We bid a fond farewell to students who have been working with us throughout the school year. Lauren Honican from Garfield and Letha Penhale from Nathan Hale came faithfully on the second Sunday of each month to remove invasives, mulch, and plant native plants along the sidewalk between Spring Street and Lake Washington Boulevard. They made a tremendous difference. We enjoyed working with them and are most grateful.
Our UW Capstone team of Kim Jones, Frosty Hance, and Jason Saura tackled the steep hillside west of Lake Washington Boulevard, working with groups of volunteers to remove invasives, apply jute netting to the steepest portions, and plant and mulch on the slope and ridge above. They also made a huge difference, and we will miss working and learning with them.
We are extremely grateful to Mimi Kraus for her generous bequest to enhance Madrona's parks and recreational facilities and to the Madrona Community Council for its allotment of $25,300 to Madrona Woods. We're glad to be able to pay off debst incurred during the stream daylighting project and to be able to hire professiona help to take up where the Capstone team left off clearing and planting along the Boulevard.
Notes on our Philosophy
6/1/2010
In response to some complaints about Madrona Woods' character being changed by our restoration and trail maintenance, we have a summary of our philosophy in the "Friends" section.
Aren't We Proud
4/12/2010
Two of our Friends of Madrona Woods team have received recent awards. Congratulations to Joan Scott for her Lifetime Resident Award from the Madrona Community Council on Neighborhood Appreciation Day. Her tireless efforts on behalf of Madrona Woods for 14 years, especially at the thankless job of treasurer for the last ten, were rightfully recognized.
And our landscape architect, Peg Gaynor of Gaynor, Inc., won two of the top three honor awards in the design category given by the Washington Chapter of the American Association of Landscape Architects. The jury said the Madrona Woods restoration was “impressive for its consistent long-term effort; it has been an 11-year collaborative engagement between the landscape architect and a community of hundreds of volunteers. Equally impressive is the quality of the result. The accomplishments are formidable, including habitat restoration, landscape stabilization, trail construction, bridges and water features.” Gaynor Inc.’s other award was for Conceptual Design and being part of SVR Design Team for the Thornton Creek Water Quality Channel at Northgate.
Students Lend Welcome Hands
12/9/2009
Students from the University of Washington and Garfield High School will be helping us clear new areas now that the creek daylighting project is finished except for more planting and continuing maintenance.
A team from the University of Washington's Capstone Program has chosen to work with Friends of Madrona Woods to clear invasives and revegetate the east edge of Madrona Woods along Lake Washington Boulevard during the 2009-2010 academic year. They have been working on design and preparation during the fall and will begin supervising work parties to clear and plant during the next two quarters. They are looking into the possibility of redirecting the spring water that often collects on the Boulevard and connecting it to the daylighted stream.
Students from the Garfield High School after school Earth Service Corps will be coming the second Sunday afternoon each month during the school year to clear and plant along the sidewalk connecting Spring/Grand to the Boulevard. Students from other area high schools may be joining them. Community residents are also welcome. They gather at 1:00 at the tool box at Spring and Grand.
Celebration
7/18/09
We did it!
Friends of Madrona Woods called the community out on a sunny July day to celebrate the completion of the Madrona Park Creek daylighting!
Join Friends of Madrona Woods, Seattle Urban Nature, and Eastside Audubon for a walk through Madrona Park at 10:00 a.m., Sunday, April 26. See and hear about the latest restoration projects, admire native plants as they leaf and bud, and maybe play a game to develop observation skills. The Madrona community is invited; bring the whole family. Meet on the sidewalk by the pond east of Lake Washington Boulevard in the new natural area.
Madrona Park Creek Daylighting Is Complete
3/9/09
With the addition of the stream flow from the Madrona Ravine above 38th Street in October, the completion of the bridge over the stream at the main trail entrance at Spring and Grand in January, and the planting of thousands of native trees, shrubs, and ground covers in March, the Madrona Park Creek Daylighting is essentially complete. Only maintenance continues to be a Friends of Madrona Woods responsibility for three more years. The stream is flowing as predicted from the springs above 38th to the lake at the cove. Its fresh, cold water is expected to attract salmon fry as they migrate from their spawning streams to Puget Sound past the "rearing and refuge" offered by the restored stream and ponds on both sides of Lake Washington Boulevard.
