COMMENT OPPORTUNITIES Pierce County Surface Water Improvement Program (SWIP) Pierce County provides services in fulfillment of various regulatory drivers, including: Clean Water Act and NPDES Permit Compliance; Endangered Species Act (ESA) Compliance, Culvert Replacement Program, The Hirst Decision and Watershed Planning, Floodplain Management and NFIP Compliance. Pierce County geographic area covers the Puyallup and Nisqually…
Category: Ecology
Watershed Roundup Nov 18
Pierce County has four state designated watersheds. The Chambers Clover Watershed (WRIA12) includes Lakewood, University Place, most of Tacoma, Dupont, Spanaway, Parkland, Frederickson, Midland, Elk Plain, and the northwest part of Graham. This watershed is dependent on rain. For the past three years, the area has been under drought conditions. In October, it was at…
Is the Clover Creek system headed to extinction?
It is the end of October, 2025. The salmon are coming up Chambers Bay. Some have even been allowed over the dam to spawn naturally rather than be taken at the hatchery. Sadly, there is no water in Clover Creek. The fish cannot get any farther than Chambers Creek and Leech Creek. The fish ladder…
Boeing Frederickson 2025 contamination periodic report
Adapted from the Department of Ecology Reports. Link to current Periodic Review for the Frederickson Industrial Park, May 22, 2025. Data here is excerpted from Department of Ecology report. You can find them in their entirety at the DOE web links.I have the supplemental EIS for the site but am still trying to locate the…
News: A salmon was spotted near the small dam in Chambers Creek. This is since the recent allowance of 532 Chinook salmon over the Dam at Chamber Bay. Conversations are occurring online between the members of Pierce County Surface Water Management (PCSWM), the Chambers Clover Watershed Council (CCWC), and the Clover Creek Restoration Alliance (CCRA)…
Condition of Spanaway Lake
UPDATED: Corrections to current data.) These pictures are the condition of Spanaway Lake four weeks after the second EutroSORB G application this year to prevent Spanaway Lake’s annually recurring harmful cyanobacteria blooms, September 9, 2025. The Health Department closed the lake on August 20, 2024. https://tpchd.org/news/spanaway-lake-closed-because-of-toxic-algae/ In 2025, the lake has only been under an advisory. https://tpchd.org/environment/surface-water/advisories/…
New Book Published about the Nisqually Delta
A new book, Saving the Nisqually Delta, chronicles the decades-long citizen activism that saved the Nisqually Delta from industrialization. Located eight miles northeast of Olympia, Washington, the Nisqually Delta is one of the country’s last unspoiled estuaries. Author Janine Gates, an Olympia-based journalist and photographer, is best known for her community news blog, Little Hollywood,…
532 Chinook over the dam
This year, life is good for Chinook Salmon at Chambers Bay. The Washington Dept. of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) reported they released 532 Chinook salmon to finish their lives in Chambers Creek (see Escapement Report). The last time this happened was August 1999, 25 years ago! This is truly historic and wonderful for people and…
Clover-Chambers Watershed Festival – celebrating our local water resources, Oct 11
On October 11, the Clover Creek Restoration Alliance (CCRA) and Clover Chamber Watershed Council (CCWC) are holding their first ever Watershed Festival. The Clover-Chambers Watershed Festival will be held on the grounds of Clover Park Technical College’s Natural Resources Laboratory and Research Park. That location is across Steilacoom Blvd. from the college, along Flett Creek….
The spring at Camp Montgomery
By Marianne Lincoln It is a hidden place on private property now, but when the Naches Trail hosted wagons from Eastern to Western Washington in the 1850’s, the spring near the Trail’s end was a valuable resource. Officially, the Naches Trail ended at the Mahon Farm. Most of that farm later became the Brookdale Golf…
Trails and Ales: Taco (and Trail) Tuesday!
ForeverGreen Trails (FGT) invites all to Trails and Ales on Tuesday, August 19th from 5-8 p.m. at Off Camber Brewing. We will have a presentation on the City of Puyallup’s exciting Riverwalk Trail Phase 5 project which will fill in the long-awaited missing link in that facility near downtown. The Riverwalk Trail is part of an 18-mile trail loop (connecting…
Chambers Bay Estuary, fish ladder repair and more
Before Chambers Creek becomes Chambers Bay, the water flow is blocked by an outdated dam. Built to provide electricity for a nearby paper plant that closed years ago, the dam is widely considered to be harming the ecosystem of the area. Pierce County Surface Water Management, South Puget Sound Salmon Enhancement Group and three local…
Pierce Prairie Post 