basis for Urban Forest Restoration in the Duwamish Greenbelt.

The work parties meet every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm in the West Duwamish Greenbelt in West Seattle, locations within the greenbelt vary, but you can get directions to the work party location for a particular day by RSVP-ing to the sign-up page on their website – http://www.naturec.org/volunteer/

The West Duwamish Greenbelt is the largest contiguous forest in the city of Seattle, stretching from West Seattle to Burien. It includes 182 acres of park land and another 300 acres in privately owned land.

Foxes, red-legged frogs, hawks, and bald eagles are found within the greenbelt. Each work party begins with a short informal forest ecology workshop, and we spend the remainder of the time performing various restoration activities, including planting native trees and shrubs, removing invasive species, mulching previously-planted areas, and more.

To connect art into this project we hire local musicians to perform in the woods during many work parties.

For more information and to sign up, contact Lizzie Jackson (Petrin), 206-923-0853, lizzie@naturec.org, Restoration Project Coordinator, Nature Consortium, Youngstown Cultural Arts Center (4408 Delridge Way SW) suite #107, first floor right near top of ramp.

Also checkout out the Nature Consortium’s web at www.naturec.org

Walking Tour of Rain Water Solutions in High Point Area

People for Puget Sound, a non-profit group working to protect and restore the health of Puget Sound and the Northwest Straits through education and action, Has organized a rain water tour in West Delridge and Highpoint neighborhoods.

The tour will meet at Home Depot located at 7345 Delridge Way SW (between Orchard St & S Sylvan Way) Seattle, at 10:00 am Saturday, August 13.

The tour will follow the legacy trail along Longfellow Creek, through the local greenspace, and up the 150 stairs to the High Point neighborhood to view sustainable development solutions to storm water runoff. An optional discussion will conclude the event.

If you are interested in participating please contact People for Puget Sound intern, Emily Fales at emfales@uw.edu.

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Seward Park Celebrates 100 Years with Events, Shows, History

Seward Park Celebrates 100 Years with Festival on July 16-17

To commemorate the establishment of Seward Park in 1911, neighbors and community organizations are holding a historical festival on July 16 -17 to acknowledge 100 years of history and celebrate all that the park now offers.

Highlights for Saturday include a costumed Promenade around the perimeter of the park, Classic Car Parade and Show, historic hydroplanes on display, a vintage fashion show, food vendors and live music – all of which have a place in the park’s history. Spectators may especially appreciate the appearance of a 1911 Baker electric car.

In remembrance of the wildly popular annual Rainier District Pow Wow that ran from 1934-1991, the family of the late legislator John L. O’Brien (“Mr. Pow Wow”), will sponsor a pie-eating contest and other old-fashioned games in his honor. Locally renowned comedian John Keister will emcee the contests and games, and one of the judges will be Seattle City Councilmember Tim Burgess.

A ceramic art show will run throughout Saturday and Sunday at the Seward Park Clay Studio. A neighborhood garden and history tour takes place Sunday only from 1-4:00 pm ($10 in advance, or $15 day of tour). All events other than the garden and history tour are free.

Background and Additional Details

In 1911, the City of Seattle bought the 277-acre Bailey Peninsula on the western shore of Lake Washington. When first suggested – almost 20 years previous – some felt that the site was too far from town. Optimists, however, correctly anticipated Seattle’s growth.

Due to this forethought and lucky happenstance that left the peninsula unlogged, Seward Park is now one of the city’s favorite parks, boasting some of the oldest and largest trees in the city. It stands as a vital part of south Seattle’s past and present, as well as being an ecological hotspot.

On clear summer days, hundreds of visitors can be found enjoying the park’s paved lakeshore walking loop, swimming area, eco-friendly playground and Audubon education center, and several scenic picnic areas. Birdwatchers appreciate opportunities to gaze at two resident eagle pairs or great blue herons fishing. The park also boasts an amazing view of Mt. Rainier rising over Lake Washington.

The festival on July 16 -17 will feature additional draws honoring the park’s 20th century cultural history. A two-mile “Promenade around the Peninsula” will commence at 10 a.m. on Saturday. Participants are encouraged to dress in period wear from 1911 to present. Organizers hope to see a range of costumes represented – everything from 1920s flapper dresses, to dapper 1940s suits, to Japanese-American summer yukatas, to 1990s teen grunge-wear is welcome. Commemorative tee-shirts and posters will be available for purchase. Promenade pre-registration at sewardparkcentennial.org is encouraged but not required.

