Photos from March 26th

These photos are from the Prince of Peace Youth Group trail maintenance event at Chester Morse Lake:

Clayt Antieau explaining the tasks for the day.

Photos Courtesy of Sarah Waller.

Photos from March 27th

Here are a couple photos from the Day of Learning and Stewardship event on March 27th. It was snowing! This however did not hamper the efforts of these students:

Photos Courtesy of Sarah Waller.

Taylor Creek Habitat Restoration - Trip Report

Greetings Again!

This is the first trip report of many to come for this blog. Last Saturday, about 25 volunteers contributed to an important, multi-year project to reconnect Taylor Creek with its historic floodplain and to restore wildlife habitat in this 9-acre wetland. The site is located in the lower watershed near Maple Valley. The volunteers worked in small teams lead by members of Washington State Conservation Corps to identify and pull invasive Scotch Broom and remove weed fabric from previous plantings.

FCRW board member Jason Mulvihill-Kuntz had the following to report from the trip:
note - some editing for context

"Today went really well. We had roughly 25 volunteers, including fellow board member Gretchen Muller and I, and about 10 WCC members. The goal for the day was to remove the black plastic fabric from the site, and perhaps remove a few scotch broom if there was time. We finished pulling the plastic by 11:30 a.m. and spent the rest of the time clearing an entire field of scotch broom, as well as placing multiple old Christmas trees throughout the site to serve as additional woody debris to trap sediment and enhance salmon habitat. Peter was very impressed with the crew. The YMCA group was great, and really seemed to enjoy the work and being outside. People missed having you (Sarah Waller, FCRW volunteer coordinator) there, but Gretchen and I did our best to fill in as surrogate Friends reps!

I managed to forget my camera, but luckily two WCC members were taking photos. I made friends with them and they agreed to send me the photos from the event! I'll pass them along as soon as I get something."

We look forward to seeing the photos, and will post them as soon as we have them!

Welcome!

Welecome to the Friends of the Cedar River Watershed blog! For the first post, I feel it is important for you to find out what we are all about.:

The Friends of the Cedar River Watershed

Vision - A Cedar River Watershed that provides healthy drinking water and ecological systems that support people, fish, and wildlife now and for generations to come.

Mission - To inspire conservation and protection of a healthy Cedar River Watershed through restoration, education, and stewardship.

The Friends of the Cedar River Watershed (FCRW) is a private, non-profit organization incorporated in 1996 and dedicated to the protection and restoration of the Cedar River Watershed, an ecological preserve that is source of drinking water to more than a million greater Seattle area residents.

The Friends of the Cedar River Watershed are working to:

• Ensure the long-term stewardship of the watershed
• Provide and promote environmental education, especially for children
• Educate the public about the importance of the Cedar River Watershed

Since 1996, the Friends have worked diligently to build a grassroots constituency for the watershed through membership recruitment and outreach to partner organizations. The Friends also have been active in recruiting volunteers, hosting restoration events within the watershed, and in raising funds to support the construction of the Cedar River Watershed Education Center. Our primary goal is to educate the public about the source of our water and its ecological and cultural value, and to engage them in promoting the health of the Watershed.