>Date: Thu, 20 Nov 1997 07:35:10 -0700
>To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
>From: "Constance J. Sidles" <csidles at mail.isomedia.com>
>Subject: Re: History of Montlake Fill
>Cc:
>Bcc:
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>>Dear Tweets, In March 1993, the UW commissioned a study of the Fill
>>(actually the study covered the entire Union Bay shoreline, from Surber
>>Drive around the Fill, past the crew boathouse and over to Foster Island).
>>Provost Laurel Wilkening authorized the formation of the Union Bay Planning
>>Committee, with Dr. Clement Hamilton (director of the Urban Hort) as chair.
>>The group was charged to examine the UW's management of the shoreline and
>>make recommendations about its future use.
>> The Union Bay Planning Committee produced its report and
>>recommendations in October 1994 (updated in November 1995). You can get a
>>copy of this report by calling Dr. Hamilton and requesting "Management Plan
>>for the Union Bay Shoreline and Natural Areas." Or you can call Dr.
>>Hamilton's graduate student at the Urban Hort, Perry Guyaldo.
>> Here is a summary of the committee's recommendations:
>>1. Remove invasive non-native plants and animals (especially Himalayan
>>blackberry, purple loosestrife, aquatic milfoil, scotch broom).
>>
>>2. Add native plants.
>>
>>3. Maximize habitat diversity and native biodiversity.
>>
>>4. Control human impacts (keep bikes and dogs on trails; don't build
>>buildings on nature areas; rope off critical wetlands; regulate and monitor
>>pesticides and fertilizers both in the nature reserve and in neighboring
>>areas; revegetate parking lot E-5)
>>
>>5. Monitor physical and biological conditions.
>>
>>6.Increase and coordinate teaching and research.
>>
>>7. Enhance personal safety.
>>
>>8. Ensure public accessibility.
>>
>>9. Provide educational interpretation.
>>
>>The UW has already begun to implement some of these recommendations. A
>>major effort to remove some of the intrusive Himalayan blackberry bushes
>>has already been done by large-scale machinery.
>> Purple loosestrife presents a more difficult problem. Loosestrife
>>first appeared at the Fill only a few years ago, with seeds brought in all
>>probability on the feet of ducks (or perhaps seeds were windblown).
>>Loosestrife found a happy environment at the Fill. The wetlands' annual
>>cycle of wet/dry soil perfectly suited this European plant. Each
>>loosestrife plant can produce hundreds of thousands of seeds in one season.
>>The seeds can remain viable in the soil for a decade. So it was no surprise
>>that the first few plants soon led to thousands. In a matter of three or
>>four years, purple loosestrife had completely eliminated access to the
>>small pond on the south end of the Fill (where cinnamon teals used to hang
>>out). It completely covered the transitory pond near the large cottonwood
>>trees, where pipits always came in the spring. Loosestrife also completely
>>ringed the main pond, driving out rails, marsh wrens and migrating
>>shorebirds. It choked off the large pond near the wooden bridge, where
>>bitterns used to live (and where milfoil is also a big problem).
>>Loosestrife also began to take over the cattails along the west entry road.
>> What were we birders doing during all this? Sitting on our hands. I
>>know I was, anyway. That is, until Stuart McKay showed up from Scotland one
>>day, took a look, and began to yank. He was joined by about a dozen other
>>volunteers, who cleared out the main pond by the end of the summer. That
>>fall (1995), we saw long- and short-billed dowitchers again for the first
>>time in two years. We also saw spotted sandpipers, westerns, leasts,
>>semipalmated, greater and lesser yellowlegs, pectorals, and stilt
>>sandpipers.
>> During the next summer, Stuart and other volunteers (including
>>students from Seattle Academy of Arts and Sciences) cleared out the main
>>pond again, because of course the loosestrife came back. Once again, we
>>experienced a fantastic fall migration, with birds showing up even as we
>>pulled. Species included both dowitchers, both yellowlegs, spotties, pects,
>>westerns, Others helped too. Boy Scouts completely cleared the transitory
>>pond by the cottonwoods, allowing pipits to return.
>> This summer, more birders joined the effort. But the biggest
>>contribution came from a church group, who have performed miracles of hard
>>work. They have cleared out the cinnamon teal pond, several small
>>transitory ponds to the west of the main pond, and they are now working on
>>the big pond where the bitterns used to be, near the wooden bridge.
>> If you've been to the Fill recently, you can see the result of all
>>this hard work. Don't be fooled into thinking that front-loaders or other
>>machines did this work. Every plant was pulled out by hand.
>> Next spring, the effort will begin again. I urge you to join, if
>>you have any time at all. Perry Guyaldo (Dr. Hamilton's graduate student)
>>is taking names and can give you information about who is doing what where.
>>Or you can call me at 522-7513 or e-mail me. Or you can just go down to the
>>Fill and yank.
>> Getting rid of loosestrife has been for me a difficult, dirty task.
>>I hate to garden!! But I have never received such fast feedback for my
>>volunteer efforts. One day two summers ago, as we were pulling loosestrife
>>out of the main pond, I thought I was going to collapse. It was hot and
>>muddy, Mosquitoes were buzzing. My back hurt. My shoes were soaked. I
>>wanted to quit. But then I looked up and saw a flock of 7 dowitchers fly
>>in, circle once and land on the far side of the pond. They immediately
>>began to feed. They had come all the way from the arctic tundra and still
>>had a long way to fly. We gave them a good chance to make it; they gave us
>>far more: the sense that people may mess up the world, but people can fix
>>it too.
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