For a tour of the creek, start at the overlook at the curve where 38th Street goes through the woods. Looking uphill you'll see the stream emerging from the vegetation on the hillside. It enters the pipe under the road installed last fall and emerges at a lovely rock cascade on the other side of the hill. Walk down 38th and you'll see where it tumbles down log-weir steps to the wetland just before. A simple bridge crosses it there so you can walk up Jack's Trail into the woods there if you choose. Or continue down to the bottom of the hill (38th becomes Spring and then Grand) to the new bridge that allows you to enter the woods at the main entrance there. Stand on the bridge to watch the creek flowing on down to the pond on the west side of Lake Washington Boulevard. Be sure to listen to the music the creek makes at every stop. From Spring and Grand, take the sidewalk down to the Boulevard and go across to enter the natural area just a little to the left. Walk along the trail in either direction (or both) to view the cove and the stream running down to the lake. Don't forget to go along the main sidewalk a little south of the entrance to see the pond on the east side of the Boulevard.
WNPS talk about daylighting
1/15/09
Last week Peter Mason gave a brief talk about the daylighting project to the Washington Native Plant Society's Central Puget Sound chapter. Here's a pdf of the slides.
The Little Stream That Could
11/10/08
The long-awaited Madrona Park Creek was released in the Madrona Park Ravine on October 24 and reached Lake Washington a couple of days later. It has been growing in quantity and beauty ever since. It no longer takes a huge stretch of the imagination to envision small salmon making their way up from the lake as far as the pond on the west side of Lake Washington Boulevard.
Come hear for yourself the amazing sounds it makes. Look and listen from the little overlook at the curve on 38th, or walk down 38th and listen to the splashing where the pipe under the street comes out of the hillside to drop over a beautiful rock feature into the Madrona Woods ravine. Stop at the 38th and Spring bridge to admire, and then go all the way down to stand on the bridge in the natural area by the lake. You’ll get the views from the other direction as you huff and puff back up the hill.
The next project is getting the bridge across the main trail at the Spring Street entrance. We’re getting bids for the footers as I write and hope to be able to re-open the trail in the next couple of months. We’re also going to be doing some repair and maintenance on the other trails.
Planting and mulching time is now here. Let Deirdre McCrary at know if you’d like to be notified by email of our work parties. Typically they’re the third Saturday of each month from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Meet at the toolbox at the Spring Street entrance (Spring & Grand).
We haven’t made as much progress as we’d like on that $30,000 cash match for our Department of Neighborhoods grant. It’s not too late to help. Send a much-appreciated check to
Joan Scott 3700 East Marion St. 98122
or pick up an envelope from the sign at the construction site. Make the check out to Friends of Madrona Woods.
For more information about activities in the Woods and natural area and ways you can get involved, contact me, or 322-2640 or visit our website at www.madronawoods.org.
Daylighting Final Phase near completion
8/14/08
Pacific Earth Works (PEW) returned July 28 to start construction on the final phase of the Madrona Park Creek Daylighting. They have sculpted a new stream channel on both sides of 38th Street where none existed before, enhancing it with log weirs, gravel, and mulch. The Parks Department contributed a culvert, which with soil and gravel on top creates a simple bridge for the secondary trail at 38th and Spring. The trail just above that has also been enhanced with check steps.
The next step is putting a culvert under 38th Street to connect the stream coming from springs in the Madrona Park Ravine above to the stream coming from springs in the Madrona Park ravine below. If city permits are obtained soon, this work should be completed by early September. It will involve closing 38th between Marion and Spring for a few days.
When the culvert is completed, the stream in the upper ravine can be released from the storm drain into the new channel. This will more than double the flow to the lake.
Bill Scott has been working with Peg Gaynor and the PEW crew to patch leaks in the ponds and stream channels created last fall. It is hoped that with this additonal sealing and the increased water from above, the stream will flow into the lake as envisioned. But nature, especially when water is involved, has a way of taking its own course. So Friends of Madrona Woods volunteers, in partnership with Parks Department staff, will monitor and minister to our fledgling stream in Madrona Park to help it contribute its cold, fresh water to the lake to attract young salmon next spring.
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