BIWC has initiated the second season of the Cooper Creek Salmon Supplementation! A wonderful group of volunteers met Saturday, January 9th to improve the path, install the raceway and piping we'll need to get clean water to the fish. We're scheduled to bring eggs in within the next week or so and will be looking for volunteers to monitor the site, with feeding of the salmon fry to start in mid-February after hatching.
 Volunteers bringing the raceway, where the young salmon will be placed, down to the site.
The Cooper Creek salmon supplementation program is a joint effort of the BIWC, the Suquamish Tribe, and the City of Bainbridge Island. In 2001, Cooper Creek was made fish passable through the removal of an in-stream impoundment and culvert replacement. BIWC has been monitoring this stream since 2004, and a few adult returning salmon have been seen. However, the small size of Bainbridge streams and the heavy pressures on salmon in our region make it difficult to re-start a salmon population on a stream that was previously fish impassible. By using a local stock of chum salmon, and conducting supplementary feeding on-site, volunteers help increase the chances that these released chum will survive to return as spawning adults in Cooper Creek.
 Installing the pipe that will bring water to the raceway.
In the coming weeks we'll have a signup for helping to monitor and feed the salmon. If you are interested in getting involved in this important program, please email info@biwatershedcouncil.org or use the "contact us" link on this website.
 About 40 people came to watch Michael Sciacca's film, "A Time To Heal", at Islandwood on thursday evening, Oct 22. Michael is an Island resident who wrote, directed, and performed the music for this lovely film about the history of Bainbridge Island's streams and people across the Island who have been working to protect him.
The film was followed by a panel discussion lead by local leaders including Jim Corsetti, Principal of Sakai Middle School, who spoke about the Sakai building's drainage system that was installed to reduce stormwater runoff and velocity to the stream downhill, and about his school's multi-year program raising and releasing salmon to Woodward Creek. In addition, Island resident and fisheries biologist Wayne Daley spoke about his many years working on stream restoration on the Island and around the sound; and Brian Stahl from the Kitsap Conservation District talked about what the District is doing to help with installing raingardens, helping home and farm owners steward their lands; and eradicate highly invasive knotweed from the the Island.
Thanks to everyone who came and participated, thanks to Islandwood for the venue and to Sustainable Bainbridge for the refreshments. And particularly thanks to Michael for sharing his beautiful film
!
A recent article on raingardens in the Kitsap Sun talks about a new initiative to promote raingarden installation in Kitsap County.
http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2009/oct/12/kitsap-county-hopes-homeowners-will-get-their/?partner=RSS
Effective last Friday, October 9,
2009:
"The on-site storage and/or beneficial use of rooftop or guzzler collected rainwater is not subject to the permit process of RCW 90.03."
For a long time, there has been a lack of clarity from the Department of Ecology as to whether collection of rooftop rainwater was subject to permitting as a "taking" of waters of the State. This is a tremendous step in favor of all of the hard work we do to reduce potable water consumption in the built environment. See the full letter from the Department of Ecology here.
Time To Heal, A film about Bainbridge Island Streams and people who care for them, October 22 at 7pm at Islandwood
The Bainbridge Island Watershed Council invites the community to view "Time to Heal," a 28 minute documentary celebrating two decades of stream restoration activism on Bainbridge Island. The showing, scheduled for October 22 at 7 PM at Islandwood, will be followed by a discussion of active stream restoration and salmon protection projects on Bainbridge Island and information on how anyone interested can help.
The documentary, produced by Island resident Michael Sciacca, features
panoramas of island streams, rare historical photos, and close-ups of salmon thrashing their way through island streams, including Taylor, Issei, Manzanita and Cooper Creeks. About ten island residents and volunteers,
including Wayne Daley and Al Cooper, are shown in action at the streams they championed. The sound track includes haunting Native American chanting from the opening of the estuary at Lynwood Center; original musical by Sciacca; and a stirring summary by activist Sally Metcalf.
Check out the Review article on the newly formed Water Resource Committee from 7/5/09:
http://www.pnwlocalnews.com/kitsap/bir/news/49879032.html
Here are two great Earthday events coming up on Bainbridge. They are listed on our calendar as well. Enjoy!
ENVIROPALOOZA!
Date Time: Saturday, April 11, 2009, 12 - 4 pm.
