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….
Category: wetlands
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…
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…
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,…
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…
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…
Meridian 25mph at 280th Street fish passage construction
EATONVILLE – Travelers who use State Route 161 between Eatonville and Graham in Pierce County will see changes to the roadway this week. What to expectThe speed limit on SR 161 between mileposts 14.5 and 15.2 is lowered from 55 mph to 25 mph. (Roughly 274th to 280th) Temporary traffic signals will be in place…
Pierce Prairie Post 