Published: Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Jetty Island help offered
EVERETT - A group called People for Puget Sound is offering to help the Port of Everett keep an eye on Jetty Island, a poplar summer spot for picnickers, sunbathers and wind surfers.
The island, manmade with sand and silt dredged from the Snohomish River, is also a popular spot for birds and other wildlife, and the organization would like to keep people from loving it to death.
Keeley O'Connell, habitat restoration coordinator for the nonprofit group, made a presentation Tuesday to the port's three-member commission. She said her group would like to help recruit trained volunteers to monitor the island's vegetation and to help with cleanup projects using an Americorps program affiliated with Edmonds Community College.
The port has regularly been monitoring the island for many years and also sponsors cleanup programs there. The island is regularly used each summer by the city of Everett's recreation program, which ferries people to the island, stretching from the mouth of the Snohomish River south to the marina at 12th Street.
One of the problems will be to continue to fight invasive species of plants on the island, such as scotch broom and spartina. Spartina is a nonnative saltwater marsh plant from the East Coast that can choke off annuals used by juvenile salmon and feeding birds.
O'Connell said the group would like to train 10-15 stewards on which plants are native and which aren't. They'll also regularly monitor the island, its plants and how use by people affects it. It would also plan several cleanups.
John Houghton of the Seattle firm of Pentec Environmental, which has been monitoring the area for the port for many years, said the program sounded good. "I can't tell you how pleased I am that this group will take charge of the long-term monitoring of Jetty Island and relieve the port of the burden of paying us to do it," he said.
He noted that spartina was well established in Port Susan to the north of Jetty Island but that the city's Parks Department staff had "done a good job of keeping up with it" on the island. It needs watching, he added, because "it grows lower than native marsh plants and makes the marsh lose its natural function.
The island, manmade with sand and silt dredged from the Snohomish River, is also a popular spot for birds and other wildlife, and the organization would like to keep people from loving it to death.
Keeley O'Connell, habitat restoration coordinator for the nonprofit group, made a presentation Tuesday to the port's three-member commission. She said her group would like to help recruit trained volunteers to monitor the island's vegetation and to help with cleanup projects using an Americorps program affiliated with Edmonds Community College.
The port has regularly been monitoring the island for many years and also sponsors cleanup programs there. The island is regularly used each summer by the city of Everett's recreation program, which ferries people to the island, stretching from the mouth of the Snohomish River south to the marina at 12th Street.
One of the problems will be to continue to fight invasive species of plants on the island, such as scotch broom and spartina. Spartina is a nonnative saltwater marsh plant from the East Coast that can choke off annuals used by juvenile salmon and feeding birds.
O'Connell said the group would like to train 10-15 stewards on which plants are native and which aren't. They'll also regularly monitor the island, its plants and how use by people affects it. It would also plan several cleanups.
John Houghton of the Seattle firm of Pentec Environmental, which has been monitoring the area for the port for many years, said the program sounded good. "I can't tell you how pleased I am that this group will take charge of the long-term monitoring of Jetty Island and relieve the port of the burden of paying us to do it," he said.
He noted that spartina was well established in Port Susan to the north of Jetty Island but that the city's Parks Department staff had "done a good job of keeping up with it" on the island. It needs watching, he added, because "it grows lower than native marsh plants and makes the marsh lose its natural function.
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