Featuring…

• Orca ABCs
  • Cindy Hansen, The Whale Museum
• Killer Whale Management and Recovery
  • Lynne Barre, NOAA Fisheries
• What You Can Do to Help the Orcas
  • Franziska McKay, People for Puget Sound
• West Seattle Orca Sightings
  • Mark Sears, Orca Researcher

The training will take place at the Alki Community Center, 5817 Southwest Stevens St., Learn more about the southern resident orcas, issues impacting them, and what you can do to make a difference. Become an Orca Steward and help us turn the tide for the whales.

Pre-registration is required at Brown Paper Tickets.  (http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/177394). Attendance is limited. Register early!

This project funded in part by a Neighborhood Matching Fund award of the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods.  The training is presented by The Whale Trail – info@thewhaletrail.org.

About the Training

Puget Sound is home to three pods of orcas (J, K and L pods). These beloved and iconic marine mammals were listed as Endangered in 2005. Threats contributing to their decline include lack of prey, toxin accumulations, and stress and noise from vessel impacts. If current trends continue or worsen, they could go extinct in as little as 100 years.

Residents of the Puget Sound region have a tremendous impact on whether the orcas will make it. This pilot program will teach how individuals can make a difference for the whales, the Sound, and the marine life that it sustains. As part of the program, participants will be encouraged to make a commitment to one or more specific stewardship actions.  Lunch will be provided.

About The Whale Trail

The Whale Trail is a series of sites around the region where the public may view orcas and other marine mammals from shore. Its mission is to inspire appreciation and stewardship of whales and our marine environment. The project is partnering with groups, agencies and communities around the region to select and develop the Whale Trail sites, and to create and deliver educational programs. With 20 sites established, the project plans to add at least 20 more this year, including four in West Seattle. For more information, visit www.thewhaletrail.org or www.facebook.com/pages/The-Whale-Trail/114940735193641, or contact info@thewhaletrail.org.

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King County Wastewater Treatment Division will be hosting a community meeting for Westwood and Sunrise Heights neighbors to discuss the Barton Basin CSO-GSI Project.

The meeting is Wednesday, April 6, from 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm at the Westside School, 7740 34th Avenue SW, the new name for the red-brick school one block east of 35th just south of SW Holden St.

Come  learn more about the proposed Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI) project to control combined sewer overflows (CSO) at the Barton Pump Station near the Fauntleroy Ferry Dock.

This is the first of many opportunities for community participation and to learn more details about the project.  Meeting summaries will be posted on the following website – www.kingcounty.gov/environment/wtd/Construction/ Seattle/BeachCSO/MeetingCalendar.aspx

For more information, special accommodations, or if you are unable to attend the meeting and would like arrange a small group meeting, please contact Maryann Petrocelli 206-263-732

[mappress mapid=”331″]1, or maryann.petrocelli@kingcounty.gov.

The first annual World Water week will take place the week of March 21-25 at Chief Sealth International High School. World Water Week will promote understanding of the relationship between members of our local community with water here and around the world, with the emphasis on improving that relationship through conservation and local action addressing equal access for all global citizens.

The week will consist of five days full of powerful speakers and engaging workshops for students, teachers and the community.

• Monday, March 21st will feature an exciting keynote speaker, Robert Glennon). Glennon is a professor of law and public policy at the University of Arizona and is the author of the bestselling book, Unquenchable: America’s Water Crisis and what to do about it. His talk will be preceded by personalized video message from Alexandra Cousteau, famed global water activist and filmmaker. Congressman Jay Inslee, as well as a representative from the Mayor’s office, will also be in attendance. Representatives from the Duwamish Tribe will attend the event and provide a blessing for World Water Week. Before the keynote lecture, there will be a water resource fair with tables from local government and non-profit organizations. There will also be some live music and refreshments. This event will be free and open to the public.
• Tuesday night will be an evening event for Chief Sealth students and parents, with the focus on water and environmentally related career, college, and internship opportunities. There will be booths from many local colleges and organizations, as well as break-out sessions from environmental journalists and hopefully some green engineers.
• Wednesday and Thursday will be made up of in-school workshops focused on raising awareness of our local water sources and the global water crisis.
• Friday will be our big day. There will be no regular classes during school. There will be 4 “periods” plus lunch. Each grade level will participate in a water carrying (“Carry 5”) walk. Students (and staff) will carry 1-5 gallons of water around the track for a couple of miles. We will be simulating what over a billion people do every day to gather fresh water for their families. This whole event is actually the culmination of a month-long fundraiser that the school will be doing for Water 1st International. During the other three rotations on Friday, students and staff will sign up for workshop sessions. There will be several choices each hour. The day will conclude with an all school assembly where we will announce which grade raised the most money and conclude with a performance by a local band.

