September 6, 2005

Environmental Watch: NEBC to hear about Gregoire's priorities

PORTLAND — Washington Department of Ecology's Special Assistant to the Director Josh Baldi will be in Seattle tomorrow to talk about projects Gov. Christine Gregoire and Ecology Director Jay Manning have set as priorities for the governor's term.

Baldi will speak at the Northwest Environmental Business Council meeting at McCormick & Schmick's Harborside on Lake Union, 1200 Westlake Ave. N., from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Cost is $35 for NEBC members and guests, or $48 for others.

Baldi will talk about ways to reduce toxins, manage watersheds and set up projects such as the Puget Sound Initiative, as well as give an overview of Ecology's plans and the legislation that may be introduced.

Seattle group starts recycling food scraps

SEATTLE — Resource Venture, a program of the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce, is coordinating a food scrap collection service for businesses that produce food waste.

Restaurants, grocery stores, bakeries, hospitals and hotels can recycle meat, table scraps and food-related papers. Rates are about 30 percent less than rates for garbage disposal.

Resource Venture officials say Seattle businesses toss thousands of tons of food waste into the garbage each year, and wash thousands of pounds down the drain. Most of this can be composted, donated or made into new products such as soap and animal feed, they say.

Businesses can apply for free set-up assistance and training. They can also get free biodegradable bags for indoor containers from the city through the end of this year. Customers can choose container sizes and how often food scraps are collected.

For more information, including a list of what materials are acceptable, see http://www.resourceventure.org/rv/issues/waste/rec-ord/food-prgm/index.php.

Call hotline to report illegal dumping

SEATTLE — King County recently created a telephone hotline and Web site for people to report illegal dumping. This was one of the recommendations by a task force looking into the problem.

County officials rely on the public to identify illegal dumpsites. The hotline and Web site are intended to make it easier, and are also interlinked so agencies can coordinate a response. Call (206) 296-SITE (7483) or toll free on (866) 431-7483 to report illegal dumping, or go through the Web site http://www.metrokc.gov/dumping.

King County Executive Ron Sims convened the task force in 2003. Illegal dumpsites can attract rats, pollute rivers and streams, and contaminate wells if the site has hazardous chemicals. Such sites can attract further dumping if not cleaned quickly.

The county's task force had other recommendations, such as making the enforcement system more effective, starting a prevention and education outreach program, and putting more emphasis on the safety of field investigators.

Workshop Sept. 14 for 'salmon watchers'

SEATTLE — Seattle Public Utilities will hold a workshop Sept. 14 for volunteers interested in counting salmon returning to the city's urban creeks this fall.

Once trained, the "salmon watchers" will spend 15 minutes twice a week observing streams and counting migrating salmon. Data volunteers collect is used to make decisions on ways to help restore endangered salmon runs and improve habitat for all salmon.

The workshop will be held at Good Shepherd Center, 4649 Sunnyside Ave. N., Suite 140, from 7 to 9 p.m. To sign up, call (206) 684-4163 or for more information, see http://dnr.metrokc.gov/wlr/waterres/salmon/index.htm.

Grants available for Sea-Tac area creeks

SEATTLE — The Port of Seattle is offering $300,000 in grants to local governments or groups for projects to enhance streams near Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

The Port will give half of these funds to projects in the Des Moines Creek watershed, and half to projects in a watershed of Miller and Walker creeks. The goal is to give local governments, residents or interested parties money to improve sections of the creeks that are not on Port property.

Grants are part of the port's mitigation plan for environmental impacts of construction at Sea-Tac. The port is doing $155 million worth of mitigation on property it owns.

Applicants can suggest projects, such as stabilizing stream banks, planting native vegetation or creating pools that would be winter habitat for fish.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Washington State Department of Ecology will decide which projects get funding. There is no matching fund requirement.

Applications must be received by Nov. 23. They are posted at http://www.portseattle.org. For more information, call (206) 988-5527.

Natural yard care classes start this fall

SEATTLE — King County, the city of Seattle and 39 other agencies are supporting a program to encourage people to buy and use environmentally preferable yard care products. Workshops on natural yard care are set for the fall.

Natural yard care includes building healthy soil, selecting the right plants, conserving water and avoiding the use of pesticides. Fall is a good time to feed and protect soil by fertilizing, adding compost and applying bark mulch.

People can get discounts of more than 20 percent on environmentally friendly gardening products through the program, which runs through Sept. 30.

For more information, including the list of 45 participating retailers and a schedule of fall gardening classes see: http://www.yarddays.com