Focus on the district assessment
Protecting our watershed's health counts on everyday activities
Children of the 1960's knew a wilder Beaver Lake
Why are we paying for water quality monitoring?
Realize the dream of a demonstration garden
Back to:
Beaver Lake Monitor
Volume 1, Issue 2 November, 1998
Providing guidance for the watershed
Volunteer opportunity
Interested in protecting the quality of Beaver Lake? Want to help decide how the community's LMD dollars are spent? Here is your opportunity! The LMD advisory board is seeking applicants for three board member positions. The new terms begin January 1, 1999.
The advisory board comprises six members: four from Zone 1 (adjacent to the lake) and two from Zone 2 (away from the lake but within the watershed). The vacant positions include two from Zone 1 and one from Zone 2.
Advisory board responsibilities include:
- attend monthly meetings;
- help develop the annual work program;
- oversee the implementation of the work program; and
- writing and submitting annual progress reports.
The Advisory Board reprots to the Metropolitan King County Council, King County Executive, Beaver Lake Community Club, and LMD members.
How to apply
Interested applicants must own property in Zone 1 or Zone 2 of the District and be willing to serve for a two-year appointment. Applications can be requested from the WLR Division contacting Sharon Walton, or by contacting a current board member. Applications are due by December 11, 1998.
Focusing in on the district assessment
Trying to understand the watershed assessment? Here it is - in black and white! Watershed residents voted in 1995 to form a lake management district (LMD) and pay a five-year annual assessment to support the protection of Beaver Lake water quality. Beginning in 1996, funds have been collected to support four types of activities aimed at protecting the water quality of Beaver Lake:
- Lake, stream, and wetland monitoring provide data that help resource managers grade water quality and watch for problems.
- Community involvement and educational efforst help watershed residents understand their individual roles in protecting the lake.
- Stormwater facility monitoring and inspection ensures the systems are doing their job.
- Construction site inspection and monitoring helps minimize the impacts of new development on water quality.
Each year, the LMD advisory board decide what watershed activities to carry out. To date, the assessment has funded monitoring, wetland inventory and some educational outreach. If you have ideas for the advisory board, please contact a board member.
How to dispose of pet waste responsibly
(a.k.a. putting poop in its place)
- Flush small amounts down the toilet, but don't include yard debris
- Bury small amounts in a hole or trench at least 8 inches deep, away from any water source or vegetable garden. Layer with leaves, glass clippings and dirt. (NEVER add pet waste to a compost pile to be used in your garden)
- Put pet waste in the trash, enclosed in a leakproof bag. Knot the bag carefully or otherwise seal shut so nothing spills out during trash collection.
Protecting watershed health day by day
Part of the focus of the LMD advisory board includes education of watershed residents regarding the role they each play in protecting water quality. Each person in the watershed affects water quality. Everyday activities can contribute to pollution of the lake; altering our behavior in our homes and gardens can enhance water quality. You can make a difference in these five areas:
On-site septic systems
Protecting lake and stream water quality begins with knowing your septic system. Maintenance is the single most important consideration in making sure a spetic system will work well over time. What goes down the drain or toilet either finds its way into the soil or stays in the septic tank until it's pumped out. Regular inspection and maintenance are a must. Standard gravity fed systems should be inspected every 3-4 years.
Keep in mind that your septic system depends upon a healthy bacteria population to do its job. Chlorinated (bleach) and other caustic products used for cleaning sinks, toilets, and tubs are especially harmful. Look for more friendly alternatives like baking soda and vinegar.
Animal waste management
Two-thirds of Beaver Lake residents own at least one cat or dog. Pet waste contributes to water quality decline by adding nutrients and bacteria to surface waters. You can insure that you are part of the solution by picking up dog waste when you walk your pet and by training your cats to use a litter box rather than the great outdoors.
To increase residents awareness of the pet waste management issues, the advisory board worked with Eileen Parkins to develop the "Be COOL" program (Carry One On Leash) which encourages people who walk their animals to pick up after them. To find out how to participate in this program, checkout the COOL web site or stop by the Beaver Lake Park display.
Lawn Care
In the suburban home, lawn care is a large consumer of time and energy. By taking a natural approach to lawn care, you can eliminate the use of environmentally harmful chemicals, reduce your summer water use, and protect water quality and fish habitat. This may mean accepting a lighter green lawn color, a few more weeds, and increased grass height.
Fall is the perfect time to aerate your lawn and top dress it with compost or apply a slow-release organic fertilizer. Aerating punches small holes in your lawn, increasing the lawn's ability to absorb and hold water, and decreasing runoff. In the spring issue of the Monitor, we'll provide more natural lawn care ideas.
