PCRS Newsletter Winter 2013 2014

8/13/2019 PCRS Newsletter Winter 2013 2014

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Fun Events

Puget Creek

Restoration Work

2nd Saturday of

each month

9:00 a.m. to Noon

Meet at

3505 North Alder Way.

Parking available along RustonWay and west side of Alder.

Walk half of a block on N. AlderWay to the entrance to PugetPark. Look for PCRS banner.

We will provide refreshments,rubber boots, and gloves. Dressfor weather conditions and wear

clothes you can get dirty.

Boardwalk Project

Latest Updates1

An Important Dis-

covery by PCRS!2

Intern Highlight

Dawn Mercer3

Oh Snap! 3

Pacific Tree Frog 2

Black Cottonwood 3

Join PCRS 4

This Issue

Before getting into the updates here is a little blurb describing what this projects all

about:

The Puget Creek Boardwalk will be a public amenity open all hours of every day. Its

goal is to improve the accessibility of Puget Creek Gulch so that community members

and students can enjoy and become more actively engaged in their local environment

without impacting the surrounding ecosystem. It will ensure that all people,

including those with physical disabilities in wheelchairs or using crutches, can

benefit from the creek and its surrounding environment. In addition to the boardwalkitself, we will be installing an educational kiosk panel discussing the importance and

advantages of urban streams.

Puget Creek Restoration Society has been working on the Boardwalk Project for

over seven years now. The engineered plans for the raised boardwalk were partially

developed by a Bates Technical college student and then taken over and finalized by

AHBL Inc., a structural and civil engineering firm.

In the past few weeks, with the submittal of our last permit, we have made one of

the final steps to kick start building. To build within the gulch all sorts of permits

from the city are needed including a Street Occupancy Permit, Work Order Permit,

all in addition to the Building Permit.

With the permits completed, the one thing keeping the raised boardwalk from thecommunity is funding. We have already raised about 90% of the funds necessary to

make this project a reality. The last 10% of funds are being raised through generous

member donations and online fundraising.

Any and all donations to this project are much appreciated and vital to get this

boardwalk built in the very near future!

Boardwalk Project Latest Updates

Fall/Winter 2013

An informative kiosk that will be built along with the boardwalk


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The Pacific Tree Frog is a frog na-

tive to the west coast of North

America and can also be found in

Montana and Nevada. Their habitat

consists of a wide variety of climate

and vegetation from sea level to

high altitudes. Tree frogs are usu-

ally from of an inch to 2 inches

long, and are typically green, but

can also be seen in shades of brown,

tan, red, gray, black, and canchange colors with differing tem-

perature and humidity, with a pale

or white color on their bellies. The

tree frog is mostly nocturnal but can

be spotted during the day.

It is also one of the smallest but

loudest amphibians of the Pacific

Northwest. Male tree frogs are

smaller than the female tree frogs

and have a dark throat patch. Male

tree frogs are known to be very ter-

ritorial and will protect their part ofthe pond from other males. They

tend to do this by repeating their

two-part call both day and night.

The call is loud enough to be heard

over a mile away and attracts fe-

males, which must actually touch

the males to get their attention.

When other males are near by, the

singing males use a single note call

heard on rainy days as well as dur-

ing the mating season. The Pacific

Tree frog begins mating in early

winter to early spring. The females

lay their eggs of clumps of 10 to 90

and usually put them on and under

vegetation and leaf litter in the

pond in shallow, calm waters, with

each egg being the size of a rice

grain. The egg mass overall is about

the size of a teaspoon. Embryos will

hatch into tadpoles within one to

three weeks.

Much of the tree frogs diet consists

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An Important Discovery by PCRS!

The Puget Creek Restoration Society has made an important discovery: The exis-

tence of a snail,Mollusca Hydrobiidae Pristicola Hemphilli in Puget Creek! This

small snail was thought to have been eliminated from all the areas that were once

covered by the Ice Age glaciers, including the Puget Sound. How these snails

found their way back to Puget Creek is still a mystery. Our samples are being

sent to The University of Washingtons Burke Museum in Seattle to be added to

their extensive archives with credit of discovery is going to PCRS.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Phil Schneider(Acting) President

Ramona BuenoSecretary

Phil HillTreasurer

Lester Swenson

Scott M. Hansen

Steven Beckstead

HONORARY

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Northend Neighborhood

Council

ADVISORY BOARD

Edward S. Winskill

Michael A. Corsini

Dr. Sherry Graham

Susan Penhale

Mike Webb

The Puget Creek RestorationSociety protects, enhances, and

restores the Puget Creek

Watershed and similar streams,wetlands, and green spaces.

We serve the South Puget Soundcommunities and invite their

participation through hands-onrestoration, research, education,

advocacy, and by promoting a senseof stewardship.

A tax-exempt 501(c)(3)

nonprofit organization

of spiders, flies, beetles, ants, and other

insects. Their predators include snakes,

raccoons, herons, egrets, and other

small mammals and reptiles.

It is hard to figure out an exact frog

lineage because of the lack of fossil re-

cord, but amphibians in general are

thought to have descended from the

lobe-finned boney fishes. The taxonomy

and nomenclature is presently up fordebate, specifically whether or not the

species belongs in the family Hyla or

Pseudacrisbased on phylogeny and the

physical attributes of the creature.

