Wednesday, December 17 is the general meeting date for the Chambers Clover Watershed Council. Because this is December, the CCWC will hold its annual holiday party on that date. The Christmas Holiday Party will be held at the El Toro Cantina in Parkland from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. The address for El Toro is 13719…
Category: watershed
Restoring WRIA 12: A Unified Path Forward for Pierce County’s Watershed
Submitted By the Clover Creek Restoration Alliance Pierce County’s lakes, wetlands, and aquifers quietly hold our communities together. They supply our drinking water, support wildlife, buffer floods, and sustain the landscapes that define our region. Because these systems often operate out of sight, it is easy to overlook how essential they are until the signs…
Budget push with some holiday gifts
By Marianne Lincoln It is a quiet morning, but the past few weeks have been busy with things that needed to happen for me before the holiday rush. With Thanksgiving around the corner, we are about to have a barrage of holiday invitations, events, and all the trimmings will be put up around the community….
Nov 18 Public Comment Deadline
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…
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…
Do not disturb the redds
It is Fall. It is raining. In Washington, that means there are salmon coming up the creeks and rivers to spawn. The spawning female salmon make nests in which to lay eggs. They move their bodies and tails back and forth in the gravel to create a cone shaped hollow. They may create several in…
Oct 11 Watershed Festival at CPTC
Just a reminder about the habitat stewardship event on CPTC’s Flett Property this Saturday, October 11th from 9:00 to 11:00 AM. Immediately following the stewardship event, we will be hosting the inaugural Clover-Chambers Watershed Festival from 11:00 AM to 4:00 PM. Both of these events are in partnership with Green Tacoma Day as one of the host sites! Thanks to those that have already…
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…
Watershed Festival looking for participants
Cities, Environmental organizations, water companies, anyone with a connection to water and environment is welcome to come to the first Chambers Clover Watershed Festival on Saturday, October 11. Of course, the public is also invited to see all the resources designed to use and protect our water supply. The festival will begin with a work…
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…
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…
$$ to improve your personal stormwater runoff
Pierce Conservation District offers Green Stormwater Mini Grants annually to individuals, businesses, and community groups in the Commencement Bay, Chambers Creek, and Lower Puyallup River Watersheds. Get up to $4,000 for projects that reduce polluted stormwater runoff entering our local waterbodies. Eligible project types include rain gardens, large rain tanks, depaving, and removing lawn to…
Aug 9 Moonwalk on Sequalitchew Creek
City of DuPont Annual Moonwalk Join us for the Annual Moonwalk on Sequalitchew Creek Trail on August 9th at 7:30 p.m.! Enjoy a magical evening under the moonlight with a guided tour, kids craft, delicious dinner, and local history. Guests will be on site to share fascinating insights about astronomy, conservation and nature. The walk…
Tour of Chambers Creek Dam August 20
August Field Trip Join the Chambers Clover Watershed Council to learn about the Chambers Bay Estuary Restoration project’s efforts to remove the Chambers Creek dam. The dam is an active fish passage barrier, but this also requires replacing the existing Chambers Creek bridge, and restore roughly 180 acres of estuary habitat. This project will open…
July 19 Flett Creek Work Party
Hi all, Just a reminder about the habitat stewardship event on CPTC’s Flett Property this Saturday, July 19th from 9:00 AM to noon! I have attached the flyer with pertinent details and all of the 2025 dates for our remaining habitat stewardship events. For this event, we will focus on removal of invasive plant species (focus on tansy ragwort and blackberry regrowth)…
Dupont, my testimony to everyone who disturbs an historic place
By Marianne Lincoln The following is the full written testimony I submitted to the Hearing’s Examiner for the City of Dupont as it considers the Pioneer Aggregates South Parcel Expansion Project. With 68 years of knowing Dupont and its history, I had several options of how to approach this topic. Don Russell, 96, left me…