Walkers will be followed by a parade of classic cars returning to the lakeshore loop after a 40-year hiatus. (The loop was closed to car traffic in the 1970s.) After this one-time only circuit, the cars will be on display through Saturday afternoon at the parking area at the top of the park. Although driving on the loop, drag races, and power boats races in Seward Park’s Andrews Bay are now only a memory, historic hydroplanes from the nation’s only hydroplane museum will also be on display on Saturday to recall these old pastimes, including 951 Slo Mo Shun, 1968 Miss Budweiser, and 1975 Oh Boy! Oberto.

The mainstage will feature live performances between 11 a.m. – 5 p.m., including music by Karin Blaine (folk/indie), Four on Six (jazz), The Garage Band (classic rock), and Latigo Lace (Top 40 Country/Rock), and a vintage fashion show at noon. At 12:30 p.m., 40 lucky participants picked by raffle will have the opportunity to participate in a classic mid-century style pie-eating contest, with comedian John Keister as emcee.

On Sunday July 17, Friends of Seward Park presents a Garden and History Tour from 1 – 4 p.m. This self-guided tour begins at Seward Park, and includes private and public gardens and sites of historic interest in Hillman and Columbia City. Tickets are $10 in advance (at www.sewardparkcentennial.org) or $15 on the day of the Tour, with proceeds helping to support Seward Park Centennial events.

The Seward Park Centennial Committee is an ad hoc group of neighborhood residents and non-profit organizations, including Friends of Seward Park, Seward Park Environmental & Audubon Center, Lakewood-Seward Park Community Club, Seward Park Clay Studio, and Rainier Valley Historical Society. For tickets and information about Centennial events, please visit www.sewardparkcentennial.org.

Centennial Festival Contacts:

Karen O’Brien (206-999-1781) or Gail Gatton (206-652-2444 x101 or 206-949-5902)

Email: sewardpark100@gmail.com or ggatton@audubon.org

Website: www.sewardparkcentennial.org

Address: Seward Park, 5902 Lake Washington Boulevard, Seattle, WA 98118

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SWS, WS Nursery Host GreenLife Expo, Demos, Presentations

Join Sustainable West Seattle and the West Seattle Nursery this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday for the GreenLife Sustainability Expo, a major part of this year’s West Seattle Summer Fest.

We’ll have booths for sustainable local firms and local community groups committed to sustainability and for all three days of the festival, we will be hosting demonstrations and presentations on a wide-ranging set of topics including backyard chickens, solar electricity here in Seattle and helping to clean up stormwater runoff.

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Morgan Junction Festival Saturday, Music, Food & SWS

The  6th Annual Morgan Junction will take place at Morgan Junction Park and vicinity this Saturday, June 25, from 10:00 am through 7:00 pm.  Music will take place on a stage set up in the Beveridge Place parking lot and near the crawling rock in the adjacent park.

Kids activities include Bubble Man at 11:15 am, chalk drawing on the art sidewalk in front of the park all day long, face painting, and gymnastic activities supervised by Little Gym.

Booths will be set up behind Zeeks/Feedback Lounge and across the street at the Washington Federal parking lot. Among those showing at the festival are:

  • Sustainable West Seattle
  • Solar Epiphany
  • West Seattle Natural Energy
  • Solstice Park P-Patch
  • Food Bank of West Seattle
  • Animals First Foundation
  • West Seattle Be Prepared and the Block Watch Captains Network
  • South Seattle Community College
  • many, many more local vendors and service providers

Music will begin at 10:30 am and run continuously through the day, there are two music areas – the main stage in the Beveridge Place parking lot, and the Park stage in Morgan Junction Park.  Featured musicians are:

  • 10:30 – Minor Dissonance with Wordsmith Jesse – classical pop
  • 12:00 – Soda – acoustic jazz and rock
  • 12:45 – Alan Ehrlich – folk and Americana
  • 1:15  – Bahia – folk and indie rock
  • 2:00 – Moon Girl – acoustic folk and rock
  • 2:30 – Norma Beach – rock and bluesy rock
  • 3:15 – Blue Grasshoppers – folk and bluegrass
  • 3:45 – Gary Reynolds and the Brides of Obscurity – alternative and alt rock
  • 4:30 – The Tongan Choir – Tongan music
  • 5:00 – Burley Mountain – alternative and classic country
  • 5:45 – Hal Merrill – steel pedal guitar
  • 6:15 – The Offenders – 60’s through 90’s rock cover songs

Also featured is the Bite of Morgan, a taste of the food available in the Morgan Junction area.  You will need to pick up a book of tickets at the Festival Booth (in the park).

Participating restaurants:

  • Meanders
  • Kokoras Greek Grill
  • Feedback Lounge
  • Zeeks
  • Abbondanza Pizzeria
  • Domino’s Pizza
  • Pet Elements (food for your dog or cat)
  • Caffe Ladro
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