My Time with Friends of the Cedar River Watershed by volunteer and occasional FCRW blogger Ashley Smith

Last April—as a relative newbie to the Pacific Northwest—I was thinking of ways I could get to know my new surroundings better and decided that volunteering would be a great way to accomplish this. I was pleased to discover that volunteer opportunities of all kinds abound in the Seattle area—but because of my desire to become a better steward of Mother Earth—I narrowed my sights to opportunities that focused on nature conservation.

As fate would have it, by the end of the month I was introduced to Rebecca Sayre and so began my journey with Friends of the Cedar River Watershed.

Over the following months, I volunteered at Watershed Report events—where I had the privilege of learning about environmental sustainability from some of the most ambitious young stewards of our environment—as well as chatted with volunteer naturalists at the Chittenden Locks about the physiological changes that salmon go through while transitioning from saltwater to freshwater.

Finally on Saturday, October 27, I headed off to Cavanaugh Pond to take advantage of the last weekend of the year for the FCRW Salmon Journey program. Considering the mild weather the PNW has been experiencing this fall, the day proved to be a cold and rainy one, so I was surprised to see the turnout—a good mix of habitat restoration volunteers, naturalists, and salmon peepers.

Brownies braving the rain to watch the salmon spawn

Shortly after arriving I encountered a troupe of Brownies standing by the pond, gleefully observing the salmon as they swirled by. Their enthusiasm was catching, so I decided to join them. I was happily surprised to discover that beyond their joy of simply watching the salmon swim, these young ladies were genuinely interested in learning about the role salmon play in maintaining a healthy ecosystem. They even taught me a thing or two about salmon!

Eventually I said my goodbyes to the Brownies and headed off to check out the habitat restoration in progress. When asked by Amy, the Stewardship Coordinator, if I wanted to try my hand at planting a native tree, I gladly accepted.

Me, a freshly dug hole, and a native tree ready to play its part in maintaining a healthy ecosystem

It was then—while toiling with the soil—that I finally put together everything I’d learned from my time spent volunteering with Friends of the Cedar River Watershed. Up till this point, I’d looked at the knowledge I’d gained about salmon journeys, habitat restoration, and environmental sustainability through separate lenses (somewhat foolishly, I admit).

But as I watched volunteers digging holes to plant native trees and shrubs, and listened to naturalists talk about what entails the perfect environment for successful salmon spawning, it dawned on me how interlinked it all is.

The forests and the salmon are linked in many ways. Salmon need clear, cool shaded rivers to spawn and grow—which forests provide. Trees, on the other hand, soak up the nutrients that returning salmon provide. Scientists have even found salmon DNA in trees!

Here are some other cool facts I’ve learned that have brought it all full circle for me:

• A decaying salmon deposits nutrients from the ocean into the freshwater ecosystem
• Their carcasses are an essential food source for other fish, marine mammals, birds, bears and, yes, even humans
• Salmon are a keystone species—they play a critical role in maintaining the structure of an ecological community. They affect many other organisms and help to determine the types and numbers of other species in the community
• Declines in the capacity of a watershed to grow juvenile salmonids can indicate declining ecosystem health
• Logging, dams, fishing, irrigation, and pollution have all contributed to declining salmon runs

So what can you do to ensure that salmon maintain their role as a keystone species in the Cedar River Watershed? Well, you can start by volunteering with Friends of the Cedar River Watershed! I promise you, you won’t regret it.

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They Spoke For the Trees! …and the fish, birds, and water too

What is good is that everyone can participate.  You don’t have to be a certain age or super-strong to plant a tree.

Boy, it was a cold one!  This Saturday, February 18^th, FCRW and King County Parks hosted nearly 80 volunteers of all ages at one of our newest restoration sites, Marymoor Wetlands at the Sammamish Rowing Facility, in Redmond.

The wetlands provide a critical habitat link while they improve the water quality of Lake Sammamish, part of the greater Lake Washington Watershed. Lake Sammamish is heavily impacted due to stormwater runoff from the surrounding communities.  By planting native trees and shrubs in the wetlands, we can bring people together to solve the problem.  Planting trees creates healthy soils that build forests and forests help clean the water. “You wouldn’t think that dirt would make water cleaner, but it does,” stated Volunteer Habitat Restoration Program Manager, Nisa Karimi to groups of volunteers during the cycle of morning education orientations.

