We Need Your Help!

Puget Creek Restoration Work

Second Saturday Every month 8 am to 1 pm

Call us to get involved!

Parking is available along Ruston Way as well as along N Alder Way. Look for the gravel area next to the fenced off shipping containers half a block up North Alder. A PCRS banner will be at the end of the road.

Refreshments, rubber boots, and gloves provided. Dress for changing weather conditions and wear clothes you can get dirty.

Or, schedule your group restoration event anytime.

On Thursday, April 24, PCRS volunteers worked alongside biology students, professors, and board members from Tacoma Community College to release 250 coho salmon fry into Puget Creek. The TCC students had raised the fish from eggs in the classroom. These salmon will hopefully complete the coho salmon life cycle and return back to Puget Creek.

Before becoming spawning adults, coho salmon must go through several life stages. Mature coho salmon return to the freshwater streams that they were raised in at the end of their lives, where they stop eating and only focus on spawning. The female would first deposit her eggs in gravel beds, called redds. Males must then fertilize the redds, so that the embryos can eventually hatch into alevins, where they will live among the gravel feeding off of their yolk sacs. A few months after

becoming alevins, the young coho salmon transition into fry, where they forage for food such as aquatic insects in the freshwater environment. A coho salmon fry is usually about 1 inch long and can swim freely. coho Salmon will spend up to a year in slow moving lakes and

streams, such as Puget Creek. As they transition from freshwater to saltwater, the salmon are known as smolt and will go through physiological changes to their bodies to adjust for the change. Once they enter the ocean, salmon will spend the next few years growing and can migrate thousands of miles before returning to their birth stream.

In a few years, we hope to see these coho salmon that we helped release into Puget Creek return as mature adults to spawn.

Summer 2014 Page 1

TCC Coho Salmon Release

In This Issue

Coho Salmon Fry Release

Green Crab Surveys

New Outreach Coordinator

Monthly Seminar Schedule

Tacoma Rainiers Game

Volunteer Openings

Simple Ways You Can Make Difference

702 Broadway, Suite 101 Tacoma, WA 98402

253.779.8890 www.pugetcreek.org | pcrs@pugetcreek.org

facebook.com/pugetcreek

twitter.com/pugetcreek

Summer 2014

Hey everyone! I just wanted to introduce myself a little bit. My name is Jackie Mathes, and I recently took over as Outreach Coordinator. I graduated with a BSc in Biology from the University of Puget Sound in 2012 and began interning with PCRS last October. I’m excited to bring my interest in design and eye for detail to Puget Creek as we update our outreach materials and connect with the community.

I first heard about the Puget Creek Restoration Society when I was in college and came out for a group volunteer activity. We spent the afternoon removing English Ivy in the upper gulch, and at the time, it felt like such a daunting task to change the landscape of the area. The hillside was completely overtaken with ivy and after a day of work, it seemed like little impact had been made. I came back to

intern with PCRS almost two years later and I was amazed at how different everything looked. Where almost nothing but ivy had been seen, there was now a diverse landscape of large ferns scattered among a variety of native plants. Seeing that change really gave me an understanding of the work that PCRS does and how it affects the habitat in the long run.

As an intern, I was able to get involved in many different areas of field work, from monitoring wildlife and identifying native vegetation to developing planting plans and guiding volunteer groups. In the office, I collaborated on grant applications, calibrated the equipment, and humored Scott’s jokes.

In my free time, I volunteer at the Seattle Aquarium and the Grand Cinema, and enjoy camping, crafting, and almost every kind of water sport.

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Some of the ongoing projects at Puget Creek involve looking for invasive species. Right now, we are conducting surveys for European Green Crabs in the Puget Sound along Ruston Way. European Green Crabs are invasive and predatory; they harm native vegetation and other species when they inhabit an area, leading to decreased biodiversity and destabilization of the natural balance of organisms. Among the native species harmed are Dungeness and Red Rock Crabs, which is also a serious threat to the established commercial crabbing industry in Washington.

Leonard Perez, a longtime intern at PCRS, comments that in his time conducting Green Crab surveys with PCRS, he has fortunately never seen any Green Crabs. Regardless, all of the species found in the crabbing pots are recorded. Thus, if a Green Crab invasion were to occur, we would

know which species they would impact and therefore which species would require restoration.

The crabbing pots are placed at low tidal areas, evenly spaced out. The next day, again during low tide, the pots are inspected for documentation. This process occurs monthly between April and September and is usually conducted by our field interns.

The Puget Creek Restoration Society protects, enhances, and

restores the Puget Creek Watershed and similar streams,

wetlands, and green spaces. We serve the South Puget Sound

communities and invite their participation through hands-on

restoration, research, education, advocacy, and by promoting a

sense of stewardship.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Steven Beckstead President

Lester Sweson Vice President

Ramona Bueno

Secretary

Phil Schneider Treasurer

Scott M. Hansen

John C. Randolph

HONORARY BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Northend Neighborhood Council

ADVISORY BOARD

Edward S. Winskill

Michael A. Corsini

Dr. Sherry Graham

Susan Penhale

Mike Webb

A tax-exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization

Watching Out for Those Invasive Species!

