The Puget Sound Stewardship and Mitigation Fund was created by a record legal settlement between the Puget Soundkeeper Alliance (Soundkeeper) and Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) Railway, and has since been supplemented by several other pollution mitigation payments including Trident Seafoods and Total Terminals. The Fund’s goal is to mitigate past pollution runoff by supporting community-based efforts to protect or improve the water quality of Puget Sound. Since inception in 2012, approximately $1.5 million in grants have been awarded. This page reflects grants made through the Grassroots Grants Program.
2015 Grants Awarded
Spring 2015
Cherry Point Aquatic Reserve Citizen Stewardship Committee
Cherry Point Stewardship
Whatcom County
$10,000
The Cherry Point Aquatic Reserve is a unique nearshore aquatic ecosystem located in the Strait of Georgia in northern Puget Sound. Containing cobbled intertidal areas and rich aquatic vegetation as well as a steep gradient into deep water, the Reserve supports a high diversity of fish, yet is also a locus for large vessel docking. The CPAR Citizen Stewardship Committee will raise the profile of the Cherry Point Aquatic Reserve, contribute to scientific surveys which help define the resources of the reserve, and ensure that development projects that affect the reserve are scientifically scrutinized and carefully vetted.
Deschutes Estuary Restoration Team
Watershed Health and Youth
Thurston and Lewis Counties
$10,000
To give young people a chance to learn about ecosystem health and develop their “sense of place” within the Deschutes watershed as a direct link to South Puget Sound. WHY youth will work with DERT’s Science Team and study the Deschutes watershed and all of its attributes. Through monthly field trips and the classroom, they will learn about healthy, functioning ecosystems and identify recreational opportunities within the watershed to nurture a broader sense of understanding and public enjoyment. They will also learn about the economic opportunities that their watershed provides, and how to sustain the ecosystem while enjoying the benefits of living, working and recreating in this 51 mile river basin.
Fidalgo Bay Aquatic Reserve Citizen Stewardship Committee
Fidalgo Bay Science and Stewardship
Skagit County
$9,000
The Fidalgo Bay Aquatic Reserve includes tidal flats, slat marshes, beaches and eel grass, and provides essential habitat for many fish and bird species. The project will elevate the profile of Fidalgo Bay and improve its water quality through engaging the public and conducting outreach and education about life in the bay and threats to it. Special topics will include citizen science surveys of intertidal life and forage fish, and the threat of stormwater pollution.
Smarter Cleanup Coalition
HeyDuwamish.org
Kings County
$10,000
Supports a grassroots mapping tool to inform, engage, and empower communities to take action for their environmental health by sharing ideas, photos, comments, and questions on a detailed interactive map of the planned 23 year long cleanup of the Duwamish Superfund site. This will enforce transparency, accountability, and community engagement to maximize the $342 million investment mandated by the USEPA. This project can help to bridge the gap between “what is” and “what is possible” by combining geographic information systems with collective knowledge for positive change.
Sno-King Watershed Council
Water Watchers
King and Snohomish Counties
$10,000
The Water Watchers program will train citizens and students to monitor basic water quality parameters in Puget Sound watersheds with larger goals to engage volunteers, students, and local groups, provide environmental education, improve water quality, and increase public awareness and action. The Sno-King Watershed Council will coordinate this project with local environmental organizations, schools, and jurisdictions. Data will be collected regularly from July 2015 to June 2017 on specific streams in the Cedar-Sammamish-Lake Washington watershed. Target streams include Bear Creek, Little Bear Creek, North Creek, Horse Creek, Parr Creek, Little Swamp Creek, Swamp Creek, Lyon Creek, MacAleer Creek, and Thornton Creek. Monitoring data will be compiled and published on the Sno-King Watershed Council website.
