Earth Share of Washington

Washington Environmental Council Collaborates on a New Shoreline Management Act

- submitted by Kathy Malley from Earth Share of Washington member Washington Environmental Council

The Washington Environmental Council (WEC) proudly announces a major victory for the environment. Overcoming seven years of bureaucratic gridlock, WEC successfully negotiated a proposal for new guidelines to protect and restore shorelines throughout the state under the Shoreline Management Act (SMA).

"This important agreement will help us move forward to protect our shorelines," says Governor Gary Locke. "By bringing businesses and environmentalists together, we have proven that we can achieve consensus on even the most controversial issues."

The SMA establishes a cooperative program between state and local government. Each local government in the state is responsible for developing a local Shoreline Master Program to protect its shoreline resources. The SMA guidelines adopted by the state are critical because they establish the standards and criteria that each of these local Master Programs must meet.

The proposed new SMA guidelines promise significant benefits for the environment. They will require local governments and developers to prevent any further net loss of ecological functions along freshwater and marine shorelines. And they will require local governments to develop and implement a plan to restore degraded shorelines.

First, public hearings on the newly proposed guidelines will be conducted and it is possible that changes will be made. Once the guidelines have been formally adopted into a rule, local governments will need funding to update their shoreline plans. The legislature will need to be persuaded to provide this support. And once the guidelines are finalized and funding is secured, it is imperative that citizens participate in their own local government's Master Program update process to ensure that the strong statewide standards and criteria WEC negotiated are translated into real on-the-ground protections at the local level.

WEC worked with other Earth Share of Washington members to achieve this victory including People for Puget Sound and Audubon Washington.

"We've accomplished something good for our kids and grandkids. Improved guidelines will help protect the rivers, lakes and marine waters that make Washington so amazing," said Jay Manning of the Washington Environmental Council.

Take a moment to celebrate this important victory, but don't celebrate too long - there's more work yet to be done!

EarthCorps Awarded $100,000 to Restore an Urban Forest in South Seattle

The Seattle Foundation announced that it is awarding the 2002 Leadership Grant to EarthCorps for their Cheasty Greenspace Project. The organization will receive the $100,000 grant for their efforts to improve the quality of the environment by engaging diverse communities in their work.

EarthCorps' youth-driven, two-year project to restore Cheasty Greenspace, a 43-acre urban forest in South Seattle, will bring together neighborhood youth through schools and community-based organizations to work to restore this neighborhood park.

"We are thrilled to receive The Seattle Foundation's Leadership Grant," says EarthCorps Executive Director Steve Dubiel. "The goal of our project is to engage young people from Beacon Hill and the Rainier Valley in their community by restoring Cheasty Greenspace, originally designed as part of the Olmsted Boulevard Plan for Seattle's park system. The Olmsted plan for Cheasty was never fully developed and natural areas of the park have been highly neglected. In the process of transforming this space to one that invites community use, our goal is to inspire in young people a lifetime of civic engagement."

Established in 1995, the Leadership Grant is awarded annually by The Seattle Foundation to recognize an organization using innovative methods to address a pressing community need. To ensure the award is relevant to the region's shifting needs, the Foundation targets the $100,000 grant to a different community issue each year.

EarthCorps is a Seattle-based environmental non-profit organization that teaches children and young adults environmental restoration, teamwork and leadership. EarthCorps field projects are located throughout King County and involve invasive plant removal, planting of native trees, trail construction and maintenance.

Help Nominate Important Bird Areas in Your Community

Audubon Washington is working to conserve a network of places that will provide essential habitat for birds in our state. Their Important Bird Areas (IBA) program is part of a global effort to identify areas that are the most important for maintaining bird populations, and to focus conservation efforts at protecting these sites.

Important Bird Areas are sites that provide a vital environment for birds. With the assistance of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Audubon Washington began identifying IBAs in Washington in 1998. In June 2001, they published Important Bird Areas of Washington, a 170-page directory describing the first 53 IBAs in our state.

This month, Audubon Washington is beginning a second round of ascertaining IBAs. Currently, Audubon staff, chapter members, and other dedicated volunteers are working to gather the relevant information. They welcome the participation of volunteers! Even if you're not an experienced birder or have never participated in field research before, they can use your help!

Anyone may nominate a site as an IBA. This involves filling out a standard form that describes an area and its bird life, habitat characteristics, land uses, and potential conservation threats. Nominations are evaluated by a team of expert ornithologists. Sites that meet the minimum criteria will be featured in a second edition of Important Bird Areas of Washington.

To get involved, please contact Tim Cullinan at Audubon Washington, 360-683-6257 or tcullinan@audubon.org; or visit their web site and look for IBAs under "Birds and Science" to learn more about the project and download nomination forms. The new nomination period runs until May 31, 2003.

An Ecological Way to Do Your Spring Cleaning

An Ecological Way to Do Your Spring Cleaning

Those Madonna CDs gathering dust in your closet could be transformed into greenbacks for green groups thanks to a new non-profit called Eco Encore. The Seattle-based organization collects donations of used books, CDs and videos, leverages their value by selling them online, and directs proceeds from the sales to environmental organizations in the Puget Sound region, including 7 Earth Share of Washington members. Aaron Keating from Earth Share of Washington member Center for Environmental Law & Policy (CELP) says "Thanks to Eco Encore, CELP is turning unwanted goods into financial contributions that protect and restore Washington's rivers, streams, and aquifers."

"People think the boxes of old books and CDs in their basements are worthless, but those items can easily be converted into donations that are worth a great deal to environmental organizations that really need support right now," says Jesse Putnam, Eco Encore's founder and director. Many donors to Eco Encore see the value to the environment and the convenience of this service - unwanted clutter is hauled away from their houses instead of ending up in landfills. The donations generated by Eco Encore - the small ones as well as the large - help sustain a range of non-profits that are hard at work protecting water, wilderness and wildlife in the Pacific Northwest.

According to Elizabeth Lunney, Executive Director of Earth Share of Washington member Washington Trails Association, "Eco Encore is a great project that we fully support. Not only are they raising money for the environment in an eco-friendly way, but the project raises awareness about everyday opportunities to reuse and recycle."

Want to introduce your old books, CDs and videos into this virtuous cycle and earmark the proceeds an environmental nonprofit? Email Eco Encore (donations@ecoencore.org) or check out their website (http://www.ecoencore.org) for information on making a donation.

Cool Website

ECycle Technology - Recycling Old and Used Computers
http://www.ecycletech.com/

Ecycle Technology recycles any and all consumer electronics from PC's to cell phones, keeping these hazardous materials out of landfills. What sets them apart from other computer recyclers is that they take all computers, working or not, and they take almost everything for free. Instead of salvaging some parts and tossing the rest, Ecycle refurbishes these machines and reuses many functional parts. Their central warehouse is conveniently located in Seattle and pick-ups are available on request.