On Saturday, May 15, 2010, 30 riders participated in the inaugural “Bike Your Watershed” ride on Bainbridge Island.  Riders from age 7 to 74 took part in the 12-miler under sunny skies and with temps in the high 60s.  Thirteen of the riders received extra credit for their middle and high school science classes.  

The route began with registration at the high school, and riders stopped at four educational stations along the way: the Filipino-American Hall parking lot, the Schel-Chelb estuary, Fort Ward State Park boat launch, and Blakely Harbor parking lot.  Activities at the four stations included, respectively, defining a watershed, having each rider figure out what watershed they live in, and looking at art made from found plastic beach litter; defining an estuary, observing animal life, and collecting plastic beach litter; examining aquatic life and locating a freshwater seep; defining invasive weeds and seeing examples.  Those who returned to the start made an edible aquifer, entered a raffle, and received a free bar of petrol-free WASH soap.

We would like to thank the following donors for this event:
Classic Cycle - gift certificate
WASH soaps,“the eco-friendly soap” – free samples and gift baskets
Still Hope Productions - DVD of “Return of the Plankton” (seasons underwater in Puget Sound)  
B.I.Cycle - gift certificate

For more information, or to find out how you can help us "gear up" for next year's bike ride, please contact Diane Landry, fallschurchbiker@yahoo.com.

Each summer, the Historical Museum sponsors a cruise around Bainbridge Island aboard the steamship Virginia V, the last of the historic Mosquito Fleet boats. This year’s cruise is scheduled for Sunday, July 25, leaving the City dock at 3 p. m. and returning at 6.




The cruise offers a panoramic view of our shoreline, and an opportunity to observe not only the traces of our history, but also the present-day conditions that are coming under scrutiny as the Shoreline Management Program is revised.  The cruise conditions will provide opportunities to talk with friends and meet people you don’t already know.




The cost of the cruise is $65. A mid-afternoon snack will be provided, and the cash bar will quench your thirst.  Space is limited, so call the Museum (842-2773) or stop by to secure your reservation.  




 




You’ll have a pleasant afternoon on the water, and your participation in this fund-raising event benefits a worthy cause, the Bainbridge Island Historical Museum!

We have wrapped up the second year of our Cooper Creek Salmon Supplementation Program! The 2010 Report is available on our Cooper Creek Salmon Program Page.

The Watershed Council hosted an Edible Aquifer activity at this year's Enviropalooza environmetal festival at Islandwood. This activity uses a sweet approach to teaching kids about how aquifers (areas underground that store large amounts of water, on Bainbridge we get all our drinking water from aquifers) work and why it is important to protect them.

To build an edible aquifer, the kids layered "rocks"- ice, chocolate chips, and gummi worms" and added soda to put water in their aquifer. We then added whipped cream, which represents the confining layer, a dense layer of rock/soil that slows the passage of water into the ground. On top we added more "rocks" and "soil" (sprinkles). Then, Kool-Aid is added at the top, and soda is poured over to represent rain. The kids watch as their confining layer slows the passage of pollutants into the aquifer, and then punch a "well" (straw) in to suck out the groundwater (and speed up the pollution process). 

With over 80 kids and their families (and a few hardy adults with enough of a sweet tooth to brave it!) making aquifers, we spread the word to a lot of people about how aquifers work and why its important to protect them- and had a great time doing it!


Thanks so much to the wonderful volunteers who organized and ran this event: Rose Defawe, Diane Landry, Jeanne Huber, and Ardy Sacrozie, and to the Suquamish Tribe, whose funding of the Watershed Council this year helped make this activity possible.

For directions for making edible aquifers, see: www.deq.state.id.us/water/educ_tools/edible_aquifer_lp.pdf


More information about Bainbridge Island Aquifers is available in our groundwater handout.

There are a huge number of earth day events offered on Bainbridge this April in celebration of the 40th Earth Day! Plays, talks, demonstrations, environmental fairs, hands-on volunteer opportunities, and more offer something for everyone. Please click here for the full calendar of events brought to you by Sustainable Bainbridge.

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.