Stillwaters Environmental Center
Carpenter Creek Estuary Restoration
Kitsap County
$10,000
Supports water quality monitoring and corresponding community and college education to increase local watershed stewardship. The undersized culvert at the mouth of the Carpenter Creek estuary system had been creating unnatural flow rates that hindered fish passage, created scour holes, and trapped sediment in the estuary. In 2012, the culvert was replaced with a 90’ bridge. The monitoring program of this restoration project is critical to evaluation of the project’s success & in demonstrating need for further restoration here and elsewhere around Puget Sound. Stillwaters uses this monitoring program to protect the estuary, to document the restoration work, to train and educate our local citizens on the importance of watershed protection, and to create advocates for preservation of natural spaces.
2014 Grants Awarded
Fall 2014
Friends of North Creek Forest
Building Grassroots Help to Restore the North Creek Watershed
King County
$7,500
Supports the improvement of water quality in a Chinook salmon bearing stream, North Creek, a tributary of the Sammamish River, by restoring the ability of the North Creek Forest to naturally filter surface water from upland neighborhoods and by controlling erosion. Collaborative partners include the University of Washington Bothell’s Restoration and Ecology Network. Through these partnerships, over 3,000 hours of student and community volunteer time in removing invasive species and restoring native vegetation in the watershed is projected for 2015.
Hazel Valley Rain Gardens
General Support
King County
$10,000
Supports work to convert three neighborhood drainage ditches into a rain garden and two bioswales, thus improving efficiency of water usage and stormwater filtration into the nearby waterways which drain into the Duwamish River and Puget Sound. The project is a collaboration between neighborhood residents and the City of Burien, and will be conducted with the work of local volunteers, including a local elementary school.
Horses for Clean Water
Down on the Farm: Least Toxic Solutions for Snohomish County
Snohomish County and Camano Island
$10,000
For nearly 20 years, Horses for Clean Water has helped horse and livestock owners understand environmentally sustainable livestock keeping. Through workshops and farm tours, they provide horse owners with practical, real world examples and solutions such as manure composting bins; barn owl boxes for rodent control and swallow boxes for insect control; footing in paddocks, and gutter and downspouts for mud and dust management; and rotational grazing and other pasture management techniques. The grant supports a collaboration with the Snohomish Conservation District to expand the ongoing program and teach horse owners how to reduce chemical use, enhance wildlife, and utilize native plants to improve pasture management and reduce soil erosion and runoff on their properties. Participants that implement these changes will create a healthier environment for their animals and reduce runoff of sediments, nutrients and fecal coliform, as well as chemical runoff from fertilizer, herbicide, and pesticide use/misuse.
Killer Whale Tales
Kids Making a Difference Now/Stormbusters
Snohomish, Skagit, Whatcom, Kitsap, Pierce, Mason, Clallam, Jefferson, Thurston Counties
$5,000
Supports an interactive scientific presentation that engages thousands of elementary school students in the complex lives of Killer Whales through storytelling, hands-on activities and conservation actions that plant the seeds for a life-long stewardship of Southern Resident Killer Whales and their Puget Sound habitat. Students become scientists and are invited to create hypotheses, practice field observation using current scientific data, and learn to interpret data and brainstorm ways to decrease human impact on Killer Whales. Through a series of take-home exercises, the students evaluate their families’ contributions to Puget Sound pollution and learn to implement simple water conservation actions that collectively have a huge benefit for the water quality of Puget Sound.
Middle Green River Coalition
Boise Creek-Treat Riparion Restoration
King County
$10,000
Supports a riparian restoration project along the Boise Creek, a tributary to the White River, which joins the Puyallup River and enters Puget Sound in Commencement Bay. This reach of stream provides primary spawning and rearing habitat for three endangered species: White River Spring and Fall Chinook, Steelhead Salmon, and Bull Trout. Middle Green River Coalition will partner with property owners to remove invasive non-native plant species, discourage their growth with the use of temporary barrier fabric, and re-plant native species along the riparian zone.
