Use travel tools to reduce holiday traffic headaches
August 30, 2011
Labor Day is the busiest travel weekend of the year over Snoqualmie Pass on Interstate 90.
The state Department of Transportation is offering numerous travel information tools for motorists headed through the pass and other high-traffic areas during the holiday weekend.
Travelers planning to hit state highways can find information on the DOT website about the times and places drivers can expect to experience Labor Day weekend delays, including U.S. 2, I-90 and Interstate 5 at the Canadian border, and between Olympia and Tacoma.
Motorists can expect significantly better travel times in most areas Sept. 1 and Sept. 6.
Migrating chinook reach Issaquah Salmon Hatchery
August 30, 2011
The autumn salmon spawning season in Issaquah Creek started early Aug. 23 as chinook reached the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery.
Hatchery Foreman John Kugen spotted a pair of female chinook, or hens, in the creek just north of the bridge across Issaquah Creek on the hatchery grounds and alerted Friends of the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery Executive Director Jane Kuechle at about 9 a.m.
“I was here and I was kind of fiddling around the office and all of the sudden he popped his head and he said, ‘The chinook are here!’” she said.
The announcement came as a tour group explored the hatchery. Docents led the guests to the creek bank to see the fish.
“I’m just excited to see the fish come and for things to get started around here,” Kuechle said.
Serve as a Salmon Watcher during spawning season
August 30, 2011
Salmon should start returning to local creeks soon to spawn, and King County needs volunteers to help collect information about the fish.
Through the Salmon Watcher Program, the county trains volunteers to identify and record species and numbers of spawning salmon in Lake Washington watershed streams. Lake Sammamish, and Issaquah and Tibbetts creeks, drain into the Lake Washington watershed. The program includes numerous monitoring sites along Issaquah and Tibbetts Creeks.
Prospective volunteers must attend a training session. The county has scheduled training sessions from 7-9 p.m. at:
- Bellevue City Hall, 450 110th Ave. N.E., Sept. 15
- Renton Community Center, 1715 S.E. Maple Valley Highway, Sept. 20
- Woodinville City Hall, 17301 133rd Ave. N.E., Sept. 22
- Greenwood Senior Center, 525 N. 85th St., Seattle, Oct. 5
Contact King County Senior Ecologist Jennifer Vanderhoof at jennifer.vanderhoof@kingcounty.gov or 206-263-6533 to learn more.
National Preparedness Month includes earthquake drill
August 30, 2011
September is National Preparedness Month, and Washington officials plan a statewide earthquake drill to help residents prepare for a natural disaster.
The statewide drop, cover and hold earthquake drill is at 10:15 a.m. Sept. 21. The monthly test of the Emergency Alert System marks the start of the drill.
“Citizens, companies and government agencies should review their individual preparedness plans, contact information and emergency kits, and need to prepare themselves to be self-sufficient for a minimum of three days following an act of terrorism, natural or manmade disasters,” Gov. Chris Gregoire said in a special proclamation.
Sept. 21 also includes a Tsunami Warning Communication System test in coastal Clallam, Jefferson, Grays Harbor and Pacific counties.
State adopts changes to emission testing
August 30, 2011
The owners of some vehicles may no longer need to undergo emission testing after July 2012, as the state Department of Ecology prepares to enact rule changes to the testing program.
The state requires certain vehicles in King County and other densely populated areas to undergo emission tests to reduce air pollution.
Under the rule change required by the Legislature and due to go into effect next summer, all 2009 and newer model year vehicles do not require testing. In addition, additional businesses may be authorized to conduct tests. The rule change also eliminates some emission tests.
The measure calls for the same standards to be used for all 1995 model year and older gasoline vehicles. The rule change exempts light-duty diesel vehicles from testing and tightens test standards for heavy-duty diesel vehicles. The measure nixes the gas cap test and dynamometer testing.
Department of Ecology officials posted the complete rule and supporting documents on the agency’s air quality website. The agency announced the impending rule change Thursday.
The agency accepted public comments on the proposal in March and held a public hearing on proposed changes in Federal Way.
Besides King County, vehicles in Clark, Pierce, Snohomish and Spokane counties undergo emission tests.
If a vehicle needs to undergo the test, the owner receives a reminder inside his or her tab renewal notice or email reminder reading, “This vehicle must pass a Washington emission inspection.” Then, the vehicle must be tested before he or she can renew the tabs.
Press Editorial
August 30, 2011
Volunteer opportunities abound in the fall
As summer and its busy weekends wind down, kids are back in school and life gets back to a routine. It’s time to think about new activities.
Fall might mean a new computer class or getting back into a fitness program, signing up the kids for extracurricular activities — or volunteering.