Car washing
Soaps and other products used to wash cars harm water quality by adding phosphates and other harmful chemicals to nearby streams and lakes. You can reduce your impact by taking your car to a commercial car wash, which is connected to a wastewater treatment system. If you do was your car at home, avoid the driveway and other impervious areas where the water can run directly into a stormdrain, nearby stream, or directly to the lake. Using phosphate-free soaps and workign over a grassy area is the lake-friendly way!
Native vegetation
Lakeshore plants provide a natural buffer to homeowner activities, serving to trap and filter surface water pollutants before reaching the lake. Throughout the watershed, native plants are important because of greaterability to retain and filter surface waters and minimal maintenance rewuirements. You can start by adding a few more native plants to your shoreline or removing lawn and replacing with native groundcovers.
Children of the 60s had room to roam
Growing up at Beaver Lake
In the 1960s there were only a few houses across the roads from the lake, leaving lots of room for adventurous youngsters to explore. The second-growth trees were still spindly, overcrowded and needed thinning. Any child with a small saw, a hammer, and a bucket of cheap nails could create anything in the neighboring woods.
We frequently saw black bears, and occasionally a cougar, but they didn't bother us as long as we didn't bother them. A favorite hiking and camping place for children was along the ridge trail which ran through the western edge of what is not High Country, and across the northeast corner of what is now Beaver Lake Estates to the East Beaver Lake Road.
Most of the children had bikes and used them for visiting friends and to get to the big blackberry patches along the road. Biking was pretty safe on the narrow Beaver Lake roads because there were so few cars.
Summer activities centered on the lake, where most children became skilled at swimming and rowing. Real rubber inner tubes were the most common water toys. Adventurous Junior High girls even had an occasional skinny-dipping party on a warm moonless night. The annual Beaver Lake Regatta was the highlight of the summer for the older children; new friendships were made as astute competitors sought strong paddlers and light-weight passengers for the races.
The highlight of the winter season for the younger children was the annual Children's Christmas Party. After a few games were played, Santa would sneak in the back door of the home with a bagful of gifts and proceed to call each child up by name, give the gift and discuss the child's pets, siblings, toys, or other details which always amazed the children. Lucky for both the children adn the parents that Santa and the milkman were so closely acquainted!
Thanks to Ruth Shearer for contributing this article.
- Forty percent of the oil that causes water pollution comes from improperly disposed motor oil.
- One acre of lawn requires up to 27,000 gallons of water per week. Lawns are typically overwatered by 20-40 percent.
*From The Watershed Waltz and the Sammamish Swing (Pomegranate Center Press, 1998)
Why are we paying for monitoring?
The stormwater treatment requirements established for new development by the Beaver lake management plan were unprecedented - the highest in King County! The LMD assessment funds a monitoring program to evaluate the effectiveness of the new standard.
The goals of the monitoring program are similar to those of an annual physical exam. Through regular checkups, our overall health is reviewed, new problems can be detected, additional diagnostic tests can be performed as needed, and corrective measures applied to health problems. Likewise, the LMD lake monitoring program focuses on evualuating the health of lake, stream, and wetland quality of Beaver Lake. By monitoring the lake at the stream inflows or critical water input points, water quality problems from the development of the watershed or other sources can be detected early-on. Early detection, in turn, allows corrective actions to happen quickly preventing long-term degradation of the lake quality from occuring.
Monitoring is the only method available to measure the success of our high standards.
Realizing the dream of a demonstration garden
With the vision of teaching by example, board members dreamed up a garden accessible to the community that would demonstrate how to use native plants as a shoreline buffer.
On September 26, board members and several watershed volunteers gathered to prepare a portion of shoreline at Beaver Lake Park for this garden. They removed lawn and improved the soil with compost. On October 11, the group returned to plant the site in a design which illustrates how native species can be used in landscaping as a barrier to water fowl and pollutants while preserving views. Once established, these native plants are drought tolerant and low maintenance.
A second phase of the project will be undertaken in October 1999. Bulkhead around the adjacent 90 feet of shoreline will be removed and the site will be planted with a mixture of upland and wetland native species. This part of the site is intended to demonstrate how native landscaping can protect the shoreline from erosion and provide habitat for different animals.
To help visitors understand the ease and benefits of native plant landscaping, interpretive signs will be created for the entire site, explaining the design and identifying the native plants used. In 1999, look for a lake-friendly landscaping workshop sponsored by the board.
Volunteer Opportunity: All young things need a little TLC! In its first year this planting will need watering and weeding. If you'd like to help these young plants get off to the right start, contact an advisory board member!