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Join the Puget Creek Restoration Society Name:___________________________________________________________________________
Address:_________________________________________________________________________
City:____________________________ State:______________ Zip:_________________________
Phone:__________________________ E-mail:__________________________________________
Membership Dues (check one) Donation (annual support) ____ Business - $50/year ____ Mad Scientist - $250/year
____ Family - $30/year ____ Naturalist - $100/year
____ Individual - $20/year ____ Steward - $75/year
____ Work nine or more volunteer hours ____ Friend - $50/year
____ Other ____ Other (ours & your dreams)
Which 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
Note: The PCRS is a 501c(3) organization and your dues are tax deductible.
702 Broadway Suite 101 - Tacoma, WA 98402
253.555.1234
www.pugetcreek.org
Does the SYTI Program Interest You?
Are you in school and/or wanting to gain real world job experience in the environmental non-profit field making you more com-
petitive in the job market?
If so, the SYTI (Student, Youth, Job Training Internship) program might be for you.
SYTI is an internship program for qualifying high school, college, tech and university students to gain experience in the environ-
mental, non-profit field.
If you think SYTI might be right for you, contact Lisa Lawrence by calling (253) 779-8890 or by emailing [email protected].
Page 4 Summer 2013 1
We want YOUR
help!
Puget Creek Restoration Work
Second Saturday Each month
8 am to 1 pm
Call for meeting location
Parking is available along Ruston Way as well as the west side of N Alder Way . Walk half of a block North Alder to the grass area at the TPU site that is to the left of a gravel area. Look for the PCRS banner . Refreshments, rubber boots, and gloves provided. Dress for changing weather conditions and wear clothes you can get dirty.
Or, schedule your group
This spring, students from four 4th
and 5th grade classes from area
schools, their teachers, and parent
chaperones attended PCRS’
Watershed Adventures program.
Watershed Adventures is a FREE,
science based program for 4th and
5th grade students in the Tacoma
(and surrounding) school districts.
Working in conjunction with STEM
education curriculum and
Washington State Outdoor Education
curriculum requirements, Watershed
Adventures provides hands on
environmental science education in a
field setting as an adjunct to students’
classroom science curriculum.
Students apply what they learn in the
classroom by using real scientific
practices and equipment.
They devise a question and/or develop a
hypothesis about the environment and
then set out to answer the question or
prove/disprove the hypothesis.
Students learn about gathering baseline
data as a first step in seeking solutions to
environmental challenges and
concerns. In addition to stream and
habitat assessment and restoration, they
learn what they, their families and
communities can do to help reduce the
effects of non-point source pollution.
Using scientific equipment and protocol
they engage in water quality testing for:
temperature, dissolved oxygen,
phosphate, nitrate, fecal coliform
bacteria, bio chemical oxygen demand,
turbidity and pH. They learn the causes
and importance of these values.
They learn to assess stream/salmon
habitat and the importance of balance in
the ecosystem by identifying native
plants and trees as well as non-native
invasive species and actively engage in
restoration work to eradicate non-native
invasive species and to plant native
species. They also learn how
manipulation of the environment can
create conditions where a native species
such as Reed Canary Grass can become
invasive.
Most important, the students are active,
engaged, and outside.
In addition to classroom and field work,
there is a digital component to the
program which includes a blog, database
and online forum which allows our
students (like the real scientists they are
learning to become) to collaborate, share
data, and be part of/create the solutions.
This digital component brings their field
science into the 21st century and beyond.
These students are amazing, and they
are the future!
-Lisa Lawrence, Watershed Adventures
Program Coordinator
Summer 2013 Page 1
Our Watershed Adventures Program
This Issue
Our Watershed Adventures Program
Benefits of Woody Debris for Stream Restoration
Come Join Us!
Bat Monitoring Methods
Intern Highlight: Zoe Keskey
Want to Be a Docent for Our Watershed Adventures Program?
Does the SYTI Program Interest You? Contact Information:
702 Broadway Suite 101 - Tacoma, WA 98402
253.555.1234
www.pugetcreek.org
email: [email protected]
(Students in the WA Program)
2
Summer 2013
PCRS is always looking for vol-
unteers. Interested in Field
work? Scott’s field hours are Sat-
urday at 8AM-1PM, Sunday at
8AM-2PM, Monday at 1PM-5PM,
Page 2
There have been many studies on the
benefits of large woody debris (LWD)
jams for salmonids. The LWD acts as
overwintering habitat for juveniles
and rest areas for migrating adults.
However, many streams have been
cleared in the past for aesthetic rea-
sons and concerns about public safety.
This systematic removal of important
sheltering sites has had
a negative impact on
salmonid populations in
the Puget Creek area.