If a onetime commitment to volunteering is preferred, think about helping out at the Salmon Days Festival. Now, that’s fun! Did you know it takes nearly 500 volunteers to help out? Salmon Days is Oct. 1-2.
Off the Press
August 30, 2011
Get hooked on history with new series
Kathleen R. Merrill Press managing editor
I’ll never forget the first time I really got in trouble outside my home. And it was history’s fault.
Being scolded at home is routine for kids by the time they’re, what, 2? But having an adult who is not one of your parents give you what-for in a public place for the first time is beyond scary and more than a little mortifying.
I was hooked on history before I could even read. My dad has a fascination with old coins and I had a grandfather who loved and collected old cars. When I got to school and teachers started talking about things that were hundreds and sometimes thousands of years old, I was just mesmerized.
Many years later, the day I saw the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution in person was a great day indeed. I couldn’t help but think how old the paper was and about all the ways someone had safeguarded those documents so that we can see them today. So cool!
As I marveled about them out loud, I overheard someone (who later told me she was from England) say, “Two hundred years is nothing. My church is older than this document.” Touche!
Gardeners grow community spirit in pea patches
August 30, 2011
Issaquah-area community gardens offer bounty, camaraderie
Summertime in the Mirrormont Pea Patch resembles a slice of Eden on Tiger Mountain.
Linda Jean Shepherd (above) points to some of the plants growing in a raised garden plot at the Mirrormont Pea Patch. By Greg Farrar
Pathways crisscross the ground among the lush leaves and verdant vines reaching out from bean, potato, tomato and dozens of other plants. Colorful blooms and delicate herbs greet guests at the garden gate.
“It’s about growing food, but it’s also about growing community,” Linda Jean Shepherd, a longtime Mirrormont resident and lead figure in establishing the pea patch, said on a stroll through the garden.
Some plots contain plants in neat rows. The plants in others bend and coil to Mother Nature’s whims.
“It’s so fun to see how people’s personalities are expressed in their gardens,” Shepherd said.
In Mirrormont and elsewhere in the Issaquah area, community gardens continue to sprout on empty lots and unused corners. The pea patches offer opportunities to grow produce, sure, but also a chance to grow community as neighbors join to dig and plant.
Gardeners from the pea patches often donate fresh, and often organic, produce to the Issaquah Food & Clothing Bank and other food pantries.
Public Meetings
August 30, 2011
Sept. 1
Cemetery Board
6:30 p.m.
Coho Room, City Hall
130 E. Sunset Way
Sept. 5
City, county, state and federal offices, and schools, close for Labor Day
Neighborhood turns trash, food scraps, to treasure, rich compost
August 30, 2011
Residents donate 400 pounds of garbage for composting effort
The half-gnawed corncobs, shorn pineapple tops, slimy banana peels and grease-stained pizza boxes simmered in the midday sun — a concoction assembled from the kitchen castoffs of 10 Issaquah families.
Residents of the Sycamore neighborhood near downtown Issaquah dump a last load of food scraps into more than 400 pounds of collected food waste. Contributed
The festering pile in Donna Misner’s driveway Aug. 24 included more than 400 pounds collected from residents in the Sycamore neighborhood near downtown Issaquah.
King County joined the residents to increase food-scrap recycling for a month to accomplish dual goals: demonstrate the ease of food-scrap recycling and turn the garbage into rich compost for a community garden.
“I don’t consider this waste. People always joke, ‘Oh, it’s garbage and it’s stinky. This is a material. This is a resource — that’s what this is right here,” King County EcoConsumer Tom Watson said during a midday event in the Sycamore driveway. “It may smell a little bit on a hot day, but when you do it at home, it’s not going to smell. When Cedar Grove makes it into compost, the final product is a product that’s going to help your garden grow. It’s a resource.”
Cedar Grove Composting plans to transform the refuse into compost and then donate the results to the Issaquah Flatland Community Garden near the AtWork! Recycling Center by late fall. Gardeners send 25 percent of the organic bounty to the Issaquah Food & Clothing Bank.
“The garden is a nice focal point for the Issaquah community,” AtWork! Community Development Manager Dennis Wadja said. “Neighbors walk to the garden, children are exposed to growing food, the food bank receives nutritious organic food and space is available for the disabled population. We see this recycling project as an opportunity to connect deeper to the wider community.”
(Cedar Grove Composting is near the Cedar Hills Regional Landfill in unincorporated King County between Issaquah and Maple Valley.)
Officials and teams from the King County Solid Waste Division and Cedar Grove Composting — including a county staffer dressed as a banana — gathered at the Misner home along Issaquah Creek as Tiger Mountain basked in the sunshine beyond.