Location: IslandWood, 4450 Blakely Avenue NE, Bainbridge Island, WA
Event Description: Join us in this annual celebration of National Environmental Education Week and Earth Day. An afternoon of family fun is plan that focuses on the fascinating subject of garbage, recycling and reduction of waste. Power Trip Energy Corp will have a booth at the Enviro-Fair where environmental issues will be the focus. See photos of homes powered by the sun and talk to solar agent Bob Dash who also owns his own solar home in Indianola. The folks from the Junkraft Project will give a presentation on their research, followed by a musical performance by Seattle singer and songwriter Benjamin Doerr. Art and educational activities are planned throughout the day. Bring a picnic and enjoy the afternoon with you family and friends!
To learn more: http://islandwood.org/events/enviropalooza
BAINBRIDGE ISLAND SOLAR WORKSHOP - "SPIN YOUR METER BACKWARDS"
Date Time: Saturday, April 18, 2009, 1-2 pm.
Location: Bainbridge Island Commons, 402 Brien Drive, in Winslow
Event Description: Power Trip Energy Corp will present a "Spin Your Meter Backwards" workshop which will feature the benefits of solar photovoltaic systems in the Pacific Northwest. Power Trip Energy President Andy Cochrane will also discuss tax and state incentives now available. This event is free.
To learn more: http://powertripenergy.com/events.htm
Sakai Intermediate school has some wonderful programs on salmon and water quality: among them, the students have prepared stormwater fliers for their neighborhood and have launched a stormwater awareness survey. You can help them out by taking just a few moments to fill out their survey at: http://moodle.bainbridge.wednet.edu/mod/feedback/view.php?id=8867
 In partnership with the City and the Suquamish Tribe of Indians, the Watershed Council has gotten underway with a long-planned-for supplementation of salmon on Cooper Creek at the head of Eagle Harbor. Cooper Creek is a beautiful stream that enters Eagle Harbor right at the top of the Bay, where Wyatt Ave turns into Eagle Harbor Drive. The Cooper Creek watershed is largely protected as city-owned property, and was the site of major restoration about 5 years ago to replace a fish-impassable culvert and in-stream impoundment. The Watershed Council has been monitoring this stream for four years and has seen very few returning adult salmon, and a handful of resident cutthroat trout. Our hope is that by supplementing the stream with fish from a nearby source whose genetics are similar to those of our Bainbridge Island fish, we can jump-start a healthy return of fish for this stream and re-introduce the important supply of nutrients and food that salmon bring back to the freshwater and upland food web. On February 1st, more than 30 volunteers gathered to learn about the project, install a raceway for raising young fry salmon, and learn how to care for and maintain the equipment and fish. The Suquamish Tribe will be bringing approximately 10,000 fry over the next month or two to raise in the raceway for one to two months before they are released into the stream. By feeding and caring for the young fish during this vulnerable stage in their development, we can increase their odds of survival by up to an order of magnitude, from about 1/10th of 1% under conditions in the wild, to closer to a 1% rate of return. Therefore, in 3 to 4 years, when these young fry return as adults, we are targeting in the neighborhood of 100 adult spawning fish to return to the stream. Our plan is to continue the supplementation for an additional 3 years so we can ensure a healthy, diverse, multi-generation population of salmon. The Bainbridge Review did a great cover story of this project; you can read more here: http://www.pnwlocalnews.com/kitsap/bir/news/39168164.html
Peter Donaldson's Salmonpeople will be performed at Bainbridge Performing Arts on January 10th and 11th. This one-man show about the history of Pacific salmon and how salmon shape our society and history in this region has earned rave reviews everywhere it has gone. See the attached flier for details and get your tickets soon!
See Peter's website for more information about the show.
From his website:
Salmonpeople is a one-man theatrical performance about the interdependence of salmon and people in the Pacific Northwest. The story is told through the eyes of Cyrus Jackson, an everyman character who finds himself employed up at the local dam as a salmon taxi. With inquisitive charm and masterful freehand cartography, Cyrus unfolds a delightfully disturbing history of the Pacific Northwest and a lesson on the ultimate economics of mother nature. Through one man’s head-scratching, self-taught theories, we come to know our watershed address in a way we had never before imagined and will never forget.
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