May 31, 2005

Environmental Watch: Pierce County airs surface water plan

TACOMA — At meetings set for today and June 7, Pierce County's Water Programs Division staff will talk about surface water management in the Bonney Lake, Fife, Orting, Puyallup and Sumner areas. Today's meeting will be held at the Orting Multi-Purpose Center, 202 Washington Ave. S. June 7's meeting will be at Sumner City Hall, 1104 Maple St. Both will be from 7 to 9 p.m.

Pierce County staff will go over recommendations of the draft mid-Puyallup basin plan and DSEIS, and take public review and comment.

The talks are part of the county's efforts to update storm management, surface water management and capital improvement programs. Work on the update started in 2002 and is set to be finished this summer.

June 16-17 conference on tribal energy

SEATTLE — Seattle-based Law Seminars International is offering a conference on ways to develop tribal energy in the Northwest. It will be held June 16-17 at the Renaissance Seattle Hotel.

Organizers say tribes are seeking ways to boost resources for power generation in order to meet growing demand. Co-chairs are Eric Eberhard of Dorsey & Whitney in Seattle, and William H. Rodgers Jr. of the University of Washington School of Law.

Steve Grey, the U.S. Department of Energy's Director of Indian Affairs, will cover Indian provisions on proposed energy regulation. Susan M. Williams of Williams & Works will give a talk on regulation.

Among those expected to attend are tribal leaders, governmental and industry representatives, lawyers and consultants. For more information, call Law Seminars at (206) 567-4490 or (800) 854-8009.

Conference on climate change June 28-30

PORTLAND — New dates for the Portland conference on "Bringing Climate into Natural Resource Management" have been set for June 28-30.

The conference will cover developments on climate change impacts. Topics include climate change policy, natural resources, variability, ecological and infrastructure changes, and management options.

For more information, call Richard Zabel at (503) 226-4562 or contact The Western Forestry and Conservation Association, 4033 S.W. Canyon Rd., Portland OR 97221 or richard@westernforestry.org.

Cascade Land Conservancy gives awards

SEATTLE — Cascade Land Conservancy recently recognized several groups for their land conservation work.

Harvey Manning, Brian Boyle, Randy Revelle and Bruce Laing won a lifetime achievement award for their work to conserve a 3,000-acre area of Issaquah Alps, which the Conservancy says is one of the biggest wildland parks in the country that's close to an urban center. A stewardship award went to Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust.

Steve Dean was recognized for community service. He helped form the Stillaguamish Citizens' Alliance, which led a drive to protect Snohomish County's Robe Canyon Historic Park. Shared Strategy for Puget Sound won an award for innovative conservation. Shared Strategy brings citizens, tribes, technical experts and policy makers together to create a salmon recovery plan for Puget Sound.

An education award went to Judit Molnar-Logan of White Center Heights Elementary School. She had her students collect data that was used to help clean Hicks Lake. Students monitored the lake weekly, cleaning trash, planting trees and taking data on water temperature and turbidity.

A new directions for livable communities award went to Starbucks Coffee for its $1 million commitment to improve parks in King, Pierce and Snohomish counties.

UW gets $2.4M for Alaska salmon study

SEATTLE — The University of Washington received nearly $2.4 million to study Alaska salmon from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to expand monitoring and pay for new sampling techniques.

UW officials say its Alaska salmon program is the longest-running effort to monitor salmon and their ecosystems.

Alaska's Kvichak River is the world's most important salmon-producing river, with past runs of 50 million sockeye. But Kvichak stocks have declined for a decade, despite an almost complete halt to harvesting, according to Ray Hilborn, UW professor of aquatic and fishery sciences. Hilborn is leading the Alaska Salmon Program with Thomas P. Quinn and Daniel Schindler, faculty in UW's School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences.

Yet 20 miles from the Kvichak are similar lakes and rivers with record production. UW researchers will look at reasons for those differences, as well as harvest strategies that provide better economic benefit.

"The Kvichak sounds a lot like Columbia River or Puget Sound stocks," Hilborn said.

The three-year grant is part of a Wild Pacific Salmon Ecosystem Initiative, which focuses on salmon conservation in pristine areas.

King County funds habitat work

SEATTLE — King County gave four local organizations environmental stewardship grants this month for habitat restoration, natural resource conservation and education projects.