Proud to Serve: MLK Day of Service Success for EarthCorps & Seattle

Despite a challenging economy, people signed up to volunteer with EarthCorps in record numbers to help create healthier urban forests and more vibrant neighborhoods -- especially in Seattle's ethnically diverse and low-income neighborhoods.

See the news clip about record volunteering with EarthCorps and other organizations this weekend on King 5

Events over MLK Weekend included:

• Dr. Jose Rizal Park: restoring forests on the steep hillside overlooking Safeco Field and the International District. Named for a Philippino activist, this forest was once known as "The Jungle" and was taken over by feuding heroin gangs. Neighbors have since taken back the park, with help from many groups, including 100 volunteers led by EarthCorps on Saturday.

• Dearborn Park: this forest neighboring an elementary school is undergoing a transformation from a neglected area into a community resource. Almost 100 volunteers joined EarthCorps on Sunday to lend a hand.

• Cheasty Greenspace: this 57-acre area near Rainier Valley / MLK Way hosted 399 volunteers on Monday, removing ivy, blackberry and mounds of debris. Over the past several years, EarthCorps volunteers have reclaimed much of the area from invasive plants, uncovering a valuable natural area for people to picnic, jog, walk dogs and just enjoy the rare January sunshine together.

Thanks to the tremendous outpouring of support from volunteers, we made excellent progress on transforming these natural areas into truly valuable habitat and community gathering space. On Monday alone, volunteers removed invasives plants and maintained nearly 100,000 square feet of greenspace (almost 2.3 acres) in the 57-acre area of Cheasty Greenspace.

Dr. King on serving your community:
"Everybody can be great... because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love."

Transit Oriented Communities Bill a Win-win for Neighborhoods and the Environment

There may be no greater challenges that our state faces today than the threat of global warming and the lack of sufficient affordable housing. While they may appear to be unrelated issues, the lack of affordable housing pushes people to live further from jobs and community services, creating longer commutes. More time spent in cars increases vehicle miles traveled, which leads to greater greenhouse gas emissions. Development at the urban fringe converts working farms and forests to urban uses, resulting in less carbon-sequestering open space and tree canopy.

Compounding problems, loss of rural and resource lands threatens local food security, eliminates wildlife habitat and has been linked to the degradation of Puget Sound. Lack of housing affordable to low and moderate income earners exacerbates poverty issues, adding pricey transportation costs to household expenses. On the economic side the increased infrastructure costs to expand roads and build sewer lines to urban fringe development is an enormous economic burden on all taxpayers.

To solve these problems, countless recent planning processes and reports, including efforts by the state's Climate Action Team and Land Use and Climate Change committees, Puget Sound Regional Council, Puget Sound Partnership, Seattle Planning Commission, and the Urban Land Institute, have come to the same conclusion: walkable, mixed-use communities offering good transit and biking opportunities, as well as housing affordable to a range of incomes, is key to keeping our state environmentally, socially and economically sustainable. Fortunately, these "transit-oriented communities" are exactly what more people are seeking. "Walkability" has become a top real estate amenity as people look for vibrant neighborhoods where they can live, work, shop and play without relying on a car.

To address these plans, House Bill 1490 introduced by Futurewise, Transportation Choices Coalition and the Washington Low-Income Housing Alliance strives to do just that. The "Creating Transit-Oriented Communities" legislation has also been selected as one of the priorities for the Washington State environmental community. Central components of the bill include:

• Requiring jurisdictions to consider climate impacts of land use and transportation. Meeting state greenhouse gas and vehicle miles travelled reduction requirements will necessitate more compact and walkable development in our cities, and more preservation of our rural and resource lands. Local jurisdictions will decide, through their comprehensive plans, how to best meet these goals.
• Maximizing land use potential near high capacity transit stations. What better way to leverage the multi-billion dollar transit investments made by the region's taxpayers than to provide more opportunities for people to live and work near transit? Local neighborhoods will decide the shape and character of these compact and walkable communities.
• Strengthening affordability requirements in cities. New guidelines will require cities to protect existing affordable housing stock and direct more affordability programs to new development in transit station areas. Local jurisdictions can decide what best mix of programs and incentives will meet the requirements.

The bill will support and strengthen the work already being done by many cities. To name a few: Tacoma, Spokane and Lynnwood are leaders on looking at climate impacts of land use and transportation; Seattle, Bellevue and Redmond already have "transit-oriented community"-supportive zoning in most of their transit station areas; and Kirkland and Seattle are making progress on providing housing to low and moderate income earners. For these and other jurisdictions, the bill will provide the necessary framework to address climate change and housing affordability in their local policy-making.

The "Creating Transit-Oriented Communities" bill will be a win for communities and a win for the environment. And with the challenges of global warming and housing affordability growing larger by the day, we need to act now if we want to leave future generations with a state that is environmentally, socially and economically sound.

Dan Cantrell, Rob Johnson and Rachael Myers

Collaboration Creates New Birding Trail Route

When Christi Norman, director of Audubon's Great Washington State Birding Trail, wants to create a new route, she goes to the source: directly to people who live along the proposed route. Each map takes more than a year to develop and is a collaborative effort from the start.

The fifth of the Birding Trail's seven planned maps, the Sun and Sage Loop, will be unveiled in the state capital Feb. 19^th in a ceremony featuring live birds, a Great Horned Owl and a Red-tailed Hawk.  The new route goes through the heart of Washington's wine country: from Ellensburg to Yakima, down through Tri-Cities, to Walla Walla and back along the Columbia River.

Birding "trails", now offered in 30 states, are self-guided driving tours to places where birds are likely to be seen. With more than 40 million Americans describing themselves as interested in bird watching, the Great Washington State Birding Trail provides a practical, easy way for both residents and visitors to enjoy our 346 annually recorded bird species and our varied natural landscapes. Birding trails provide a popular, successful combination of outdoor recreation, conservation and new rural economic development.

Together with its local chapters, Audubon Washington produced its first map of the birding trail in 2002, the Cascade Loop. The Coulee Corridor followed in 2003, Southwest Loop in 2005, and Olympic Loop in 2007. Two additional routes covering eastern Washington and the Puget Sound area will complete the birding trail by 2010. All maps contain information about habitat, bird species, access, and best seasons for birding.   Washington's own Birding Trail offers family exploration and discovery at places close to home, among some of the country's most beautiful and varied landscapes.

Coming Feb. 19^th - the Sun and Sage Loop. See http://wa.audubon.org and click on Great Washington State Birding Trail.

Earth Answers: Native Plant Sales in Your Area

People often ask where they can get native plants for their gardens and landscaping so don't miss out: check out this link for a list of seven Conservation District native plants sales in January, February and March: www.snohomishcd.org/plant-sale .

Many have early orders.

Go Native and help save water, wildlife, birds and bees!

Do you have a question relating to environmental or conservation activities?  Contact Us with your question and we'll find someone in our 21 local groups that's an expert on it and get you the answer.