Environment

Press release:

Sustainable Burien Gathering
Sunday, February 12, 2012
A developing sustainable garden/farm (call 243-9366 for address)
2:00pm - 4:00pm

FIELD TRIP TO A DEVELOPING SUSTAINABLE GARDEN
Rather than having our regular monthly meeting at the library on February 12th, we will be gathering at the private home of two of our members.

They have created many raised beds, planted berries and fruit trees, built a green house/chicken coop, and have been experimenting with beekeeping.

We will be learning pruning techniques with Bill Wanless of Brooke/Wanless Gardens. He will demonstrate how to prune new and old fruit trees and shrubs. We will also have a biochar stove demonstration. Come and see what you may be able to create in your own garden.

Bird Count – Feb 17-20. Some SuBu members will be participating in the Great Backyard Bird Count, and we invite others to join in the activity. It’s simple to do and only takes 15 minutes! Here’s a link: http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc/howto.html

Press release:

Due to weather, unsafe roads, and the condition of Seahurst Park, the Environmental Science Center regrets to cancel the Moonlight Beach Walk on Saturday, January 21st. We hope to reschedule the event in spring/summer. Please stay tuned.

Thank you for your understanding.

Press release:

Since 2008, volunteers in Walker Preserve have removed large amounts of invasive plants and planted many native trees and shrubs. Walker Preserve is in the City of Normandy Park, along Walker Creek. Walker Creek has spawning coho and chum salmon each fall. Restoring native vegetation along the creek benefits salmon and other wildlife.

Please join us this Saturday, Jan. 14, to continue this work! We also have several monthly community weeding projects scheduled through the winter to remove ivy and other invasive weeds, and plant native trees and shrubs along the trail and stream in Walker Preserve and other areas in the basin.

This stewardship project is a joint effort of the City of Normandy Park, and the Miller and Walker Creeks Stewardship program.
Address: SW. 168th St. and 2nd Ave. SW. in Normandy Park, up the road from Normandy Park City Hall.

If driving, your parking options include:
Three spaces in the small lot at SW 171st St. and Second Ave. S.W.
On the street along SW. 168th St.

Date/Time: Saturday, January 14, 2012, 9:30 a.m. – noon

Press release:

To protect residents from worsening air quality, the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency is issuing a Stage 1 burn ban for King, Kitsap, Pierce and Snohomish counties, effective at 4:00 p.m. January 11, 2012, until further notice.

High pressure over the Puget Sound region will bring cold temperatures and calm winds, according to Clean Air Agency forecasters. Air quality is expected to deteriorate at least through Friday, especially in communities where residential wood burning is common.

Clean Air Agency staff follow a protocol set by state law to determine when and where to issue a burn ban, and when to lift a burn ban.

During a Stage 1 burn ban:

No burning is allowed in fireplaces or uncertified wood stoves. Residents should rely instead on their home’s other, cleaner source of heat (such as their furnace or electric baseboard heaters) for a few days until air quality improves, the public health risk diminishes and the ban is cancelled. The only exception is if a wood stove is a home’s only adequate source of heat.

Sustainable Burien will hold its monthly gathering on Sunday, Jan. 8
at the Burien Library multi-purpose room, 400 S.W. 152nd St. The doors will open at
1:30 p.m. with the gathering running from 2-4 p.m.


Elizabeth Weldin, of the Toxics Cleanup Program with the Washington State Department of Ecology, will be speaking about the “Tacoma plume,” from the ASARCO plant in Tacoma.

For almost 100 years, the Asarco Company operated a copper smelter in Tacoma. Air pollution from the smelter settled on the surface soil over more than 1,000 square miles of the Puget Sound basin. Arsenic, lead, and other heavy metals are still in the soil as a result of this pollution.

Learn how this affects you. How safe are we? Who is at risk? How does this impact the sustainability of Burien? Can I grow my own food? Can my kids play outside in the dirt? What businesses might be impacted? Land value? What steps can we make to mitigate the presence of arsenic and create a healthy and resilient community?

More information is available at www.sustainableburien.org.

Press release:

The traditional song calls for people to dream of a white Christmas, but for the conscientious consumer, it can also be a green holiday season.

No matter what holiday you celebrate, you can take steps to reduce the annual increase in waste created between Thanksgiving and the New Year.