The difference made through large community restorations occurs not only as a result of the work accomplished on-site, but because of the new perspective gained by the families and individuals taking part in the project. “What is good is that everyone can participate.  You don’t have to be a certain age or super-strong to plant a tree. Today is a drop in the bucket, but it makes a difference,” noted one volunteer who chose to spend a day with out-of-town guests doing something interesting.  “We could have gone to a movie or something, but this was better.”

Cold hands and clay-crusted work gloves (many had to come back for a second pair in the middle of the restoration) did not deter this group from getting trees in the ground.  After a delicious lunch, several families began to pack up for home as the day was tough on little ones, but several others were nowhere near quitting. “Wait, we don’t have to stop do we?” remarked one concerned volunteer. “We are getting somewhere.”

The effort to restore Marymoor Wetlands is a partnership between FCRW, King County Parks, and the Sammamish Rowing Association.  Saturday’s project was thanks to a collaboration between Friend of the Cedar River Watershed and Whole Foods Markets in honor of the release of Dr Suess’ The Lorax.

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The Watershed Report: Bringing it Home and to the Capitol

“That was the most inspiring presentation I have heard all session.” -Representative, Laurie Jinkins, Tacoma

The Maple Valley representatives of the Watershed Report team have been honing their speaking chops at home and on the road.  These bright students shared the latest sustainability trends in their own backyard at the 2nd Annual Tahoma Middle School Community Screening on Friday, January 13th and then hit the road the following Friday to present the program and latest findings in front of the House Environment Committee in Olympia on January 20th.

The hometown presentation took place in front of 100 of the students’ friends, family, and local civic leaders.  Senior, Cassandra Houghton, observed that she had grown tremendously as a speaker over the course of the last year. “This year, I was able to speak more from my heart because I had internalized the data and understood more about how to speak effectively.  It was a very empowering experience.”

Students Jayaram and Austin

The Tahoma Screening included an announcement of a new partnership between the Report, the city of Maple Valley, and the Tahoma School District to develop a Community Stormwater Systems Thinking workshop in Spring of 2012–Stay tuned for more information!  The workshop will be guided by adult experts and taught by student leaders.  Not only was the Tahoma screening a success in its own right, but it built confidence that prepared the team to nimbly adapt to the many curve balls thrown during their next big presentation in Olympia.

Tahoma Superintendant, Mike Maryanski

After braving slushy roads, cancelled meetings, and intermittent power outages throughout the capitol campus, the students made their way to Hearing Room C in the John L. O’Brien building to share with legislators the concept of the Watershed Report’s annually updated, data-driven narratives on local sustainability advances from school districts, businesses, and local governments. Thankfully, power came on just in time to include a four-minute segment on Green Power Advances in the presentation. The goal of the day was to begin a dialogue with state leaders, as we look to add new data stories and begin the process of growing the program to a regional scale. The Watershed Report is designed to be both scalable and replicable so that it can be applied throughout Puget Sound and eventually state-wide.  Our own Olympia presentation was augmented by the Environment Committee’s first order of business for the day, an update from representatives of WRIA 9, who presented on their work just before the students shared their efforts in the Cedar River/ Lake Washington watershed, also known as WRIA 8.

The students take on Olympia

Sophomore, Connor Hammond, did not know what to expect from his first visit to the Legislature and got more of an education that he bargained for:

“As I woke up on January 20, I was both elated and nervous as we drove through the rain. Along the way we were able to practice and review our presentations, this greatly boosted my confidence and understanding of what I could expect. We were educated on lobbying, and had a great chance to not only learn about, but also get an inside view on how politics worked. When we found out that our ability to present  could be jeopardized by a lack of power we had to adapt or presentation. I was so relieved that at the last-minute the power came back on and we were able to use our power point and videos.”