Pacific tree frogs are important to scien-

tists because they are considered an

indicator species. Since they are so

sensitive to environmental change and

water quality, they give us clues to the

cleanliness and health of the ecosystem.

Researchers are actually studying the

adhesive qualities of the tree frogs toe

pads in hopes that it will lead to new

technology in car tires. People also keep

them as pets, but they are protected by

law and require a permit to keep and

transport them. Their numbers are de-

clining worldwide mainly as a result of

poor water quality, which scientists at-

tribute to increasing amounts of acid

rain. There are approximately 600 spe-

cies of tree frogs throughout the world,

and 26 species in North America.

Pacific Tree Frog

Photograph courtesy of Wikipedia


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Intern Highlight

Dawn Mercer

Interning with the Puget

Creek Restoration Society is

an excellent opportunity tomeet like-minded individu-

als, improve the environ-

ment, and build valuable job

skills all at the same time! I

am definitely enjoying the

learning process with my

accounting internship

through Tacoma Community

College.

My internship role includes

creating the latest edition of

this newsletter, trackinggrant expenses, and updat-

ing volunteer contact infor-

mation. I have learned a

tremendous amount already,

including: Puget Creek was

diverted through a storm

drain to reach Puget Sound,

scotch broom really did origi-

nate from Scotland, and that

blackberries are actually a

non-native species.

Thank you to all

PCRS Intern Staff

for your dedication!

If you are interested in be-

coming an intern with Puget

Creek Restoration Society

please contact Lisa at 253-

779-8890 or email puget-

[email protected]

The black cottonwood tree is recognized

world wide as one of, if not the tallest of the

poplars. They can be found near water on

the south coast of Alaska, British Colombia,

Vancouver Island, Washington, Oregon, and

California. In the Sierra Nevada, the maxi-

mum height of a black cottonwood is 125

feet. Two hundred years ago it was not un-

common for the tree to reach an astounding

height of 200 feet.

In its juvenile state the bark of a black cot-

ton wood is green and soft. The texture re-

mains the same as time progresses, but the

color changes to white and eventually grey.

With maturity comes deep furrows and once

hairy twigs find themselves bare. The leaves

vary in size, have serrated edges, and are

pointed at the tip. One side is a rich, deep

shade of green that has a tendency to shim-

mer in the sunlight. The other side is silver

in color, almost white with burnt orange

veins. In Autumn they are either a clear

lemon yellow or a dull shade vacillating

from yellow to brown depending on the posi-

tion of the light.

Black cottonwoods usually bloom from Feb-

ruary to April. During this time, the tree

produces flowers and fruit. As black cotton-

woods are either male or female, the flowers

with the pistil and the flowers with the sta-

men are found on separate trees. The fruit

carrying the seeds are circular, light brown,

and surrounded by small soft hairs. A per-

fect capsule for the airborne dispersion

If you get our email Whats Happening at PCRS updates you may have read about our

new involvement with Snap. Snap is an organization providing helpful tools to enhance

fundraising for non-profits, schools, or any other entities. Since its online, the donating

process is significantly quicker and easier.

Right now PCRS focus is on the Boardwalk Project (see front page for newest Boardwalk

Project details and updates). Snap has and will be sending out emails requesting that

you, as part of the PCRS community, contact friends, family, colleagues etc. to contrib-ute. Please consider working with them to actively assist in making the long-awaited

boardwalk a reality.

Photograph courtesy of Snap

Oh Snap!

method used by this tree. In Spring, this

capsule divides into three different parts

and releases many cotton-like seeds.

During its reproductive times, the black

cottonwood emits a balsamic odor and

the maroon flower buds are encased in a

sticky protective substance.

As far as manufacturing goes, the bark of

the black cottonwood is used for crates,

sugar barrels, and woodenware. It may

be particularly soft but this is not seen as

a disadvantage. The black cottonwoods of

Oregon tend to have wider trunks, so its

no surprise that the lumber industry

there is the one that makes the most us-

age of this tree. Roughly seven million

board feet are cut from black cottonwoods

every year.

Calling Future

Board Members!

If you are interested in

filling a board position,

please contact us for an

application. Board meet-

ings are the fourth Mon-

day of each month, at6:30 p.m.

Photograph courtesy of Burntridge Nursery

Black Cottonwood


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Join Puget Creek Restoration SocietyNote: The PCRS is a 501c(3) organization and your dues are tax deductible.

Name:______________________________________________________________________

Address:____________________________________________________________________

City:____________________________ State:______________ Zip:____________________

Phone:__________________________ E-mail:______________________________________

Membership Dues - Please choose one:

____ Business - $50/year

____ Family - $30/year

____ Individual - $20/year

____ Work nine or more volunteer hours

____ OtherWhich of the following types of activities are you interested in? Please check all that apply.

____ Office work ____ Research

____ Restoration activities ____ Education/Outreach

____ Legislative issues ____ Salmon enhancement projects

702 Broadway Suite 101

Tacoma, WA 98402

Phone: (253) 779-8890

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.pugetcreek.org

Documents

PCRS Newsletter Winter 2013 2014