Help clean beaches, parks next week
Published 5:48 pm Friday, April 9, 2010
It’s time to roll up your sleeves and get to work. Washington Coast Cleanup Day is set for April 17. State park rangers at more than a dozen parks also need more volunteers to help with Community Partnership Month cleanup events.
The Washington Clean Coast Alliance’s CoastSavers program organizes the annual coastal cleanup. In 2009, more than 1,100 volunteers removed 22 tons of marine debris from our ocean beaches.
“Garbage and debris harms coastal vegetation, wildlife and marine organisms, and mars the beauty of our coastline,” said Rex Derr, state parks director.
Volunteers of all abilities are needed. If you can hold a bag, you can help. Learn more and sign up on www.coastsavers.org/washington.
To help with volunteer projects in state parks to prepare for the coming camping season, call the staffers at the park of your choice:
Fort Ebey, April 17, 360-678-4636.
Lake Wenatchee, April 24, 509-763-3101.
Ocean City, April 17, 360-289-3553.
Twin Harbors, April 17, 360-268-9717.
Cape Disappointment, April 17, 360-642-3078.
Deception Pass, dates vary, 360-675-3767.
Looking ahead: Award-winning nature photographer Amy Gulick will share images and stories from her book “Salmon in the Trees: A Photographic Journey Through Alaska’s Tongass Rain Forest.”
Alaska’s Tongass, a rare ecosystem, is the nation’s largest national forest. For two years, Gulick paddled and trekked among Tongass’ bears, islands and salmon streams.
The lecture at 7 p.m. April 27 is free at the Mountaineers Program Center in Magnuson Park, 220 Sand Point Drive, Seattle.
Wildlife cams: I am not recommending that your wildlife watching be confined to a computer, but the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife has live cameras and recorded video of some of the state’s wildlife.
Choices include barn owls, burrowing owls, big brown bats, eagles, herons, ospreys and salmon. To check it out, go to www.wdfw.wa.gov/wildwatch.
Road closures: The Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest and Snohomish County Public Utility District are closing South Sultan Road 6122 (Jeanne Ring Road) for a year to prevent road erosion and protect the municipal watershed.
Proposed road changes: Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest is seeking public comment until April 30 on multiple projects in the Darrington Ranger District.
The comments should identify issues that the environmental analysis can address. The projects include:
Upgrading Road 41 from milepost 8.0 to Three Fingers Trailhead northwest of Verlot.
Closing all of Road 4150, northwest of Verlot.
Repairing Mountain Loop Road at Hemple and Benson creeks, east of Verlot.
Rebuilding Old Sauk Trail and trailheads; building a barrier-free interpretive trail loop, southeast of Darrington.
Rebuilding segments of the White Chuck Bench Trail 731, southeast of Darrington.
For questions, call Phyllis Reed at 360-436-2332 or send comments to her at the Darrington Ranger District office, 1405 Emens St., Darrington, WA 98241.
Columnist Sharon Wootton can be reached at 360-468-3964 or www.songandword.com.