Nisqually Reach Nature Center
Nisqually Reach Aquatic Reserve
Pierce and Thurston Counties
$9,500
The Nisqually Reach portion of Puget Sound was designated a State Aquatic Reserve in 2011. In response, the Nisqually Reach Nature Center began drawing on its 30 years of local marine science education and research to sponsor volunteer-based citizen science programs to support the Reserve’s long-term conservation, education and outreach objectives. Funding supports ongoing training of local residents to become volunteer naturalists at the Nisqually Reach Nature Center and coordinating their participation in monitoring wildlife, habitat restoration, and sample collection.
South Sound Estuary Association
Inspire Stewardship of Puget Sound Waters
Thurston County
$10,000
Since 2007, the South Sound Estuary Association has helped Olympia-area residents understand and appreciate Puget Sound and increase community-based marine ecological stewardship. They recently established an “Estuarium” in downtown Olympia, and funding supports expanded year-round classroom and hands-on activities that introduce residents to the diverse marine and estuary habitat of Puget Sound, and encourage stewardship, including citizen science projects, naturalist led tours of local parks bordering Puget Sound, and the Connecting Youth with Nature program.
Vashon Nature Center LLC
Shinglemill Creak Stormwater Project: Community Science for Clean Waters and Healthy Salmon
King County
$6,000
Volunteer-based citizen monitoring has documented reduced Coho salmon populations and poor biological integrity in Shinglemill Creek, one of Vashon Island’s largest watersheds and part of the Central Puget Sound watershed. Funding supports a “Scientists in Schools” program engaging more than 100 sixth and tenth grade students in ongoing invertebrate monitoring of Shinglemill Creek. The monitoring will be integrated with a popular carwash program being conducted at a school parking lot where several community partners and King County have collaborated to retrofit storm drains and utilize special carwash kits designed to reduce polluted runoff. Students will document a tangible example of how their actions affect and can improve the health of the environment by combining student led carwash fundraisers that integrate stormwater runoff control features with monitoring improvements in the creek’s health over time.
Whale Scout
General Support
Thurston, Pierce, King, Snohomish, Island, Kitsap, Jefferson Counties
$2,500
Supports Whale Scout’s work to recover threatened and endangered whales in the Salish Sea through salmon habitat restoration projects and everyday stewardship activities. Volunteers are trained to become Whale Scouts and act as researchers tracking the movement of whales, monitoring the health of their marine habitat and educating and conducting public outreach to create more volunteers. Through social media, Whale Scout volunteers help people find and see resident Orca pods, and then use the excitement generated by observing the whales to recruit volunteers for watershed and riparian restoration projects.
Spring 2014
Building Youth Through Music/WayOut Kids
Phase 2 Launch Rodney Goes Green
King, Pierce and Thurston Counties
$5,000
Rodney Goes Green is a youth engagement and environmental awareness program delivered in close cooperation with Tacoma Public Schools that educates students about how their behaviors and activities impact the environment, contribute to polluted runoff and affect Puget Sound water quality. Through award-winning videos, a Go Green video game and associated curricula, the program helps young people understand how their activities impact Puget Sound water quality and teaches them how to reduce polluted runoff.
Cascadia Environmental Science Center
Experiential Learning In Environmental Science
Island, King and Snohomish Counties
$10,000
Supports an experiential learning-based environmental science education program for K-12 students serving students in Snohomish and King counties. Activities will include teaching concepts and skills in environmental science monitoring of water quality, stream health, and forest ecology to students; increasing college student involvement; improving the quality and availability of equipment and supplies for fieldwork; and building community awareness of programs and the results of the students’ work.
Chico Creek Task Force
Clear To The Sound Project
Kitsap County
$5,000
Supports technical analysis, community outreach and legal advocacy to ensure full analysis of the impacts of gravel mining and rock quarries in the headwaters of Dickerson Creek and the Gorst Creek watershed – an ecologically sensitive area containing salmon and beaver habitat which drains to Dyes Inlet and Puget Sound.