This festival is being organized by Chief Sealth senior Molly Freed, her teacher Noah Zeichner and a group of 50 Chief Sealth students and teachers, in collaboration with several local organizations. Last summer, the Bezos Family Foundation selected Freed and Zeichner as Bezos Scholars — two of only 24 across the nation — to attend the Aspen Ideas Festival. At the festival, scholars were directed to create their own local Ideas Festival, and Freed and Zeicher developed the idea of World Water Week.

For more information contact Noah Zeichner, Social Studies Teacher, Chief Sealth International High School, 2600 SW Thistle Street Seattle, WA 98126, or by phone at 206-252-8626  or check out the Chief Sealth International High School website.

Sustainable Seattle and EOS Alliance are partnering to provide a hands-on low impact development workshop.

The rain running off our roofs, roads and yards is the biggest source of pollution entering Puget Sound’s water. We all contribute to this pollution, and we can all help solve this problem by applying Low Impact Development techniques that slow the runoff down and treat the water. To help you learn about and apply LID on your own property, Sustainable Seattle, in partnership with EOS Alliance, is offering a workshop that combines a class about the benefits and types of LID with a hands-on experience building a rain garden or bioswale so you can exactly what is involved.

Saturday, February 26th will be the theory and background day. We will cover what sustainable design is, what it means to you and its context in the neighborhood, city, region, nation and planet, and its nexus with Low Impact Development, before going into more detail about site assessment and design.

Sunday, February 27th will be the hands-on day. Participants will have a chance to enter their own property into a drawing, the winner of which will be the work site for the rest of the day. We will visit the winning site to do an initial survey, design what to build there to improve its stormwater handling, and spend the rest of the day building what we have designed.

Thank you to EOS Alliance for partnering with us on this workshop.

To read more and register online, visit http://sustainableseattle.org/training/228

The schedule for the two days is below:

Saturday February 26

• 10:30 am – noon: The first session will cover what sustainable design is, what it means to you and its context in the neighborhood, city, region, nation and planet, and its nexus with Low Impact Development.
• 12 – 1:00 pm: Lunch and socialising. Bring a sack lunch and we’ll eat together.
• 1:00 – 5:00 pm: Detailed discussion of Low Impact Design. Topics covered will include:
  • Site assessment
  • Soil analysis
  • Site hydrology
  • Site mapping & analysis
  • Site planning & layout
  • Site design

Sunday February 27

• 9:00 am – noon: Optional site assessment field trip. We will have a drawing to pick a students house for the installation of a rain garden or other LID design solution. It is understood from the class syllabus that all those participating in the drawing will need to share in the cost and labor of building a rain garden. Participation in this is voluntary and is not part of the basic course syllabus. We will then arrange a field trip to that location for in field practice of site analysis and site planning based on the analysis principles learned.
• 12 – 1:00 pm: Lunch indoors.
• 1:00 – 5:00 pm: Construction. We will retrofit a class member’s house with a rain garden and/or bioswale. This is a hands-on physical exercise.

Location:

Vance Building, room 530

1402 Third Avenue

Seattle, WA 98101

Closest transit station: University Street.

What to bring

Please dress comfortably, and bring paper, something to write with and a sack lunch for each day. Most of Sunday will be spent outdoors, so please bring rain gear, boots and work gloves if you have them.  We will provide tea, coffee and light snacks.