Issaquah Farmers Market returns for 22nd season April 21
April 17, 2012
The Issaquah Farmers Market at Pickering Farm attracts large crowds of visitors and patrons on a warm August Saturday in 2011. By Greg Farrar
The historic Pickering Farm emerges from a seasonal slumber soon as the popular Issaquah Farmers Market returns.
The market debuts for the season April 21. The return is a sign springtime is inching closer to summertime.
The farmers market runs every Saturday, rain or shine, from April to October. The market features seasonal produce, crafts, food vendors, and demonstrations or entertainment each week.
Issaquah is a Tree City USA for the 19th year
April 17, 2012
The state Department of Natural Resources recognized Issaquah and 82 other Washington cities April 10 for efforts to protect and expand urban forests.
Issaquah is a 19-year Tree City USA. The honor from the Arbor Day Foundation is bestowed on cities dedicated to urban forestry. Washington celebrated Arbor Day on April 11.
The city is required to observe Arbor Day in order continue as a Tree City USA. Officials must also designate staff to care for trees, appoint a citizen tree board to advocate for community forestry, establish a tree ordinance and spend at least $2 per capita on tree care.
In Issaquah, the municipal Park Board handles tree-related issues.
The city Parks & Recreation Department is holding a community tree planting from 11 a.m. to noon April 21 at the Pickering Trail entrance, near 1730 10th Ave. N.W. Participants should check in from 9-11 a.m. at a community information booth near the trail entrance.
Organizers collected more than 150 trees for participants to plant.
Press Editorial
April 17, 2012
Give a nod to planet Earth
Arbor Day is April 21, followed by Earth Day on April 22. Both are an equal opportunity to show appreciation for the third rock from the sun.
The city Parks & Recreation Department will plant 150 trees along Issaquah Creek on Saturday in honor of Arbor Day. Just last week, the city earned Tree City USA status for the 19th year.
Earth Day gets a jumpstart in Issaquah on Thursday when Lake Sammamish kokanee salmon fry are released into Laughing Jacobs Creek. Public tours are available this weekend to see what happens to unrecycled garbage at the Cedar Hills Landfill in south Issaquah. Also south of the city limits, volunteers will mulch and weed the Log Cabin Natural Area along Issaquah Creek. Volunteers will do back-country trail work on Cougar Mountain.
City hosts community tree planting event for Arbor Day
April 10, 2012
Residents can join the city Parks & Recreation Department to plant trees and celebrate Arbor Day.
The parks department is holding a community tree-planting event April 21 along Issaquah Creek and the Pickering Trail. Organizers collected more than 150 trees for participants to plant.
Issaquah earns recognition as Tree City USA for 19th year
April 10, 2012
NEW — 3:45 p.m. April 10, 2012
The state Department of Natural Resources recognized Issaquah and 82 other Washington cities Tuesday for efforts to protect and expand urban forests.
Issaquah is a 19-year Tree City USA — the honor from the Arbor Day Foundation for cities dedicated to urban forestry.
Washington celebrates Arbor Day on April 11.
The city Parks & Recreation Department is holding a community tree planting event April 21 along Issaquah Creek and the Pickering Trail. Organizers collected more than 150 trees for participants to plant.
The city is required to observe Arbor Day in order continue as a Tree City USA. Officials must also designate staff to care for trees, appoint a citizen tree board to advocate for community forestry, establish a tree ordinance and spend at least $2 per capita on tree care.
In Issaquah, the municipal Park Board handles tree-related issues.
City plants trees for Arbor Day, honors top environmentalists
April 26, 2011
Issaquah leaders gathered on a less-than-springlike day April 16 to observe Arbor Day and plant a grove to honor Ruth Kees and the community’s other top environmentalists.
Like the top environmental honor in the city, the grove is named for the late Kees. The bespectacled environmentalist fought for decades to protect Issaquah Creek, Tiger Mountain and the Lower Issaquah Valley Aquifer from development-related threats.