Senior, Clara Tibbits was able to build upon her previous Olympia experience as a page:

“Seeing some of the halls scattered with politicians and lobbyists frantically preparing for hearings and other events made it so much more real. We got to see all these different people working to make their opinions heard on issues, including HB 2404 a potential state-wide plastic bag ban.  An issue many of us had been following.

A particularly nerve-racking, but educational, part of the day was meeting with a professional lobbyist, Jennifer Estroff, who asked us for an elevator speech. After describing our project to her it really hit me the importance of being so well versed in your purpose that you could quickly and concisely answer any question thrown your way.”

Students present the latest findings to Environment Committee

Receiving direct feedback from legislators also helped the students realize that their input makes a real difference to elected officials.  Representative Laurie Jinkins (D-27)  of Tacoma thanked  the students for  sharing the “most inspiring presentation I have heard all session.”

We left the hearing room, students and adults alike, happy and relieved that things went so smoothly.  The students walked with a new bounce and confidence as we made our way to the parking lot. Laughing and smiling, we still needed to be on guard, because snow and ice occasionally sloughed off the trees overhead with an eerie whoosh and a crack, plus everyone realized that we were absolutely starving.   As the team piled into a trusty volvo to make their way north, all were grateful for the experience, the feedback, and, of course, the hearty lunches in the back seat, packed by Clara’s, ever-supportive, mom.

For more information about the Watershed Report, visit www.cedarriver.org/watershedreport or contact peter@cedarriver.org.

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Tyson’s Story–Tales of a New Board Member

Everybody has their own story about how they first became aware of the “Friends” – the Friends of the Cedar River Watershed, that is.  Maybe you were visiting the Ballard Locks on a Saturday in July or the Renton Library on a weekend in October and your curiosity was peaked about the folks wearing tan ball caps with one or more little salmon pins on them—and you chatted with the Salmon Journey volunteer naturalists.

Naturalist holding fish development tubes...and a baby.

Or, maybe you have property on a stream, river, or lake and heard from one of your neighbors about how the Friends had given them practical advice on stream-friendly planting design and how to attack that water-side scourge known as Knotweed. That is Stewardship in Action.

Executive Director, Sue Rooney nearly swallowed by knotweed.

Or, maybe your company or group participated in a Day of Caring or related restoration event–we did 47 individual events in 2010– and you spent the day battling blackberries, pulling out invasive ivy, or planting native plants or trees.  I’d heard about the Friends’ Volunteer Habitat Restoration program in my community—our Lake Forest Park Stewardship Foundation has monthly “Ivy Out” events in our little city that a few stalwarts keep showing up for, but then they coordinated with the Friends, who recruited 70 enthusiastic volunteers to show up! (Wow! There was some “power pulling” going on that day!)

Volunteers literally removed over 2 tons of ivy that day

Cassandra is not only on the swim team, she knows all the waterways of the Cedar River/Lake Washington Watershed from memory. Kids today.

But I really got a big picture sense of the Friends, when I attended a screening at REI last fall of the first Watershed Report.  The Watershed Report (you’ve seen the videos on the home page, and on YouTube ) is an ambitious partnership between the Friends of the Cedar River, high schools, business associations, governments, media, and grassroots organizations.  And, the astonishingly accomplished young people—youth leaders– who participate in and produce the videos.  I could go on and on about these high school students, who are learning life-long skills in sustainability policy analysis, measuring and modeling research, public speaking, and media communications—(video and social media, duh).

The big picture indeed – I learned that the scope of the Friends extends from the “snow caps to the white caps.”  Literally, from the snowy reaches of the Cascades where our drinking water and salmon-thriving waters begin, into Lake Washington (fills ½ of it, keeps the “floating” bridge floating), down into Puget Sound—where the four famous species of returning salmon “turn left” into the Ballard Locks for their journey home.

I was hooked.

I was so hooked that I figured I’m too old to join the Watershed Report team, so I asked to join the board.

In the last four years, this feisty little organization has grown; yes even through the recession. We haven’t yet done our total counts for 2010, but the total value of volunteer hours coordinated by the Friends and returned to the community in 2009 was $130,340. Our 70 trained naturalists engaged more than 7,000 visitors last year. Our revenues have grown from $90K in 2006 to $325K in 2010.

