May 11, 2004

Environmental Watch: Adams heads Herrera's Missoula office

Adams

SEATTLE -- Kathleen Adams will lead Herrera Environmental Consultants' Missoula, Mont., office. In the firm's Portland office, engineer Matthew Brennan leads an aquatic habitat study in Washington County, Ore., for Bronson Creek.

Adams worked on Endangered Species Act and NEPA compliance projects. She was lead author for a biological assessment for a Flathead Indian Reservation irrigation project and is now working on environmental permits for the Montana Department of Transportation.

The Bronson Creek restoration is intended to reconnect the stream to its floodplain and prevent channel incision and bank erosion. Clean Water Services will be responsible for riparian plantings.

Pierce County picks public works chief

UNIVERSITY PLACE -- Pierce County Public Works and Utilities, which is based in the city of University Place, named Harold Smelt director.

Smelt managed the capital improvement program, overseeing 12 engineers, technicians and support staff on stormwater projects. As director, he will oversee 50 employees and work on Clean Water Act permit compliance, stormwater planning and budgets.

EPA holds hazardous waste talk May 24

SEATTLE -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will hold a public meeting May 24 at the Radisson Hotel Seattle Airport at 17001 Pacific Highway S. from 9 a.m to 5 p.m.

EPA staff will talk about how the hazardous waste regulation program is working and ways it can be improved. For more information, call (800) 424-9346 or visit www.epa.gov/epaoswer/hazwaste/gener/init/index.htm.

Commuter trip reduction projects funded

OLYMPIA -- The Washington State Department of Transportation will give $557,000 to 10 projects aimed at reducing commuter trips. Winning projects will together save an estimated 1,200 single-driver commutes and 34,000 miles per day, according to WSDOT. Examples include cash incentives and free transit passes.

The city of Issaquah will give incentives to employers who encourage employees to use alternate transit. Seattle intends to increase subsidies to first-time transit users. Shoreline plans to promote bicycle commutes on its urban bike trail.

Washington businesses and public agencies are eligible to apply for a second round of proposals for $943,000 by June 4. For more information, call (360) 705-7846 or visit www.wsdot.wa.gov/tdm.

$600K available for Hood Canal projects

OLYMPIA -- The Puget Sound Action Team will offer $600,000 in state and federal funds to reduce the amount of nitrogen that enters Hood Canal.

The action team's plan identifies human activity-related sources that result in the deposit of 100 to 300 tons of nitrogen each year. Nutrients from human and pet waste, stormwater runoff and fertilizer cause algae to grow and reduces the amount of oxygen for fish, octopi and other marine life.

Washington state departments of Ecology, and Fish and Wildlife, as well as tribal and local governments contributed to the plan.

Details on how to apply for funding will be available this spring. For more information, call (800) 54-SOUND or visit www.psat.wa.gov/Programs/hood_canal.htm.

WSDOT to limit herbicides in Island County

OLYMPIA - The Washington State Department of Transportation says it will reduce herbicide use in Island County as a result of public comments in recent months.

WSDOT maintains roadside plants for driver safety, to protect roads and to control weeds, and says it will reduce herbicide use by 60 percent on Whidbey and Camano islands. WSDOT roadside maintenance manager Ray Willard said the department will now allow grass to grow up to the highway's edge instead of leaving a three-foot plant-free buffer. Neighbors can expect to see crews mowing, pulling weeds and planting native species this spring.

For more information, call (360) 848-7238 or visit www.wsdot.wa.gov/maintenance/mgmt_plans.htm.

$50,000 challenge grant for Adopt-A-Stream

EVERETT -- The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation usually funds what it calls "on the ground" stream restoration projects, but has awarded the Adopt-A-Stream Foundation a $50,000 Challenge Grant for environmental education.

The foundation offers training courses in ecology and habitat restoration at the Northwest Stream Center in McCollum Park, Everett.

Foundation director Tom Murdoch said the Streamkeeper Academy offers "a PhD's worth of natural resource education." The foundation has to raise $50,000 to meet the challenge grant.

Stream, wetland course for developers

EVERETT -- The Adopt-A-Stream Foundation will hold a basic training course on stream and wetland ecology June 10 at the Northwest Stream Center at 600 128 St. S.E. from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Cost is $75 and includes a textbook. Real estate agents, developers and streamside property owners are encouraged to attend.

Participants can learn about the watershed terminology used by scientists, understand the function of wetlands and how to distinguish between them. The course will cover regulations, the Endangered Species Act and the effect of listing Pacific Chinook salmon. For more information, contact Sue Minger at (425) 316-8592.

Portland airport recycles food waste

PORTLAND -- The Portland International Airport Food Waste Diversion Pilot Project was selected as one of 10 Business for an Environmentally Sustainable Tomorrow award winners by the city of Portland's Office of Sustainable Development.

Last year 80 tons of pre-consumer food waste was converted to compost and used for landscaping at the airport.

"Our original goal was to reduce waste hauled to landfills by 5 percent," said Cheryl Koshuta, port environmental affairs director. "We are thrilled that this program has achieved a 9 percent reduction."

Port of Portland, Portland State University's Community Environmental Services and airport concessionaires sponsored the project to show how concessionaires can voluntarily reduce the volume of food waste they send to landfills.