Fall Planting Season Draws Hearty Volunteers
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V olume 18 | ISSUE 2 | FALL/WINTER 2012-13 THE NEWSLETTER OF THE SKAGIT FISHERIES ENHANCEMENT GROUP Dedicated to Restoring Wild Salmon for the Future Generations Fall Planting Season Draws Hearty Volunteers These past few months 194 Skagit County Public Works completed Calico Cupboard, and Sedro-Woolley volunteers helped us plant 4,210 plants at stream construction/LWD and donated Food Pavilion. Thank you also to the 3 riparian restoration projects and move a railcar bridge for the new footbridge/ following volunteer groups who planted our native plant nursery to its new home. park access route; Skagit Conservation trees: Pioneer Center North, Island This fall we partnered with Whidbey- District’s Tom Slocum developed the County Beach Watchers, Skagit County Camano Land Trust to restore native channel design, and SCD provided Beach Watchers, Oak Harbor Boys’ and shrubs to their property at Dugualla $8500 to cover some wetland plants and Girls’ Club, Cub Scout Pack 4098 from Bay. We had our largest turnout (74 planting work last spring; LBR Logging Oak Harbor, Boy Scout Pack 4100 from volunteers) in a long time, and were provided construction of boardwalk Mount Vernon, Anacortes High School, rewarded with sunny skies and abundant framework and foundation; Whatcom Western Washington University’s migratory waterfowl. At Deception Pass County Corrections Crew constructed Learning Environment Action State Park, funds from Northwest Straits pedestrian bridge on east side and helped Discovery program, and the many Foundation enabled us to begin restoring with site prep, erosion control; and the individuals who joined our a portion of beachfront along Cornet Bay. Washington Conservation Corps crew efforts to restore habitat More planting at this location will occur helped with boardwalk construction on for Skagit salmon. in spring 2013. We also partnered with west side of project. We could not have Skagit County Parks to re-establish native Thanks so much to the following accomplished this trees and shrubs along the new channel businesses who donated snacks for without you! at Howard Miller Steelhead Park. Many our volunteers: Skagit Food Co-op, partners have helped with this project: Burlington Haggen, Mount Vernon IN THIS ISSUE: 2 President’s Message 3 E ducating Students of all ages 3 New AmeriCorps Volunteers 4 S pecies Profile 5 Climate Change 7 Membership Donations 8 E vents Calendar 1 Trillium, AARON LOGUE { FROM THE PRESIDENT } REDD: A female salmon uses her tail to dig a nest in the gravel. After she deposits her eggs the male fertilizes them. The female then covers the fertilized eggs and the resulting nest is called a redd. M ISSION Our mission is to build partnerships that educate and engage the community in habitat restoration and watershed stewardship in order Another Move to enhance salmonid populations. BO ARD OF DIRECTORS for SFEG Chris Kowitz, President By CHRIS KOWITZ Ned Currence, Vice President Jeanne Glick, Secretary Nearly a year ago, SFEG moved its a piece of property they had recently Patrick O’Hearn, Treasurer office from the original riverside location acquired on Kelleher Road. The site Kurt Buchanan to its current location on South Second was convenient and near a recently- Bruce Freet Street in Mount Vernon. During that completed restoration project on Thomas Oscar Graham process, several alternate properties Creek - a nice bonus that volunteers could Jim Johnson were considered due to the fact that the observe as they work to provide trees and Robin LaRue nursery could not be moved to the same shrubs for future restoration efforts. Both Boshie Morris location. After much deliberation it was SFEG and Samish Indian Nation staff Mike Olis decided to move the office and leave agreed that working together on this site Jim Somers the nursery at its current location at the would provide a mutual benefit for both old Northern State Hospital Campus. groups and negotiations started soon However, earlier this year, Cascade Job thereafter. The SFEG Board executed BO ARD MEETINGS Corps informed us that we needed to a lease agreement with the Samish The SFEG Board meets the 4th move our nursery by the end of the year. Indian Nation on October 23rd and Tuesday of each month at our office. The public is welcome to attend. No one was particularly excited about preparations for yet another move began. moving thousands of potted plants, but On December 2nd, staff and moving the nursery at the end of the volunteers successfully moved over STF AF year when we have the fewest plants 4,000 plants from the old nursery to Alison Studley, Executive Director would be the best course of action. We their new location. Construction will Susan Madsen, Restoration Ecologist could create a more modern nursery continue at the new site – a permanent Debbie Denton, Finance Manager operation – upgrade the water system to road is being built, a water system will Michelle