Practice Highlight: Alley Cropping
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Alley cropping is an agroforestry practice where rows of trees are planted wide enough to create alleys where other crops can be cultivated.
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Crabapples and Camas: Alley Cropping at Northwest Meadowscapes
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Twenty years ago, Eric Lee-Mäder found a strange-looking bottle in a wine shop that would end up changing the course of his life. The French cider inside was unlike anything he’d ever tasted.
“It was much more complex than sweet,” Eric said. “I got a sense of the whole orchard, from the bloom of the apple tree to the fungus growing in the understory.”
Read More2022 Cascade Award Winner and More Rain Barrel Fun in Lake Stevens
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See creative masterworks of rainwater catchment and find out who won the 2022 Cascade Award in Lake Stevens.
Read MoreSeeing the Forest Through New Eyes: Connections Between Restoration Planning and Forestry
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After two seasons of riparian restoration implementation, I transitioned into a role at Snohomish Conservation District that allowed me to plan and manage similar projects to improve habitat for salmon. Salmon are the bridge between our ecosystems. Traveling from oceans to estuaries, wetlands to streams, they cycle nutrients from the ocean back to the forest. They also hold immense cultural importance to Salish Sea tribes—to lose the salmon would be a loss of a way of life.
Read MoreThe Wonderful World of Wheat: New Youth Education Lessons!
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Snohomish Conservation District’s Youth Education Team is excited to offer Wheat Week to 4th and 5th grade classrooms in Snohomish County and Camano Island!
Read MoreNew Sound Education Program
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As the school year gets underway, Snohomish Conservation District’s Youth Education Team is excited to announce the start of a new, four-part Sound Education Program for elementary school classrooms in Snohomish County and Camano Island!
Read MoreAgroforestry Challenges (And 3 Reasons Why They’re Worth It)
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Agroforestry can provide major benefits for farms—it also presents unique challenges. Unlike traditional monocultures, agroforestry requires farmers to understand the needs of multiple plants and how they interact with each other. It takes planning, adaptation, and patience to create a successful system. It also isn’t static. Many agroforestry practices incorporate trees that affect shade conditions as they grow. That means crops may need to shift over the years.
So why bother with all the trouble?
Read MoreBeach Days at Camano Island
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Snohomish Conservation District is excited to announce that we’re partnering with the Cama Beach Foundation to host a series of free, family-friendly educational activities at Cama Beach this summer!
Read MoreModest Family Solutions Receives Cost Share Award
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Modest Family Solutions is a non-profit on the front lines of addressing food insecurity. They grow food using sustainable, innovative gardening techniques like hydroponics (growing crops without soil) and aquaponics (using fish waste as nutrients while also filtering the water). They also manage the Agroecology Center in Everett, which leads community youth programs that teach the basics of gardening, composting, and hydroponics farming.
As a recipient of our Lawns to Lettuce cost share award, Modest Family Solutions is using the funding to increase vegetable production from the aquaponics and hydroponics gardening systems.
Read MoreConservation in Action at “Farm, Fish, and Forest Field Day”
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Last week, we welcomed Snohomish County Council members Nate Nehring and Sam Low, Town of Darrington Mayor Dan Rankin, and Linda Neunzig, Snohomish County Agriculture Coordinator, on behalf of Executive Dave Somers, for a tour of three of our conservation projects throughout Snohomish County.
Read MoreYouth Education Day at Lake Ballinger
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On July 16, we had an action-packed Youth Education Day, hosted by the City of Mountlake Terrace. Families joined in on the fun: 36 adults and 34 youth ventured to Lake Ballinger to learn about water conservation and how they can protect the rivers, streams, and lakes in their communities.
Read MoreGarden to Table: Learn About Food Growing Basics for the Summer
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Joe Crumbley, Urban Agriculture Program Coordinator, covers growing food basics to help you start your summer garden. He talks about the benefits of soil health, mulching and composting, growing seasons, companion planting, and more. Thanks to the City of Lake Stevens for supporting this work in 2022!
Read MoreLake Stevens Detention Pond Awareness Recorded Webinar
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Thanks to David Jackson for presenting this year’s webinar on Detention Ponds Awareness and Maintenance.
Read MoreHarvestable Riparian Buffers
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Nick Pate, owner of Raising Cane Ranch in Snohomish, has incorporated several agroforestry practices on his farm. His food forest also serves as a harvestable, multi-functional, or working buffer. The trees and shrubs in the food forest essentially act as a second layer to his native forest riparian buffer, which borders the Snohomish River.
Read MoreRaising Cane Ranch Switched to Solar: Find Out If You Can Too!
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Are you interested in renewable energy for your farm or rural small business? Snohomish and Pierce Conservation Districts have teamed up with Spark Northwest to help farms and rural small businesses apply for grant funds for renewable energy and energy efficient projects through the Rural Energy Development Program.
Read MoreFruit to Nuts: Raising Cane Ranch’s Food Forest
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Tucked towards the back of Raising Cane Ranch, beyond their farm stand and Highland cows, you’ll find a food forest filled with chestnut, walnut, and hazelnut trees, black currants, evergreen huckleberries, and aronia berries.
“It’s one of the most peaceful places on the property,” says farm owner, Nick Pate. “I just love working out there.”
Read MoreSnohomish River Film Festival Held at Luckie Farms
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Back in January/February, a group of brave storytellers joined virtually for a two week training that generated 12 digital stories now known as “Tales of Two Rivers.” This group of stories was split between the Snohomish and the Stillaguamish basins within Snohomish County. On Thursday, June 9, the first of two film festivals was held to feature the Snohomish basin stories.
Read More2022 Everett Spring Garden Series
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View the two webinars from the spring series of natural yard care for the City of Everett.
Read MoreEnvirothon Regionals: Sequoia High School of Everett
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We had one of our very own hometown heroes representing Snohomish County at the 2022 Washington State Envirothon competition. The team from Sequoia High School in Everett was one of the winners of the regional competition in March, and they went on to compete at the state competition in May!
Read MoreThis Handbook is Striving to Change Green Stormwater Infrastructure for Cities
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The Puget Sound region is one of the fastest growing urban population centers in the United States, and the added concrete, metal and other impervious surfaces, coupled with tree loss, has increased stormwater runoff.
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