Deschutes Estuary Restoration Team
Volunteer Program Implementation
Lewis, Mason, Pierce, and Thurston Counties
$10,000
Supports restoration of a 260-acre urban estuary adjacent to the State Capital, and further expansion implementation of a volunteer-based community outreach program – working towards goal of 100 trained and committed volunteers to engage the community in restoring the Deschutes Estuary.
Friends Of Newberry Hill Heritage Park
Water Mapping Project
Kitsap County
$1,400
To map water courses in the Chico Watershed headwaters and correct existing state maps that currently show water courses in the wrong location. These fish-bearing waters and buffers will be established, and forest practices permits will be issued based on map data. Volunteers will ground truth locations using GPS and submit data to a professional surveyor for mapping and submission to the Washington State DNR FPAR’s system.
Northwest Toxic Communities Coalition
Safer Wastewater Treatment Plant Technologies, Safer Puget Sound
King County
$8,000
Municipal and industrial sewage systems often pass toxic metals, pharmaceuticals and other contaminants of concern through their treatment processes; however, many of these contaminants are not quantified or labeled in end-use products such as compost sold for food-growing uses. Funding supports community education about impacts to natural resources, wildlife, and human health throughout Puget Sound from wastewater treatment plant contents emitted into water bodies and spread on land. Activities will include presentations that help people understand how their communities treat and dispose of these wastes; building a citizen Puget Sound support group to get labeling transparency of the contents sold to consumers; and working with decision makers to consider environmental and human health costs along with wastewater treatment infrastructure, maintenance and operation costs.
South King County Chapter, Sierra Club
South King County Group Soos Creek Park Restoration Project
King County
$5,000
Supports the restoration of Soos Creek Park by organizing at least two restoration events per year in coordination with the King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks. Activities will include enhancing the park by supporting expansion of the park and the creation of buffer areas, and working with the Bonneville Power Administration to manage vegetation on its right of way through portions of the park, improving wildlife values and public recreational opportunities.
Stillwaters Environmental Center
Carpenter Creek Estuary Restoration and Monitoring Program
Kitsap County
$10,000
The Carpenter Creek estuary system, in the midst of Kingston’s Urban Growth Area, provides more than 30 acres of high quality habitat in a crucial location for migrating salmonids. On the West side of Puget Sound, it is part of the critical natural habitat that balances the urbanization of the East side of the Sound, but also faces threats from local population growth. The recently replaced undersized culvert at the mouth of the estuary was creating unnatural flow rates that hindered fish passage, created scour holes, and trapped sediment in the estuary. In 2012, the culvert was replaced with a 90 foot bridge, the Stillwaters Fish Passage. The second part of this restoration is to replace another culvert in the middle of the estuary. This grant will support the related monitoring program, which is critical to the evaluation of its success and in determining further restoration needs, and will also train and educate local citizens on the importance of watershed protection.
Whidbey Watershed Stewards
Whidbey Island Impaired Waters
Island County
$8,000
Whidbey Island streams all terminate in Puget Sound, and there are swimming and shellfish harvest closures around the island. This project will contribute to the water quality project in the Maxwelton Watershed, and the restoration and conversion of the recently acquired 45-acre wetland near Freeland into a public Watershed Science Center.
YMCA of Greater Seattle
General Support
Island County
$100.00
YMCA of Greater Seattle is an inclusive organization of men, women and children with a shared commitment to nurture the potential of youth, promote healthy living and foster social responsibility.
2013 Grants Awarded
Fall 2013
Clean Water Project
Crude Oil-by-Rail Initiative
King County
$5,000
When the construction of proposed railcar receiving and unloading facilities are completed in Tacoma, Anacortes and Ferndale, it is estimated that 27 railroad trains per day carrying crude oil will travel along the shorelines of Puget Sound – much of it in the congested rail corridors that run through King County. However, most of the region’s oil spill response capacity has been oriented towards leaks from tankers in the sound, not railcars that may have derailed in one of the Puget Sound watershed’s numerous and hard-to-reach wetlands or creek crossings. The goal of the Crude Oil-by-Rail Initiative is to prevent a crude oil spill from rail cars from damaging Puget Sound and harming local communities. Funding supports an assessment of oil spill risks, assessment of existing response capability, and production and distribution of a report with policy recommendations to reduce risks to the watershed from accidents involving oil tanker rail cars.