With this in mind, the
Puget Creek Restora-
tion Society has been
working to restore
LWD safely to local
streams.
How is this done? By
recycling old Christmas
trees! Used, natural
Christmas trees strate-
gically placed in streams
have been effective features for restor-
ing salmon across the US, as well as
stabilizing river banks and slopes.
One such success story is the Necani-
cum River in Oregon. We hope our
similar efforts will also result in a sal-
monid population resurgence in Puget
Creek.
-Luisa Lam, Intern
The Puget Creek Restoration Society protects, enhances, and
restores the Puget Creek Watershed and similar streams,
wetlands, and green spaces.
We serve the South Puget Sound communities and invite their
participation through hands-on restoration, research, education, advocacy, and by promoting a
sense of stewardship.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Steven Beckstead President
Phil Schneider Vice President
Mike Webb
Secretary
Phil Hill Treasurer
Lester Swenson
Scott M. Hansen
Ramona Bueno
HONORARY
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Northend Neighborhood
Council
ADVISORY BOARD
Edward S. Winskill
Michael A. Corsini
Dr. Sherry Graham
Susan Penhale
A tax-exempt 501(c)(3)
Tuesday at 12:30-4:30PM, and Wednes-
day at 12:30-5PM. There are many moni-
toring activities to participate in as well
as water quality testing, invasive species
removal, and much more in the field. Not
interested in getting your hands dirty?
There are many other opportunities to
volunteer your time. We would love
help with staffing booths at events
like the Freedom Fair, Art on The
Ave, Ethnic Fest, Ruston Community
Fair, and Eastside Community Fair.
There are also many ways to help in
the office and with other outreach
events and opportunities.
-Tyffanie Moser, Volunteer Coordinator Intern
Benefits of Woody Debris for Stream Restoration
Come Join Us!
(LWD being used for stream restoration)
like us on Facebook follow us on Twitter
3
Want to be a
docent for our
Watershed
Adventures
Program?
This is a free hands-on
Outdoor Education
program for students
and teachers. It’s an
introduction to Ta-
coma/Pierce County
area opportunities for
involving students in
Watershed Education
programs and field ex-
periences (see “Our
Watershed Adventures
Program” on pg. 1 for
more details).
To Schedule a
Docent Training
Time:
Contact Scott M.
Hansen or Lisa
Lawrence to set up a
time.
253-779-8890
For more
information,
go online at
www.pugetcreek.org
Page 3
“I stumbled across PCRS in 2008 while
looking for an organization to volunteer
with for my Bat Mitzvah Project in 7th
grade. It seemed like a good fit
considering I had wanted to do something
active and outdoors, while restoring
nature. So, for my first PCRS project, I
ended up monitoring water quality for
several creeks in the Tacoma area.
After this project, I volunteered with
PCRS only sporadically until my
sophomore year of high school. I was
hoping to find something that I could do
on a weekly basis while I took time off of
soccer due to an injury. Scott said he
needed an office intern, so I took that role
on and have kept it up for the past 2
years.
I enter all the volunteer information and
hours into the database, file, help create
and consolidate the seasonal newsletters,
update the CD/DVD and book
bibliographies, and also do some field
work on occasion.
I’m glad that PCRS has been a significant
part of my life, specifically in my high
school years. It’s especially helped me
realize the importance of ‘behind-the-
scenes’ work in the nonprofit world.”
Bat Monitoring Methods
Summer 2013
PCRS does two types of bat monitoring
in the Puget Creek area during warmer
month when bats are no longer in hiber-
nation. The first method is bat box guano
(feces) screening. PCRS has set up five
thin black boxes set up in trees; if bats
take up residence in those boxes, their
guano will be caught on a screen from
below the box. This way, once a month,
volunteers can detect the presence of the
bats without needing to climb the
trees.
The other method of bat monitoring is
with a nighttime echo location device
and night-vision binoculars. Bats are
nocturnal, so at dusk, with the echo
location device it is possible to detect
the various species of bat that are out.
Some species have very distinct echoes,
while others tend to overlap. Literature
says that there should be eight to nine
species of bat in our habitat, and so far
PCRS volunteers have detected five or
six. On occasion, volunteers can actually
see the bats with help of the night-vision
binoculars.
The presence of bats is important to the
Puget Creek habitat because they eat
many insects. Hence, they act as a natu-
ral mosquito control.
-Zoe Keskey, Intern
Intern Highlight: Zoe Keskey - In her own words
A big Thank You to all the
PCRS Intern Staff for their time & dedication!
To inquire about becoming an intern at Puget Creek Restoration Society,
please contact Lisa Lawrence at 253-779-8890 or email [email protected]
(Long-eared Myotis bat, native to western WA)