Help us celebrate Beaver Day!
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Click here to join us online via Zoom!
Meeting ID: 910 2004 8207
Passcode: Eager
One tap mobile: +12532158782,,91020048207# US (Tacoma)
Meeting ID: 910 2004 8207
Passcode: Eager
One tap mobile: +12532158782,,91020048207# US (Tacoma)
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Ben Goldfarb is the author of Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter, winner of the 2019 PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award. His work has appeared in publications including the Atlantic, Science, Orion Magazine, and the Washington Post. He lives in Spokane, Washington, with his wife, Elise, and his dog, Kit — which is, of course, what you call a baby beaver.
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SAVE THE DATE - Kitsap Great Give Tuesday, April 20The Kitsap Great Give is the only fundraising event of its kind in Kitsap. It is a chance for our community to come together and support one another through local nonprofits. On Tuesday, April 20, 2021, starting at the stroke of midnight, Kitsap will unite to give locally for 24 straight hours. Last year, over $2 million in donations for Kitsap nonprofits.
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BEAVERS & PEOPLE COLLABORATE
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Volunteers from Stillwaters, the S’Klallam tribe, and the Kingston community donned muck boots and met for a muddy work party in mid-March to plant native willow and black twinberry along Carpenter Creek. Last year, Keith and Michelle Beebe assigned almost 8 acres of wetlands on both sides of Barber Cut Off Road to a conservation easement held by Stillwaters. Thanks to a grant from the Kitsap Conservation District’s Backyard Habitat program, a wetland restoration plan has been developed, starting with replacing invasive plants with native vegetation.
County crews recently cleared beaver construction in the Barber Cut Off Rd culvert to keep the creek from crossing over the road during heaving rains. “On the bright side, it gave us an opportunity to put more native plants in where the beaver pond had been.” said Keith Beebe. The planting party happened just in time as the beavers have already started rebuilding. “Their activities will do way more than we can to repair these wetlands.“
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County crews recently cleared beaver construction in the Barber Cut Off Rd culvert to keep the creek from crossing over the road during heaving rains. “On the bright side, it gave us an opportunity to put more native plants in where the beaver pond had been.” said Keith Beebe. The planting party happened just in time as the beavers have already started rebuilding. “Their activities will do way more than we can to repair these wetlands.“
READ MORE...
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You can help!
If you are interested in joining future work parties or finding out more about conservation easements or the trail plan, please contact Keith Beebe 360-337-0125 kbeebe9791@gmail.com OR Melissa Fleming; Stillwaters Program Director 360-297-1226 melissa@stillwatersenvironmentalcenter.org. |
Amphibian Egg Mass Monitoring
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Stillwaters’ Amphibian Egg Mass Monitoring is part of a county-wide program by Kitsap County Public Works Stormwater Division to document frog and salamander use of county stormwater ponds as breeding sites.
This monitoring program will help inform future county maintenance of stormwater ponds and help develop more amphibian-friendly practices. For more information on Kitsap County’s Amphibian Egg Mass Monitoring and how to participate in your area (even from your own pond!), please contact Renee Scherdnik, at rscherdn@co.kitsap.wa.us. Pictured left: Volunteer Elizabeth Williams joins monitoring assistant, Jenna Wright, in collecting egg mass data.
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My First Amphibian Monitoring Experience
Terry Pereida; Stillwaters Administrative Director
I had the recent experience of tagging along for Stillwaters’ Amphibian Egg Mass Monitoring, part of a county-wide program. We visited two storm water ponds in Kingston. When our Program Director, Dr. Melissa Fleming, pointed out the first amphibian egg mass, I was reminded of a large “jelly” open-air sphere toy that my kids once played with. Looking as if it is almost woven together, the mass of eggs hovered just below the surface, and had a certain sparkle to it. Depending on the available aquatic vegetation, they will attach themselves to a variety of grass, reeds, or woody debris. One pond had been dredged to remove overgrowth last summer and was so void of vegetation that we tossed in a few branches with small twigs to give the amphibians something to attach egg masses to.
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Terry Pereida; Stillwaters Administrative Director
I had the recent experience of tagging along for Stillwaters’ Amphibian Egg Mass Monitoring, part of a county-wide program. We visited two storm water ponds in Kingston. When our Program Director, Dr. Melissa Fleming, pointed out the first amphibian egg mass, I was reminded of a large “jelly” open-air sphere toy that my kids once played with. Looking as if it is almost woven together, the mass of eggs hovered just below the surface, and had a certain sparkle to it. Depending on the available aquatic vegetation, they will attach themselves to a variety of grass, reeds, or woody debris. One pond had been dredged to remove overgrowth last summer and was so void of vegetation that we tossed in a few branches with small twigs to give the amphibians something to attach egg masses to.
READ MORE...
A northwest salamander egg mass
shimmers in the water. |
Red-legged frog egg mass.
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Pacific tree frog egg mass.
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New Stillwaters Blog
Meet Tiger Prasad - Stillwaters Intern from the University of Washington
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Hello! I am Tiger, a fourth-year student at the University of Washington Seattle majoring in environmental studies and minoring in environmental science and resource management, and gender studies. I was born and raised near New Delhi, India and I moved to the US for college.
I have been interested in the environment since a very young age and chose to pursue environmental studies as it takes a very interdisciplinary approach to analyzing environmental problems. I am excited to be working with Stillwaters for my capstone project by helping input rainfall and tide height data for Carpenter Creek. Through this work, I hope to study the trends in salinity and fecal coliform bacteria in the creek. |
Adopt-A-Road Cleanup Scheduled for Saturday, April 17th
Stillwaters has joined Kitsap County's Adopt-A-Road Program and will be taking care of Barber Cutoff Road between the 104 and NE W. Kingston Road. Our first cleanup is Saturday, April 17th at 10:00 AM.
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In honor of International Beaver Day on April 7th AND Earth Day on April 22nd, we will be out and very visible in picking up litter on Saturday, April 17th on both the east and west side of the road. Interested in joining us? Please email Terry Pereida, Admin. Director, at terry@stillwatersenvironmentalcenter.org
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Thank you to
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A grant renewal from Conservation, Research and Education Opportunities International (CREOi) supports our research documenting how changes in hydrology since the culvert removals (which restored natural tidal exchange and creek flow to the estuary) are affecting native and invasive plant communities in the salt marsh
on Carpenter Creek.
on Carpenter Creek.
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