Conservation Stewards/Garden Life Group
Biofiltration Swale and NGPA Restoration Project
Snohomish County
$3,000
Supports the restoration of two bio-filtration swales and over 200 feet of Native Growth Protection Area (NGPA) bordering a wetland by converting mowed lawn to native plants. The native plants will slow and filter contaminated stormwater runoff from a large church parking lot that empties through two bio-filtration swales directly into a wetland. The wetland flows into Upper Chennault Ravine and runs down to enter Puget Sound at Chennault Beach. Slowing the flow of water entering the wetlands from the bio-filtration swales and NGPA will improve the capacity of the wetland to remove contaminants, will increase ground water recharge, and will provide wildlife habitat.
Fauntleroy Watershed Council
Kilbourne Ravine Riparian and Buffer Project
King County
$5,000
Part of a 6 year project to restore native riparian and buffer habitat in the ravine that drains into the middle reach of Fauntleroy Creek, a coho-bearing urban stream in central Puget Sound. The restored habitat will maximize prevention of erosion from steep slopes, filtration of runoff, retention of precipitation in conifer canopy, and shade to discourage invasive return. The project will also enlist ravine property owners and neighbors in recognizing and removing invasive species from their own landscaping. The overall project involves private property, undeveloped City of Seattle right-of-way and Kilbourne Park, a natural area in the Seattle Parks and Recreation system, for a fully collaborative approach to full restoration of Kilbourne Ravine.
Friends of North Creek Forest
Friends of North Creek Forest Phase 2
King County
$10,000
Supports the expansion of volunteer capacity to control erosion affecting water quality in North Creek, a Sammamish River tributary containing Chinook salmon and other salmon species. Activities include repair of eroded areas and elimination of invasive plant species and replacement with a diverse palate of native species. Project partners include the University of Washington Capstone program and the Restoration Ecology Network (UW-REN). Friends of North Creek Forest also seeks to increase direct volunteer stewardship by an additional 1,000, enabling them to address projects of a scale too large for UW-REN alone.
Killer Whale Tales
Kids Making a Difference NOW!
King County
$5,000
Supports an environmental science curriculum promoting stewardship of Puget Sound killer whales and their habitat. Killer Whale Tales’ curriculum teaches school children about orcas’ complex individual and social behaviors and the human impacts on the species in order to capture children’s attention and imaginations, providing a gateway for teaching about environmental field science and the importance of environmental conservation. Activities include interactive storytelling that leads to the behavioral/conservation biology, and participation in experiential science and role-playing activities based on actual Puget Sound orca field studies. These “games” enable students to practice field science in the classroom; introduce students to the most recent orca research; demonstrate how human actions impact the marine ecosystem and orca populations and show students what they can do to help correct these issues. Students also become advocates for the Puget Sound and the orcas by taking home KWT’s “Kids Making A Difference-Now!” and “Stormwater Busters” conservation worksheets, which chart families’ environmental footprint and provide a plan to diminish their impact.
Middle Green River Coalition
Lower Soos Creek, Green River Watershed Project
King County
$10,000
Supports the continued implementation of an extensive water quality and habitat restoration project adjacent to Soos Creek near its confluence with the Green River. This project expands on an existing EPA grant that King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks received to plant native vegetation along Soos Creek to improve water quality and address the 303(d) listing for temperature and dissolved oxygen. To date, Middle Green River Coalition has planted over 3,000 native willow and cottonwood stakes in the riparian zone and extensively maintained these planting sites to ensure plant survival. In 2013, MGRC expanded these efforts to include adjacent properties along the Green River on Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) land. Both Soos Creek and the Green River support Chinook and steelhead salmon spawning and rearing.
