tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-77804558731958068482011-12-16T09:13:12.841-08:00Tips and activities from Homewaters Project to help you and your family explore and be good to your watershedJennifer Youngmannoreply@blogger.comBlogger201100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780455873195806848.post-21262863383563889732009-05-10T16:12:00.001-07:002009-05-10T16:23:56.430-07:00

I love this tree frog’s front leg crooked around the twig, don’t you? Yesterday I trod softly through Shadow Lake Bog near Renton, where the peat hasn’t been mined (unlike Shoreline’s bygone bogs -- see March 19), and where bog laurel, bobcats, cougars and moss mingle in one delightful place. Shadow Lake Bog is full of gifts for sleepy senses. You touch the soft, hairy, orange undersides of

Jennifer Youngmannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780455873195806848.post-53550322847463213692009-04-28T06:58:00.000-07:002009-04-28T07:38:41.999-07:00

I saw my first varied thrush years ago when I ventured from Indiana to spend a summer working in Mt. Rainier National Park. I've associated this bird and its haunting song with remote, mossy, primitive places ever since. But I just saw a varied thrush in my backyard. In Shoreline. The robins didn't care for him and gave him a hard time. But for a little while, I had a varied thrush in my backyard

Jennifer Youngmannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780455873195806848.post-63478771687551107432009-04-14T01:56:00.000-07:002009-04-14T02:16:10.377-07:00

Look on the bright side of this dark weather. If you haven’t gotten around to observing how water flows on your property, and if you haven't noticed whether your yard soaks up or spurns falling rain, you still have an opportunity to check it out. Now’s the time to recharge our groundwater so that the earth can do its slow-release thing throughout the (presumably) dry summer months. Groundwater

Jennifer Youngmannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780455873195806848.post-92107184129704776032009-03-23T23:43:00.000-07:002009-03-24T00:51:15.187-07:00

Loop past the west side of Seattle's Salmon Bay School (19th Ave NW, north of 65th Street) and you'll see recent handiwork of 3rd- through 5th-graders: a newly-planted water-wise garden featuring 38 species of Pacific Northwest natives. Four Salmon Bay classes participating in Homewaters Project's year-long "Watershed Gardens" water conservation program planted 450 shrubs and small plants in one

Jennifer Youngmannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780455873195806848.post-16072464267430857072009-03-19T13:26:00.000-07:002009-03-19T14:06:16.835-07:00

Big changes are coming to Shoreline’s Cromwell Park, the historic headwaters of Thornton Creek’s North Fork. They’ll roll public recreation, water quality and stormwater management into a whole new design. I’m personally excited about the areas labeled wetland and native wildlife habitat on the Master Site Plan (obtainable from the Cromwell Park Improvements page in the Links list at right). When

Jennifer Youngmannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780455873195806848.post-65901330856982462522009-02-23T11:00:00.000-08:002009-02-23T11:23:03.773-08:00

Hey, if you'd like to follow the trail of storm drain markers (see the last post) with a fun group of folks, join Homewaters Project for a free, public, urban nature walk along the North Fork of Thornton Creek in Shoreline Saturday, March 14, 2009, from 9:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. We'll learn about plans for Cromwell Park's wetlands, talk about peat mining and flooding, observe native plants and

Jennifer Youngmannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780455873195806848.post-46327685521146477692009-02-11T05:38:00.000-08:002009-02-11T06:24:43.485-08:00

Do you know what this is? Do you know where this is? When Homewaters Project guides a public urban walk in Shoreline next month, we'll find this storm drain marker along Meridian Avenue. We'll look for other storm drain markers, too. These markers remind us that storm drains are for rainwater, not motor oil, antifreeze, chemicals or paint. Why? Whatever goes into a storm drain travels through a

Jennifer Youngmannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780455873195806848.post-25533164324628599042009-01-30T23:51:00.000-08:002009-01-31T00:11:03.077-08:00

Wow, how do you like the rising and falling temperatures this winter? One day it feels like Seattle. The next day it feels like Minnesota. So I think we should take an Up and Down Walk. You don't need any hills for this.Step into your backyard and see how many things you can find that go up and down. Start with the obvious. Are there any birds in your backyard? How does a squirrel move when it

Jennifer Youngmannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780455873195806848.post-67836420540946651492009-01-19T16:27:00.000-08:002009-01-19T17:10:41.676-08:00

We’re surrounded by leaves all winter in the Pacific Northwest, because so many of our trees are conifers that hold onto their needles. But have you ever looked at what’s going on with those those quiet, unassuming, deciduous trees in the winter? They’re getting ready to leaf out when the time is right, and all that action is packed into those tiny buds. Buds and twigs on different kinds of trees

Jennifer Youngmannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780455873195806848.post-66992013642682283072009-01-09T03:12:00.000-08:002009-01-09T03:41:46.010-08:00

It’s been great to receive your suggestions for Thornton Creek park names (see November 5 post), and I’ve been passing them along to those involved in the naming process. Here are some of the people and ideas you’d like to see represented:Nishitani familyOle Blindheim and LaVilla DairySeattle human rights activist Alice Franklin BryantSlo'q'qed or hLooQWqeed (Bald Head or Peeled Head), Northgate