“If each of us took a few small steps to reduce the waste we produce or increase the amount of materials we recycle during the holidays, we’d save a large amount of materials, energy and landfill space,” said Robin Freedman of Waste Management of Kirkland. “There is no shortage of ways to cut back on waste during the holidays.”

Composting can reduce the amount of organic waste produced in the home. Holiday meal preparation can generate a large amount of potato peels, fruit rinds, coffee grinds, other vegetable waste and eggshells, that can all be composted.

A new compost bin filled with homemade treats can make a great gift for those looking to take recycling to the next level.

If you have a fresh tree, garland or wreaths, be sure to recycle them when the holidays are over. Check the King County Tree-Cycling website about tree collection and recycling opportunities.

Press release:

Since 2008, volunteers in Walker Preserve have removed large amounts of invasive plants and planted many native trees and shrubs. Walker Preserve is in the City of Normandy Park, along Walker Creek, which currently has spawning coho and chum salmon.

Please join us this Saturday, Dec. 17, to continue this work! We also have several monthly community weeding projects scheduled through the winter to remove ivy and other invasive weeds, and plant native trees and shrubs along the trail and stream in Walker Preserve and other areas in the basin.

This stewardship project is a joint effort of the City of Normandy Park, and the Miller and Walker Creeks Stewardship program.
Address: SW. 168th St. and 2nd Ave. SW. in Normandy Park, up the road from Normandy Park City Hall.

If driving, your parking options include:
Three spaces in the small lot at SW 171st St. and Second Ave. S.W.
On the street along SW. 168th St.

Date/Time: Saturday, December 17, 2011, 9:30 a.m. – noon

IMPORTANT NOTE: This park does not have a restroom.

Stewardship Purpose: Improve habitat along the stream by removing non-native, invasive plants

Activities:

The state Department of Ecology is holding a public meeting on its interim action plan to deal with the Tukwila plume on Tuesday, Dec. 6 at the Des Moines Activity Center, 2045 S. 216th St.

The open house is 6:30-8:30 p.m. with a presentation at 7 p.m.

Here’s more information from the DOE:
Ecology is using a $94 million settlement from Asarco to manage risk from Tacoma Smelter Plume contamination. The plume is too large to clean up every property, so we are doing partial cleanup, known as an “interim action”. The draft Interim Action Plan describes how Ecology will address contamination and gives the public a chance to provide input.
What is in the Interim Action Plan?

The Interim Action Plan has four main actions:
1. Create a residential yard sampling and cleanup program.
2. Continue the existing Soil Safety Program for schools, childcares, parks, camps, and multi-family housing.
3. Continue education and outreach through the Dirt Alert program.
4. Continue technical assistance for cleaning up properties during development.
Formal written comments can be sent to:
Cynthia Walker
Southwest Regional Office, Toxics Cleanup Program
Department of Ecology

Press release:

Sustainable Burien Gathering
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Burien KCLS Library
2:00pm - 4:00pm
doors open at 1:30

THIS MONTH: Emergency Preparedness and Burien’s Walk ‘n Talk.
Nancy Barry will share her experiences in CERT training this fall and we’ll talk about getting more neighborhoods interested in Map Your Neighborhood emergency preparedness.

Also, Maureen Hoffman will talk about the fun community members have been having on the Walk ‘n Talk outings and bike events.

She’ll also talk about an effort to get bike racks placed in strategic places in Burien.

We may also be doing a short report on desired efforts to make Burien a certified Wildlife Habitat Community.

Come join us for learning, exploring and more....www.sustainableburien.org

The state Department of Ecology (DOE) has announced that it has approved Tukwila’s shoreline master plan.

Shoreline plans for Des Moines and SeaTac were previously approved, although it took three tries before the Des Moines plan was given state approval.

The DOE is reportedly poised to turn down Burien’s shoreline plan but members of the Burien Marine Property Owners Association are asking the Burien City Council for permission to negotiate with the DOE.

The group is hoping that DOE staffers might make allowances for an expanded home footprint as a tradeoff for some type of mitigation.

The Burien council approved a 20-foot buffer for new development on shorelines but the DOE is insisting on a 50-foot buffer with an additional 15-foot setback.

Here’s the DOE’s press release on their approval of Tukwila’s permit:

The Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology) has approved Tukwila's updated shoreline master program, which will significantly improve the protection, use, development, restoration and water quality along the city's 13 miles of shorelines.