The swallows have returned, and a few other spring migrants and summer residents are beginning to show up, but it has been a quiet month birdwise. At our quarterly ranger meeting, we had a presentation on the Juanita Bay Park Restoration Plan. There will be much more work on removing invasive plants and replanting native plants in this park this year. Restoration work also continues in Kiwanis, Watershed, Carrillon Woods, and Cotton Hill parks. The Juanita Bay Restoration Plan can now be downloaded from the Kirkland Parks site. Maps showing the scheduled work will be posted on the back of the kiosk next to the parking lot. We are getting many tour requests from scouting and school groups for the next few months.
Juanita Bay Park, being a wildlife refuge, is not under consideration for an off-leash dog area, but there are other sites being discussed.
Eastside Plant Stewardship Training
Kirkland is one of several eastside cities co-sponsoring this training in April 24-June 26 (Fridays and 3 Saturday field trips) on the Eastside. The training will take place at Bellevue’s Lewis Creek Park, and includes environmental education and interpretation, native plant identification, and restoration techniques. Additional information: www.wnps.org under “What’s New?”. This program requires 100 hours of community service in lieu of tuition. Kirkland Parks, and other sponsors, have planned on providing opportunities to fulfill the community hours. Registration deadline is April 15. An application can be downloaded from http://www.wnps.org/npsp/king/program.html.
April Green Calendar
Wednesday April 8: Sustainable Futures Book Club, Redmond Regional Library 7 p.m. at fireplace seating area. The April selection is any one of the Kim Stanley Robinson trilogy on global climate change (Forty Signs of Rain, Fifty Degrees Below, or Sixty Days and Counting). A list of all selections discussed in the 2.5 years the group has met to date, along with other suggested readings on sustainability is at http://groups.google.com/group/sustainablefuturesbookclub/
Thursday April 9: Sustainable Kirkland Community group meets, 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. For further information, go to. www.sustainablekirkland.org. This group started last fall, and is growing rapidly.
Saturday April 19: 9-11:30 a.m. Watershed Park Nature Walk. Meet at NE 45th Street and 110th Avenue NE entrance. Free, no pre-registration required. The salmonberry were just beginning to bloom, and the first trillium was out on the March walk, so April should be spectacular!. http://www.eastsideaudubon.org/.
Saturday April 25: Green Kirkland Partnership and Earth Corps sponsor a work party at Juanita Bay Park 9 to noon. greenkirkland@ci.kirkland.wa.us
April 8, 11, 15, 25: SEELC (St. Edwards Environmental Learning Center) has classes in on various topics including salmon, native and edible plants, birds, orienteering. www.seelc.org for more information. Free, but pre-registration is required. Altogether, 33 courses are offered between March 25 and October 21 this year, a threefold increase over the 2008 offerings. (2008 was the first year of the program.)
Janice Johnson is a Juanita resident and a volunteer ranger at Juanita Bay Park, among other local environmental, community and music groups activities.