Nisqually Reach Nature Center
Nisqually Reach Aquatic Reserve Project
Thurston County
$9,700
Funds citizen science research in the Nisqually Reach Aquatic Reserve and supports the management of volunteers supporting the Aquatic Reserve and coordinating citizen science research. The Aquatic Reserve is one of five reserves located throughout Puget Sound on state-owned aquatic lands. As part of the management plan, citizen stewardship committees have been formed to allow citizens to participate in scientific investigation, outreach activities, and the permit review process, increasing the knowledge base for the Aquatic Reserve and also fostering a connection between local residents and the impact of shoreline development and water quality. This grant also supports the expansion of direct water quality monitoring through the Department of Fish and Wildlife’s (WDFW) Mussel Watch program. Citizens will be trained to participate in the permit review process, giving committee members the baseline knowledge about permit reviews necessary to understand their role. This professional training will allow citizens to comment on proposed projects throughout the Nisqually Reach Aquatic Reserve and empower them to make their voices heard.
Skagit Conservation Education Alliance
Art for Learning Watershed Science
Skagit County
$5,000
Supports expanded programming for “Art for Learning Watershed Science,” a collaborative and integrated approach for learning about water, watersheds, and species of the Puget Sound produced by Skagit Conservation Education Alliance and Padilla Bay Foundation. Workshops are free for families or low-fee designed specifically for adults and teachers earning Teacher Clock hours. The existing program has a successful two-year track record with young and older age groups. This grant would support expanded programming to appeal to teens and young adults between 13 – 24 years old and help them express themselves in creative mediums including radio broadcasts, performances, poetry, painting, drawing, video, 3D work, and cartography. Learning outcomes, performances and radio broadcasts from the expanded program for youth will be shared in schools and at public events, conferences and regional summits.
South Sound Estuary Association
Connecting People to Our Marine & Estuary Waters Project
Thurston County
$5,000
Supports opportunities for people to connect with the fresh and saltwater environments of south Puget Sound, to learn more about its biology, geology, natural and human history, the threats to it, and ways each person can help protect and preserve the water on which all life is dependent. Activities include beach naturalists, school programs, a speakers series and a marine life discovery center.
Stanwood High School Natural Resources Class
Stillaguamish River Clean Water Project
Snohomish County
$1,500
Supports the installation and maintenance of trash receptacles in the Church Creek area of the Stillaguamish River, including removal of trash and debris in the immediate area surrounding the trash receptacle. The project is part of an overall watershed stewardship effort led by local high school students to collaborate with Washington State University Extension, the Stillaguamish tribe and surrounding school districts to conduct riparian restoration, raise and release salmon eggs into Church Creek, and teach elementary school students about the salmon lifecycle and habitat.
Spring 2013
Building Youth Through Music
Rodney Raccoon Goes Green
Pierce County
$5,000
Builds on an acclaimed Tacoma-based youth educational program to develop and add an interactive environmental education module. Through animation, video games and teacher curriculum BYTM will pique the interest of young students in the Puget Sound ecosystem and engage them in learning activities designed to increase their awareness of the environment and what they can do to protect the water quality of Puget Sound.
Cascadia Environmental Science Center
Expanding Environmental Monitoring Education for K-12 Students in the Puget Sound Basin
King County
$5,000
Supports the expansion of an experiential learning-based environmental science education program for K-12 students to serve more students in northern King and Southern Snohomish counties in Washington. The program teaches stewardship concepts in the classroom, mentors students during field observations and measurements of habitat features that affect the health of Puget Sound, and then reviews the students’ findings back in the classroom. The funds will be used to increase staffing levels, improve the availability of equipment and supplies for field work, and build community awareness of programs and the results of the students’ work.
