Water Beach Watchers Happenings for May

Low Tide Beach Walk
May 7th at 11:30 am. Join with members of the Port Townsend Marine Science Center to tour the low tide habitats of Indian Island. Jean Walat, PTMSC volunteer coordinator is still working on a side trip to Indian Island to view the Sea Pens. This is one of the lowest tides of the spring, and it will reveal a plethora of platyhelminthes, millions of mollusks and countless crustaceans. Meet at the Safeway Park and Ride at 11:00 am to carpool, or drive to the second county park on Indian Island.

“Ocean Acidification: The Other CO2 Problem”
Lecture presentation by Dr. Richard Feely, at PTMSC
April 26, 4pm, Fort Worden Commons.
Recent studies show that increased CO2 in the oceans is already causing significant changes. Since the beginning of the industrial era, oceans have absorbed about 85% of the heat and 30% of the carbon released by human activities. As a result, oceans are becoming more acidic, potentially affecting all shelled creatures from the tiniest plankton at the base of the oceanic food web. Dr. Feely, Supervisory Oceanographer at the NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory as well as Professor at the UW School of Oceanography, will discuss implications of increased CO2 levels on the health of our ocean ecosystems and beyond. Admission: $5/members; $7/non-member.

Enviroscape teaching
Monday, April 28th the Enviroscape is traveling to Quilcene to demonstrate stormwater runoff and non point pollution (including pet waste) to the 4H after school Forestry program. If you want to join me and learn how to use this great teaching model I would love the company. 379-5610x230. We'll leave WSU at 2pm and be back by 5.

Pet Waste
Eight Water Beach Watchers are beginning the planning of a Pet Waste Outreach Campaign for Jefferson County. If you are interested in joining them contact Karen Swanson-Woolf at 385-4047. A draft brochure describing the do's and don'ts of dog doo has been created. The enviroscape has been customized to teach the runoff and pet waste connection, and we want to identify sites in Jefferson county that could benefit education and/or bags for this issue. And all this started with the effort of Peggy Manspeaker.

Creosote Log Update
Burt Howells, Jon Eden, PJ Anderson, Matt Berberich and Victoria Mansfield have all helped with the inventory and tagging of logs for removal at Fort Flagler beach. The helicopters are coming this week! DNR will contact us through the fall as they continue this project in Jefferson County.

Low Impact Development Technical Workshop Series
If you are looking for the technical details necessary to properly design, build and maintain low impact development (LID) practices, this set of workshops arguably provide the most extensive set of LID trainings offered in the US.
As part of the Puget Sound Initiative, Washington State University will provide the series of four workshops in four locations around Puget Sound. Funding for the workshops is provided by the Puget Sound Partnership. These two-day workshops, with instruction by regional and national experts, will provide the current state of knowledge on these topics and more:
---Bioretention siting, sizing and modeling techniques, designing surface and subsurface drainage components, and soil mixes.
---Permeable paving specifications for permeable asphalt, concrete, interlocking concrete pavers, and other paving systems, as well as subgrade preparation, base material specifications, modeling, and maintenance.
---Vegetated roof modeling, cistern design and low impact PIN foundations design.
---Site planning, clearing and grading, LID construction sequencing, and inspection.

Sequim (Jamestown Tribal Center)
May 6-7 2008: Permeable Paving
May 28-29 2008: Bioretention
June 4-5 2008: Green roofs, Low Impact Foundations and Rain water Collection
June 25-26 2008: Site Planning, Clearing and Grading, Plan Review, and Inspection

Cost: $50.00 (each 2-day workshop)
Pre-registration is required. Details on how to register, specific course locations, course agendas, and other details are on line at: http://capps.wsu.edu/conferences/lidworkshops

Pesticide Free Zone
The Washington Toxics Coalition has agreed to having the WSU Water Beach Watchers program distribute the Pesticide Free Pledges and Plaques. If you want to post a sign in your yard, call me.

Snowed out at Earth Day - Comments from your coordinator
My van was packed on Saturday night...the enviroscape cleaned and organized, ready to demonstrate the relationship between stormwater runoff and pet waste. But Sunday brought 4 inches of snow and a phone call that we had no canopy available. Linda Brewster, Burt Howells, Linda Smith, Karen Swanson-Woolf helped me cancel our presence. But...we have a good draft of the pet waste brochure, a box of milk bones to distribute and lots of chocolate frosting.
I'll be on vacation from May 1-15.