REMINDER! The Pierce County 2025 Watersheds Small Grants Program application deadline is April 30, 2025. This program funds community projects that improve water quality, restore habitats, and protect the environment. This grant is open to everyone! Nonprofits, schools, teachers, tribes, local governments, and individuals are encouraged to apply for up to $2,500 to start neighborhood cleanups, build…
Category: Ecology
Is There Enough Water for 48,000 More Residents Moving to Spanaway this Decade?
By Kirk Kirkland and Al Schmauder Will Pierce County be able to meet future demand for clean drinking water required by increasing population and development in the Chambers-Clover watershed? Two years ago, Pierce County altered zoning along Pacific Avenue, 112th Street, Meridian, and 176th Street to allow up to 5 story buildings within one quarter…
South Sound Sustainability Expo April 26
The Clover Creek Restoration Alliance will be having a table at the South Sound Sustainability Expo on Saturday, April 26, 2025. The event takes place at the University of Washington Tacoma Campus on the Prairie Line Trail. The 17th Annual South Sound Sustainability Expo! This free, family-friendly event brings the South Sound community together to celebrate and…
Natural Yard Care Class
TPCHD — Keep your landscape and environment healthy. We promote low impact landscape design and maintenance. Natural yard care emphasizes: • Healthy soil conditions.• Proper plant care and lawn management.• Wise water and fertilizer use.• Proper plant placement. Attend our 2025 natural yard care webinars. The regenerative garden: Small scale permaculture for the home garden, with…
April 19 Flett Creek work party
There is a habitat stewardship event on CPTC’s Flett Property this Saturday, April 19th from 9:00 AM to noon in celebration of Earth Day! The flyer is below with pertinent details and all of the 2025 dates for the remaining habitat stewardship events for CPTC. For this event, we will focus on removal of invasive plant species (focus on scotch broom…
Help stop assault on ghost shrimp in Willapa Bay and Grays Harbor
By Kirk KirklandEnvironmental Coalition of Pierce County In 2018 Ecology denied a request by shellfish growers to use the pesticide imidacloprid on shellfish beds to control burrowing shrimp in Willapa Bay and Grays Harbor. Imidacloprid was sprayed from helicopters on non native eelgrass, but in the process affected native eelgrass salmon and other species. In 2019 Ecology and the…
You’re invited: Join the Healthy Environment for All (HEAL) Act Community Involvement pilot
WASHINGTON STATE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE — Join us for an upcoming community session to provide your input on Commerce’s environmental justice assessments for programs and projects that could impact your community. The HEAL Act implementation team has partnered with Commerce’s Community Engagement Unit to pilot a process for community participation in program design and development. …
Apply today! Grants for watershed improvement projects open now
PIERCE COUNTY — Pierce County is partnering with watershed councils, regional nonprofits, local governments, and other entities to fund a small grants program supporting community projects that improve habitat and water quality across the county. The 2025 cycle will award more than $70,000 total to projects in four watersheds: Key Peninsula-Gig Harbor-Islands, Chambers-Clover Creek, Puyallup-White…
Dead fish conundrum at Spanaway Lake
By Marianne Lincoln Small fish, four to eight inches in length are rolling around, disoriented and flopping over on their backs and dying in Spanaway Lake. Reports have been coming in for a month in online social media. At the recent Chambers Clover Watershed Council meeting, a group of experienced water watchers came together to…
Volunteer as a Host at Morse Wildlife Preserve!
We’re looking for Volunteer Hosts for the 2025 season—second Sundays, April to October. Hosts work in pairs for 3-hour shifts and responsibilities include setting up or taking down a welcome table, welcoming visitors, and educating them about the trails and preserve rules. In-Person Training: March 29th (rain or shine!), 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. OR…
Why is the cost of environmental justice so high?
by Kirk Kirkland and Claudia Finseth Two neighborhood groups in unincorporated Pierce County have recently paid very high prices to attempt to protect their communities because the county is not doing it. Both were to try to stop two different kinds of large projects from dramatically changing their valued open space. Both proposed projects were…
Our Watershed, “WRIA 12” January 15
It is called a Water Resource Inventory Area (WRIA) by the Department of Ecology. The Chambers Clover Watershed includes Parkland, Spanaway, Midland, Collins, Frederickson, part of South Hill and NW Graham as well as Lakewood, McChord Field, Fircrest, Steilacoom, Dupont, and University Place, Below is a map of the WRIA’s in Washington State. Look for 12….
Pierce Prairie Post 