Jennifer Youngmannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780455873195806848.post-41820409772150504002008-12-15T18:01:00.000-08:002008-12-15T19:39:09.296-08:00

Too cold for you outside? Not to worry! Here's a fun, new way to tour Thornton Creek without getting cold or wet. You can even do it in your PJs!In the righthand column under Links, click on "Homewaters Project photos on Google Maps."Click on any one of our four photos to see its title and its precise location on a map.Then click on "HomewatersProject" below the photo to see the rest of our

Jennifer Youngmannoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780455873195806848.post-875538452792015382008-11-26T04:04:00.000-08:002008-11-26T04:20:38.679-08:00

We're not talking pennies here. Seasonal changes are taking place all around us. Other types of change happen in a day, or over a period of decades or centuries.Creek Peek for FamiliesTake a walk in your neighborhood, along a creek, or in your own backyard. Use all of your senses to discover what is changing around you. Before you go, brainstorm types of change to look for, or listen for, or even

Jennifer Youngmannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780455873195806848.post-23734258285479085412008-11-19T00:52:00.000-08:002009-03-24T00:54:44.495-07:00

Another source of fall color is black cottonwood, one of our tallest native trees. Black cottonwood trees grow in moist or saturated soils. Beavers use black cottonwood as food and as a building material in their lodges and dams. It works out well that these trees grow quickly, and that new trees can sprout from stumps or from the shallow, spreading roots. Look for black cottonwood at Meadowbrook

Jennifer Youngmannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780455873195806848.post-72801825886045345572008-11-12T02:15:00.000-08:002008-11-12T03:02:17.172-08:00

Impervious surfaces (roads, parking lots, buildings) cover about 60% of Thornton Creek's watershed. That makes for large areas where rain can't soak into the ground, so greater quantities of water rush down Thornton Creek all at once. Last winter, more culverts sustained storm damage in Thornton Creek than in any other Seattle watershed. The culvert at NE 105th and 27th Ave was subsequently

Jennifer Youngmannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780455873195806848.post-7229799112141055332008-11-07T10:26:00.000-08:002008-11-07T10:43:31.901-08:00

It was all over last night's newscasts -- clear your storm drains of leaves and debris to help reduce urban flooding. It's not a one-shot deal, though. Flowing water and wind will deposit more leaves on top of those storm drains. Creek Peek for FamiliesTake on your nearest storm drain as a family project. (If you live in Seattle, you have 78,000 to choose from!) When you remove the leaves and

Jennifer Youngmannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780455873195806848.post-72258946550350772212008-11-05T23:32:00.000-08:002008-11-06T00:11:08.531-08:00

My last post mentioned fall color in Thornton Creek Park #1. Only thing is, the name "Thornton Creek Park #1" isn't anywhere near as colorful as those leaves! Now you can help change that. What's special about the North Fork's Park #1, just south of Jackson Park Golf Course? Or the South Fork's Park #2, stretching from 105th St and 15th Ave NE southeastward to about 100th and 20th? Have you seen

Jennifer Youngmannoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780455873195806848.post-30695727366066796342008-10-30T12:33:00.000-07:002008-10-30T16:24:00.902-07:00

Looking for fall color along Thornton Creek's North Fork? (See Oct 20 post for fall color further south.) If you're content with splashes of brilliance instead of great swaths of color, saunter around Shoreline's Twin Ponds at 155th just west of I-5 -- and don't miss a few hidden bits of brilliance behind the tennis courts. Or check out Park #1 south of Jackson Park Golf Course, where the best

Jennifer Youngmannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780455873195806848.post-20312871497480598532008-10-20T23:10:00.000-07:002009-03-24T00:55:43.840-07:00

Now that chlorophyll production is winding down for the year, all those patient little carotenoids and tannins are getting their share of the limelight. Yellow and orange carotenoids and brown and russet tannins appear when green chlorophyll fades away. A few clear warm days and cool nights have triggered anthocyanin production, too, resulting in red leaves.Two Pacific Northwest native plants,

Jennifer Youngmannoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780455873195806848.post-67088041991985155562008-10-17T01:17:00.000-07:002009-03-24T00:56:43.791-07:00

Here's another watershed-friendly option besides aiming your downspouts onto the ground (see Oct. 13)... Collect rain in a rain barrel for later use in your own yard. This practice not only conserves water. It helps recharge your watershed's groundwater, too. Creek Peek for Kids Hey Kids, think about this. Why do you think the outflow hose is fastened near the top of the rain barrel instead of at

Jennifer Youngmannoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780455873195806848.post-40311871031113662952008-10-13T02:04:00.000-07:002008-10-20T19:13:54.655-07:00

Groundwater provides a source of streamflow even during drier months . . . that is, if there is groundwater. Replenishing the groundwater can be a challenge in watersheds like Thornton Creek, where nearly 2/3 of the landscape is covered by impervious surfaces -- roads, parking lots, rooftops. Instead of soaking into soil and recharging the groundwater, rain rushes into storm drains and flows away

Jennifer Youngmannoreply@blogger.com0