The Hardest Working Rain Garden
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Here's a series of videos showing how hard a recently installed rain garden is working for Cascade High School in Everett.
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Fruit Trees Will Soothe Your Spirit and Brighten Your Mind
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Many people forget about fruit trees when they are planning out their yards, but they should not be overlooked. They are so simple, so rewarding, and so beautiful. They represent our most ancient connection to the bounty of nature. They are fun to work on, soothing to look at, and their personalities are all so different.
Read MoreGratitude and Progress at a Community Garden in Marysville
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Nice write up from Sea Mar Community Health Center on their volunteer event a couple weekends ago.
Read MoreThe Gallons Add Up
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The newly installed stormwater projects at these six schools will help divert and filter an estimated 436,700 gallons of stormwater each year! This number is based on an estimated 10 refills of the rain barrels and cisterns, which is the average usage rate. All of this adds up to cleaner, colder, and clearer streams and untold numbers of happy salmon.
Read MorePuget Sound Starts at My School
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Several schools recently finished up their participation in a National Fish and Wildlife funded grant, Puget Sound Starts at My School. This program involved 658 students in the planning, design, and installation of stormwater projects on school campuses. In total, the projects completed through this grant will divert and filter an estimated 435,769 gallons of stormwater every year!
Read More5 Tips for Winter Horsekeeping
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As the days grow shorter it’s time to prepare for the dark, wet days of winter. We know the challenges that await us in these winter months: rain, mud, darkness, and cold. The constant, never-ending rainy days can make chores difficult and alter the routines of our horses, but planning ahead can make the winter manageable, and safe, for horses and horse owners alike. Here are our top five tips for winter horsekeeping in the Pacific Northwest.
Read MoreBusinesses Create Better Ground
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At the end of August, Snohomish Conservation District gathered dozens of local volunteers together behind the Stanwood Camano Village to help restore a bare and degraded landscape right in their own backyard. Our Community Conservation team has been working hard to reach businesses and community members within project areas.
Read MoreThe Benefits of Native Meadows
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Native bees and other pollinators pollinate approximately 85% of the flowering plants on the planet that produce one-third of the food we consume. With land-use changes causing the decline of native habitat, native pollinator populations are declining with some species at risk of extinction.
Read MoreAgriculture Resilience & the Photovoice Story
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Traveling the back roads of Snohomish County, you’ll pass a variety of scenic farms. Farms have been a crucial component of the landscape, history, and economy of this county and most of Puget Sound, and will hopefully remain so. The types of farms and the products grown vary and farm stability relies on resilience to adapt to changing markets, climatic variations, consumer preferences and rising land and equipment costs.
Read MoreDoing the Right Thing(s)
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Back in August, we went back to visit one of our cooperators, Bill Cayford, who is the type of guy who just wants to do the right thing with his land.
Bill has 20 acres total, half of which is pasture and open space
Read MoreNew Grant in Monroe Helping Residents Garden in Their Housing Community
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Here's a creative way to move dirt from one part of a hill to another. This happened in Monroe at the Housing Hope family complex. Snohomish Conservation District is partnering with Housing Hope to restore and build garden beds for residents.
Read MoreQ & A About the 2017/18 FIRST® LEGO® League Hydro Dynamics Challenge
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Here are some helpful tips from our district engineer for youth scientists participating in the First Lego League Challenge - 2017/18 Hydro Dynamics Challenge.
Read MoreYour Lawn As Art
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Maybe you read last week’s editorial about lawns stifling creativity and you’ve started to second guess the big rectangle of grass in your front yard, but you’re hesitant to get rid of your lawn altogether. After all, you’ve got kids, or pets, or both, and it’s a great space to play!
I’ve got good news for you: you can keep your lawn and be creative with it at the same time.
Read MoreLawns are Strangling Your Creativity
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Your land is a powerful medium for creative potential and beauty. Why are you doing the bare minimum with it?
Read MoreBiggest Rain Garden Planted!
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Our largest rain garden has finally been planted. Check out how small it makes our Vet Crew seem.
Read MoreLawns to Lettuce program in Monroe
/Learn more about Lawns to Lettuce!
Read MoreNew Year, New WCC Crew
/Get to know our 2017-2018 Washington Conservation Corps crew!
Read MoreA Triple-Duty Rain Garden on Camano Island
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This Camano Island rain garden is doing triple duty, filtering water from three different sources: rainwater from the sky, runoff from the roof, and surface water from the uphill slope.
Read More'Living with Beavers' Workshops Well Received
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First series of 'Living with Beavers' workshops held and useful for attendees in Tulalip, Stanwood and Monroe.
Read MoreA Look Back at Our Season of Spreading . . . Manure
/Manure & Lime Spreader Program Ending for 2017
Sound Horsekeepers, Adam and Tracey
The spreaders are out at the last cooperators' property and will be picked up Friday and put away for the season. We will not be taking reservations until April 2 for next spring, so mark it on your calendars. There will be some changes coming to the program that Michael Hipp, our Resource Planner / Sound Horsekeeping Program Manager, will be working on over the winter, They are changes related to efficiency so that we can better serve you all. He will let you know what those are as they become official.
THANK YOU!
A big THANK YOU to everyone who participated in the spreader program this year! 2017 was the busiest and most successful yet.
34 Cooperators (aka landowners / farmers / horsekeepers) used the spreaders; some, multiple times.
3,020 miles driven to deliver the spreaders - that's the distance from Seattle to San Salvador, El Salvador!
Only 1 flat tire on the trailer (thanks to Skagit Farmer's Supply for the assist!)
And there is no way to measure the tens of thousands of pounds of manure and lime spread this year, but it is great to know that all those nutrients are out building good soil. Thank you to our cooperators for not only having Michael out to your property to discuss soil health and good pasture management practices, but also for following through and getting your pastures one step healthier for your horses.
Please remember that if you encounter any new resource concerns over the winter Michael is always here to help. Winter in western Washington is always a challenge with horses, so please don't ever hesitate to contact him any time.
Office: (425) 377-7019 | Email: mhipp@snohomishcd.org