The crew from the Bellevue Hyatt, who recently adopted Belmondo Reach as part of our Adopt-A-Site program. We love working with them!

Frankly, I’m spending more time than I had first imagined on learning about and venturing into fundraising – money doesn’t grow on trees, but needs to flow like a well-stocked stream for the Friends to provide the kind of partnerships and stewardship services they are doing so well. So – hey, to practice this:  I hope you’ll consider dropping some support our way in 2011. Our impressive list of individual donors, partners and sponsors is growing and we need you to join the team!  There are many different giving levels. See what suits you best: Donate and Support the Friends Today!

2011 is going to be an even better year for the Friends, and friends of the Friends… lots of cool ideas, bright people, solid planning and community-based program growth lie ahead.

Yeah! Victory over blackberry at Cavanaugh Pond.

Btw: Those little fish pins on baseball caps the Salmon Journey folks wear?  I found out that one fish means that individual has participated for one year; two fish – two years; three fish—three years; four fish- four years… It’s pretty wonderful that the volunteers come back year after year… just like the salmon.

Hmmm. We’re back to the salmon, where this journey began.

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Sockeye Return @ Ballard Locks, 2010

I can still see them, as I drift off to sleep, silver schools of sockeye slicing through the salt side of the Locks, materializing out of the boiling blue green water pouring from Lake Washington and her rivers into Puget Sound.

Hydrology History, Lake Washington

They move with unchecked exuberance, like a single organism, each individual united in motion with their comrades, streaking right, then left in unison, until one salmon, unable to contain itself in mere water, leaps through the boundary of the surface into the medium we breathe, only to fall back and abruptly disappear again into the deep green depths. What, in creation, could be more compelling, or beautiful?

I’m here again at Hiram Chittendon’s Locks for my summer homage to salmon, Seattle, & the Salish Sea. Every year the Friends of the Cedar River Watershed, Cedar River Naturalists, Seattle Aquarium staff, and Beach Naturalists gather on Saturdays in July to educate the public about this fragile resource, and experience the raw power of this unique phenomenon.

Supersalmon posing with innocent bystanders

In 2010, 150,000 wild animals will migrate through a major urban center, from the Pacific Ocean to the River where Seattle draws its drinking water, to spawn and die. It’s a marine and fresh water Serengeti, unique on the face of the Earth, with far too many of Seattle’s residents oblivious to the event. We will convene again on the Cedar River October 16 & 17, 23 & 24, 30 & 31, as this migration climaxes in reproduction, death, and new life.

The sockeye run this year is larger than the last two years combined, but ’08 and ’09 were the two worst returns on record. It’s an improvement, but this year produces little more than a third of the 350,000 fish needed to sustain their population in the watershed and open Lake Washington for sockeye fishing.

Face to Face with Sockeye

Alarmingly, these fish are the offspring of the last banner year, 2006, which saw 450,000 fish come back from the Pacific to spawn in the Cedar, allowing a harvest of 100,000 fish that pumped millions of dollars into our local economy that year. They could have bred a truly monumental generation, but area rivers, transformed by human impact, experienced severe flooding that annihilated most of the juvenile salmon in the riverbeds. The survivors are still exquisite, and descending into the viewing chamber provides a face to face meeting with them. Many are scarred from encounters with predators or nets, but undeterred by their wounds. They dart about the chamber, adjusting their bodies to fresh water and preparing to shed the sea lice that are inconsequential to adults, but lethal for the juveniles passing net pens filled with non-native salmon. The transformation is so profound that when you see these fish in the fall, spawning in the Cedar and elsewhere, you would not believe they were the same species.

Naturalist to Naturalist

We live in a place of unparalleled beauty, but with beauty comes responsibility. The Naturalists,  Friends of the Cedar River Watershed and our allies dedicate their time and energy to building a world where we live with these incredible creatures rather than, like Europe, the East Coast, and far too many stretches of the West Coast, humans live instead of them. Come see for yourself.