The grove is set amid hundreds of other saplings in city parkland along Issaquah Creek.
Former Councilman David Kappler plants a tree at the Ruth Kees Grove on April 16. By Margaret Macleod
Former Councilman David Kappler, plus environmentalists, Joanna Buehler, Ken Konigsmark and Janet Wall — all past Ruth Kees Environmental Award for a Sustainable Community recipients — participated in the planting. Overall, about 20 people joined Mayor Ava Frisinger and the honorees for the ceremony.
Together, city leaders and residents planted conifers to symbolize the 10 Ruth Kees award recipients on a gray morning at Squak Valley Park North south of downtown Issaquah.
City celebrates Arbor Day at Ruth Kees Grove planting
April 20, 2011
Volunteers gather along Issaquah Creek on April 16 to observe Arbor Day. By Margaret Macleod
NEW — 4 p.m. April 20, 2011
Issaquah leaders gathered on a less-than-springlike day April 16 to observe Arbor Day and plant a grove to honor Ruth Kees and the community’s other top environmentalists.
Like the top environmental honor in the city, the grove is named for the late Kees. The bespectacled environmentalist fought for decades to protect Issaquah Creek, Tiger Mountain and the Lower Issaquah Valley Aquifer from development-related threats.
Join city leaders to plant Ruth Kees Grove
April 12, 2011
Ruth Kees
Help city and state leaders dedicate the Ruth Kees Grove, and commemorate Arbor Day and the 20th anniversary of the state Department of Natural Resource Urban Forestry Program, at Squak Valley Park South.
Join city officials April 16 to plant 10 native conifers to honor the 10 recipients of the Ruth Kees Environmental Award for a Sustainable Community. The city has invited past recipients to the celebration.
Plans also call for the grove to include a trail, decorative rock features and a small patio or courtyard, featuring recipients’ names engraved on paver stones.
Past recipients received the honor for efforts to establish the Mountains to Sound Greenway, blaze trails in the Issaquah Alps and protect Issaquah waterways.
Ruth Kees, a longtime environmental activist, fought for decades to protect Issaquah Creek, Tiger Mountain and the Lower Issaquah Valley Aquifer. The award namesake received the inaugural honor in 2003.
City earns Tree City USA honor again
May 4, 2010
Issaquah has been designated a Tree City USA for the 17th consecutive year. The honor from the Arbor Day Foundation recognizes cities dedicated to community forestry.
The foundation also bestowed a Tree City USA Growth Award because the city demonstrated a process in generating publicity for tree-preservation efforts, educating residents and managing the urban forest. The honor recognizes environmental improvement and higher levels of tree care in Tree City USA communities.
The city received the award last year as well.
Mayor Ava Frisinger proclaimed April 19 as Arbor Day in the city. City Open Space Steward Matt Mechler led a tree presentation for the municipal Park Board the following week.
Growing legacy: Issaquah reigns as Tree City USA
April 20, 2010
The mayor and city brass gathered to celebrate Arbor Day last April beneath dull gray skies — a bare, drab scene unlike the leafy canopy shading Issaquah streets in summertime.
City leaders and residents gather every spring to plant the official Arbor Day tree: a Burr oak near Gibson Hall last year, a crabapple at Grand Ridge Elementary School the year before. The annual ceremony serves as more than a photo opportunity.
Officials will mark Arbor Day indoors next week, with a presentation by city Open Space Steward Matt Mechler to the municipal Park Board.
Issaquah, designated as a Tree City USA for the past 16 years, is required to observe and proclaim Arbor Day to maintain the designation. Officials mark the day with a tree planting, and select a ceremonial tree for each occasion.
City Arborist Alan Haywood oversees the urban forest and ensures that Issaquah keeps the Tree City USA distinction — no small feat in a city where tree canopy covers 51 percent of the municipality.