New Outreach Coordinator!

Join us for our monthly

Seminars!

Our seminars are student focused, interactive, and

given by experts and scientists in those fields.

Join us on the first Saturday of each month from 12-2 pm to learn

about habitat and wildlife features found in

Tacoma’s natural areas.

Upcoming Seminars

8/2/14: Macro-Invertebrate and

Sediment Sampling

9/6/14: Salmon Carcasses as Nutrient

Recycling & Water Cycle for Urban Streams

10/4/14: Getting to

Know Puget Creek— It’s Ours to Protect!

11/1/14: Sand Lance and

Native Vegetation

12/6/14: Coho Salmon—The Low Down

Please RSVP at either:

pcrs@pugetcreek.org

or (253) 779-8890

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Adopt a Stream Get involved with PCRS directly in the outdoors by adopting a stream! PCRS volunteers and interns not only monitor the water quality of Puget Creek, but also Mason, Dry, Garfield, Crystal Springs, and Buckley Creeks. You will be trained to use a water quality meter and probes to conduct surveys testing for oxygen levels, pH, conductivity, and temperature.

Business Administration Intern While a large portion of PCRS internships are focused on fieldwork, the behind-the-scenes office work is equally important and excellent experience for future jobs. Some specific responsibilities for this position include: database entry, designing systems of document organization, updating bibliographies, and filing. This position also allows for many opportunities to get involved with outreach. For example, you might write an article for and edit the upcoming newsletter or design a new brochure.

Watershed Adventures Naturalist Do you like spending time in nature and sharing knowledge with others? If so, we would like to invite you become a naturalist in our Watershed Adventures Program.

The program provides a 5-hour outdoor education experience for 4th and 5th grade classes to be held at Puget Creek.

Each naturalist takes a group of 7-8 students and instructs them for 45 minutes in each of four watershed topics for a total of about 3 hours.

Summer 2014

Volunteer Opportunities

A big Thank You to all the PCRS Interns for their time & dedication!

To inquire about volunteering with us or tailoring an internship to your needs, please contact Scott Hansen at (253) 779-8890 or email syti@pugetcreek.org

The Tacoma Rainiers will be playing the Omaha Storm Chasers on Thursday, August 21st, and Puget Creek is taking over Cheney Stadium!

Join us and learn how you can help prevent stormwater pollution and keep our streams and green spaces clean!

Tickets are $10.50 and include: Seating in our Reserved Section Ballpark Meal: Hot Dog, Chips, and a Drink Game Program - The Dirt

There will also be $2 Miller Lites on the Miller Time Terrace!

Visit pugetcreek.org/Tacomarainiers.html to buy your ticket through paypal and have it mailed to your door. Or come by the office to get your ticket and avoid the fees.

Puget Creek is taking over Cheney Stadium on August 21st!

Join the Puget Creek Restoration Society Name:___________________________________________________________________________

Address:_________________________________________________________________________

City:_____________________________ State:______________ Zip:_________________________

Phone:__________________________ E-mail:__________________________________________

Membership Dues (check one) Donation (annual support)

____ Business - $50/year ____ Mad Scientist - $250/year

____ Family - $30/year ____ Naturalist - $100/year

____ Individual - $20/year ____ Steward - $75/year

____ Work nine or more volunteer hours ____ Friend - $50/year

____ Other ____ Other (ours & your dreams)

Which of the following types of activities are you interested in? (please check all that apply)

____ Office work ____ Research

____ Restoration activities ____ Education/Outreach

____ Legislative issues ____ Salmon enhancement projects

Please cut out this section and mail or return it to the Puget Creek Restoration Society office (address listed below)

PCRS is a 501(c)(3) organization and all of your dues and donations are tax deductible.

702 Broadway Suite 101 Tacoma, WA 98402

253.779.8890 www.pugetcreek.org | pcrs@pugetcreek.org

Fred Meyer Customer? Link your Fred Meyer rewards Card to Puget Creek Restoration Society by visiting www.fredmeyer.com/communityrewards and providing PCRS’s NPO number (94839). Each time you shop with your Rewards Card, a small donation will be made straight to PCRS. Use the internet? Change your default search engine from Google, Bing, or Yahoo to Goodsearch. Goodsearch allows you to sign up with a nonprofit organization (PCRS!), and every time you search, a penny is donated to PCRS. All those pennies add up! Shop on Amazon? Visit smile.amazon.com to link your Amazon account to PCRS. Every time you make an Amazon purchase, you’ll also be helping out your favorite Tacoma nonprofit.

Page 4 Summer 2014

Simple Ways You Can Make a Difference: Fundraising