Murphy, Stewardship Manager reduce water consumption, expand the be installed and a perimeter fence will Lucy DeGrace, Outreach Coordinator number of plants we could grow, control be erected. We are all excited about our Joe George, Restoration Technician future costs and form a new partnership. new partnership with the Samish Tribe Andy Beckman, Restoration Technician After a couple of meetings and a and to create a new, modern nursery Kyle Koch, Restoration Technician number of phone calls, a few of us met that both groups can be proud of. Bengt Miller, Restoration Technician with Samish Indian Nation staff on John Rohde, Restoration Technician Ali Andrews, WA Service Corps Outreach Assistant Kristin Rine, WA Conservation Corps Restoration Assistant CONTC A T US 360.336.0172 [email protected] P.O. Box 2497 Mount Vernon, WA 98273 2 www.www.skagitfisheries.orgskagitfisheries.org Educating Students SFEG’s New of All Ages AmeriCorps By ALI ANDREWS Volunteers We’ve been very busy this fall with In November SFEG partnered We were sorry to say goodbye to SFEG education programs. Our biggest with Skagit Land Trust on a classroom WCC intern Casey Costello and WSC program is Junior Stream Stewards (JSS), presentation and field trip with Emerson intern Katie Lutz over the summer. where we teach 610 7th and 8th graders Alternative High School. Students viewed We enjoyed working with them and throughout Skagit County how to be spawning coho salmon at Ennis Creek wish them well in their subsequent good stewards of their watersheds. We go and then ventured to Pomona Grange adventures! We’re happy to welcome to five different schools, to teach a new on Friday Creek for a native plant walk Kristin Rine and Ali Andrews for the lesson to 21 classes and ivy pull. In December these 2012-13 AmeriCorps each month. Some students toured the Marblemount term. highlights from this Hatchery. During our last tree program include in planting at Howard Miller October doing 21 Steelhead Park we helped salmon dissections boys from Scout Troop in the classroom. #4100 of Mount Vernon to During the month earn their Environmental we had several Badge while planting trees at volunteer ‘dissection our restoration site. artists’ including In December we’ll be Kurt Buchanan, Chris Brown, and Bob starting Salmon in the Classroom Warinner. November was another busy with Jefferson and Lincoln Elementary month, taking four different schools Schools teaching them about the on watershed tours near their school salmon lifecycle, taking them to the including Samish River, Lorenzan Creek, Marblemount Hatchery for a tour, and H ello all! I’m KRISTIN and Bulson-Fisher Creek watersheds, setting up fish tanks in their classrooms RINE, the Washington as well as doing ‘virtual tours’ with 11 for students to raise salmon eggs. If you Conservation Corps (WCC) Restoration classes. Thank you volunteers that helped would like to get involved volunteering Assistant. Although my current with the watershed tours including with our education programs please term of service started in October, Maggie Long, AmeriCorps intern from contact Lucy DeGrace or Ali Andrews at I have been lucky enough to work our sister organization NSEA, and her 360-336-0172. with SFEG since June. I grew up a environmental education intern Alana few hours south in Puyallup, WA and DiMarco, as well as SFEG Board Member have made Bellingham my home ever Jim Johnson, Mike Brondi from North since, attending Western Washington Cascades National Park, and Andrea Doll University, where I majored in Biology. from Beach Watchers. Nicole Hopper Originally my career goals were from Taylor Shellfish is leading focused on teaching science; however, oyster dissection to teach JSS shortly after obtaining my Washington students about bivalves’ ability to State teaching certificate, I realized improve water quality. that my passion lies out in the field where I can make direct contributions to improving our local ecosystems. After working with Sound Salmon Solutions (the Snohomish-area RFEG) last spring, I was fortunate enough to transfer to SFEG! Contributing to restoration projects and working with community volunteers to improve salmon habitat over the CONTINUED ON PAGE 7 3 { SpECIES PROFILE } Sockeye By DaVID BEATTY native kokanee in another watershed. two ocean winters) is the predominant Lacustrine sockeye spawn in streams age class in the Fraser River system. Among the Pacific salmon, the above or below lakes and after emergence This is exhibited by the highly known sockeye (aka the red), Oncorhynchus from the gravel, the fry migrate into the Adams River sockeye run that peaks on nerka, may have the greatest diversity lake where they form schools (different a four year cycle. In North America, of life history patterns and is the third from the territorial behavior of juvenile sockeye occur from the Columbia River most abundant after pink and chum. Chinook and coho while resident in watershed northward to the Kuskokwim Within the races of anadromous (sea- freshwater).