Flett Creek Habitat Restoration Nov. 16

By Derek Faust There will be a habitat stewardship event on Clover Park Technical College’s (CPTC) Flett Property this Saturday, November 16th from 9:00 AM to noon.  Below is the flyer with pertinent details and all of the 2024 dates for our remaining habitat stewardship events.  For this event, we will focus on removal of invasive plant species.  We will provide…

Watershed Issues Forum Nov. 20

The Chambers Clover Creek Watershed Council will be presenting their annual Issues Forum on November 20 at Sprinker Recreation Center. The event will begin with an optional field trip at 1:15 p.m. and followed by the presentations in the Rainier Room upstairs starting at 2:30 p.m. Registration is required, link provided below. Theme: UrbanizationSchedule1:15pm Optional…

Good Neighbor Village? hmmm…

Yes, that is the newest name of the tiny home village the Tacoma Rescue Mission and the Pierce County Executive’s office is trying to build in Spanaway., “Good Neighbor Village.” Well, wouldn’t good neighbors follow the county code when they build their operation? Apparently, like when the Mosier home was torn down, they are starting…

Still raising money to defend the wetlands

Spanaway Concerned Citizens members were out in force Saturday to remind people the fight to save the Spanaway Marsh wetlands from a commercial tiny home development is ongoing. The Hearings Examiner is about to release the decision on the recent appeals to the original hearings from the end of April 2024. It is likely there…

Sequalitchew Creek Moonwalk 2024 

On July 20, 2024, from 7:00 PM – 11:00 PM, the public is invited to walk the Sequalitchew Creek Trail in the moonlight. The date in July is chosen each year to coincide with the full moon. The Sequalitchew Creek Trail is a gentle slope. It used to have railroad tracks for the Dupont Company…

County needs to rethink sewer system

OPINION Potable water, drinking water to you and me, is critical to all life on earth. In Pierce County, that water comes from glacier melt or rain. It is taken from rivers, lakes, and aquifers underground. In Washington State there is currently not anyone desalinizing sea water for use, although Florida, Texas, and California do….

No state enforcement

“As Washington state implements its “nation-leading environmental policies”, I don’t know who wrote that, but please correct your statement – it is untrue and can absolutely be proven to be untrue!Wordsmithing can be very misleading sometimes, so it is with your above false statement. There can be no “nation-leading environmental policies” when you have no…

A Tale of Two Wetland Specialists

by Claudia Finseth27 March, 2024 Last week the Tacoma News Tribune carried some interesting articles related to the Hearing Examiner meetings that had just wrapped up on the proposed use of the Spanaway Marsh for a high-density development. The plan is for a tiny home village for people experiencing chronic homelessness at the end of…

Conservation Futures Information Sessions

If you have an organization located in Pierce County, you may be eligible to sponsor or steward a conservation project through the Pierce County Conservation Futures program. The next application funding cycle begins in 2025, and we want to ensure that your community doesn’t miss the opportunity to participate! Conservation Futures strives to ensure a high quality…

Report an environmental issue

[This is information taken directly from the Washington State Department of Ecology. If you see something, you can report it. I am hoping that includes homeless living in the bed of Clover Creek directly on our groundwater resources. – Editor] Department of Ecology: We respond to incidents that pollute and damage land, air, and water….

Spanaway Marsh site tour May 8

Back by popular demand, another site tour opportunity at Spanaway Marsh where Pierce County and the Tacoma Rescue mission have proposed a homeless village of tiny homes and park model RV’s. See what the wetlands above Spanaway Lake look like now. Wednesday, May 8 at 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. the guided tours will begin….