Deschutes Estuary Restoration Team
Volunteers for Estuary Restoration
Thurston County
$10,000
Supports the development of an active “Imagine the Deschutes Estuary” volunteer program that will recruit, train and deploy 100 new and enthusiastic marine ecosystem advocates to explain the long-term benefits of returning Capitol Lake to its natural estuarine condition. DERT will also convene a group of engaged scientists and technical experts to help prepare training materials. Target volunteer groups for the program will be downtown business owners and employees, youth Earth Corps, veterans and the public. Outputs and outcomes will focus on numbers of volunteers recruited, number and impact of contacts with a larger public audience, and an “Imagine the Deschutes Estuary” campaign resulting in an increase in estuary restoration support.
Friday Creek Habitat Stewards
Silver Creek Habitat Enhancement Demonstration Project – Phase II
Skagit County
$7,500
Supports the establishment of a multi-faceted stream & wildlife habitat enhancement demonstration site in the Samish watershed to inspire local stewardship and to increase public awareness of landscaping and conservation practices that enhance critical fish and wildlife habitat, reduce water quality pollution, protect downstream shellfish resources, and create a more sustainable, healthy environment for everyone. Phase I of the project was tackled last spring with the removal of invasive blackberries and the replanting of 400 native trees & shrubs along Silver Creek (at Alger Community Hall), an important salmon-bearing tributary to Friday Creek & the Samish River. This project will build on the success of Phase I and support implementation of Phase II, which will include: 1) incorporating specialty demonstration gardens at this site to showcase pairings of native plants and naturescaping techniques that homeowners can apply to invite wildlife, save water, lower maintenance, reduce pesticide use and support local ecology; 2) incorporating a native plant corridor/windbreak; 3) establishing pathways and observation areas; and 4) installing interpretive signage at key observation areas so residents can see firsthand how they can landscape with Pacific NW native plants, provide for the basic needs of wildlife, and protect their neighborhood stream.
Olympic Environmental Council
Funding to Review and Interpret Technical Materials for Hazardous Waste Cleanups on the Sound
Clallam County
$10,000
Supports Technical Advisor costs to review documents related to polluted sites and polluted sediments in Outer Puget Sound waters and the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and to translate the information into lay language for the general public. The sites are in the Port Angeles area and are a part of the Puget Sound Cleanup Initiative.
Protect the Peninsula’s Future
LOSS for Sequim Bay
Clallam County
$5,000
Sequim Bay’s seasonally low oxygen levels and diminishing shellfish contaminated with new diarrheic organisms are about to be further harmed by a proposal for a Large On-Site Sewage System (LOSS) designed to receive effluent of from 25,000 gal/day to future 90,000 gal/day to serve a casino expansion/restaurant/bar/event hall, to be discharged in a CARA (critical area recharge area). The site discharges water gathered in a curtain drain pipe and effluent to a Type III creek (Summer run chum) and will carry water, nitrogen, BOD, viruses, excreted human drugs, pesticides, hormone disruptors etc. to south end mud flats, fish and shellfish of Sequim Bay. The goal of the project is to require adherence to County and State requirements to treat effluent above 14,000 gal/day to Class A Re-Use standards.
Save Habitat and Diversity of Wetlands
Environmental Education and Outreach General Operating Support
King County
$10,000
Supports the general operating costs of SHADOW’s ongoing education, restoration, and conservation work. SHADOW is located on one of the few remaining natural peat bogs in King County, and provides high quality, hands on environmental education programs that use the land as a unique tool to teach and engage the community about the health of Puget Sound.
Sound Stewards
Grass Cutting Equipment
King County
$326.31
Supports the purchase of grass and weed cutting equipment to help an ongoing, all-volunteer riparian restoration project suppress the growth of reed canary grass.
Whidbey Watershed Stewards
Whidbey Island Impaired Waters
Island County
$6,000
Whidbey Island streams all terminate in Puget Sound within a short distance, and there are swimming and shellfish harvest closures around the island. Whidbey Watershed Stewards is currently working with local partners on a water quality project in the Maxwelton Watershed; funds support the development of outreach materials and presentations that will be used in this project and all watersheds on the island.