Sockeye with Fans

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Our Community of Friends

Green Drinks

The last couple of weeks have been a whirlwind of activity.  On Tuesday, June 8th, Friends of the Cedar River Watershed (FCRW) had the tremendous opportunity to co-host Green Drinks with technology innovators, Synapse Product Development.  It was a great evening that we got to share with over two hundred of our sustainability-minded friends.

Bird's Eye View of Evening

Our esteemed Executive Director, Sue Rooney, delivered a stirring pitch (while standing on a podium…long story) on why FCRW gets people involved in protecting the Cedar River Watershed–it is our home, after all.   Plus, the Cedar contains some of best  salmon habitat in King County and provides drinking water to over 1,000 King County residents.  Sue was joined at (but not on) the podium by Synapse CEO, Scott Bright, who tied Synapse’s ideal of innovation to FCRW’s focus on involvement.  Wow, powerful combo. People+creativity+vision=momentum for change.

Creative Problem Solving and a Lot of Laughing at Green Drinks

The creativity concept was further explored in a unique way through the infamous Synapse,  “construct a tower out of spaghetti, tape and marshmallows,” challenge. It was lots of fun, although our team did not win.  Oddly a table surrounded by engineers did better.  I am not shocked.  Furthermore, I’m glad that FCRW is focused on engaging people. Clearly our strength.

Flyfishers at Cavanaugh Pond

On Saturday, June 12th, over sixty volunteers, many of them from the local flyfishing community including, Emerald Water Anglers, Washington Flyfisher’s Council Trout Unlimited, and REI participated in a day of restoration and education at Cavanaugh Pond in Maple Valley.

Our team worked hard during the early part of the day pulling blackberries and other invasives and the latter half of the day was spent along the river, investigating insects, and learning the basics of fly casting.

Crowd gathered to watch flyfishing demonstration

We were treated to a lunchtime discussion with scientist, Ray Timm on the importance of natural disturbances in healthy river systems and salmon ecology. The presentation was a fascinating follow-up on a fine lunch donated by Whole Foods and Loki Fish Co.

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Rain Garden to be Constructed at Hazen High in Renton

Students working on earlier rain garden project at Interlake High in Bellevue

RAIN GARDEN INSTALLATION AT HAZEN HIGH SCHOOL, APRIL 29

King County, WA. Friends of the Cedar River Watershed (FCRW), a King County based non-profit organization, is launching a new project to address stormwater runoff through the construction of rain gardens at local schools and community institutions.

The project involves high school students from five of the twelve school districts in the Cedar River / Lake Washington watershed.  This year FCRW will build up to eight demonstration rain gardens in five different school districts. Hazen High School Science Department Head, Teresa Coda is excited about the project.  “Students are eager to be a part of the project and excited to put their labor into something they see as a sustainable enhancement to our school community.”

The goal is to engage students in applying academic excellence to community problem solving while addressing water pollution in our local waterways.  Seventy-five percent of the toxic chemicals getting into Puget Sound are carried by stormwater that runs off paved roads, parking lots, driveways, rooftops, yards and other developed land. “Equipping homeowners, businesses and municipalities with tools to reduce individual impact is an effective way to address stormwater pollution,” states Sue Rooney Executive Director of FCRW.

A rain garden is a depressed planting bed that captures and slows stormwater runoff, allowing it to seep into the garden soil while filtering mud and pollutants such as motor oil and heavy metals out of the water.

The first Renton rain garden to be constructed under this program will take place on April 29 at Hazen High School in partnership with the high school’s Science Program.  Citizens interested in building a rain garden in your own neighborhood or learning more about the Friends of the Cedar River Watershed may contact Nisa@cedarriver.org.

This project is funded in part by:  A King County Waterworks grant, RealNetworks Foundation, The Boeing Company Charitable Trust, The Klorfine Foundation and The Satterberg Foundation.  Cedar Grove Composting has also graciously donated rain garden construction materials.

About Friends of the Cedar River Watershed: Friends of the Cedar River Watershed is a non-profit organization inspiring conservation and protection of the Cedar River / Lake Washington watershed through restoration, education, and stewardship. The Friends focus on working with community volunteers to improve fish and wildlife habitat, educate river visitors and community members, and engage community groups and governments in water quality improvements.

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