West Seattle, Washington
20 Tuesday
(WSB photo, October 3)
Just in, the final tally of what got recycled at a big event two-plus weeks ago – Judy Pickens sent this report:
During the October 3 Recycle Roundup hosted by Fauntleroy Church, 527 households and businesses brought 14.5 tons of recyclables for zero-waste 1 Green Planet to return to the resource stream. Since 2010, these twice-yearly free events have collected a total of 414 tons. The spring 2027 roundup is on the calendar for Saturday, May 1.
Photos by Torin Record-Sand
Video by Tracy Record
for West Seattle Blog
From West Seattle to Tukwila, hundreds of volunteers devoted Saturday to restoration and cleanup work along Seattle’s only river and in its watershed, no doubt appreciated by all those who depend on it, like the Great Blue Heron in our photo above. The fall session of the twice-yearly Duwamish Alive! multi-site work party included the volunteers we saw in parks near the mouth of the Duwamish River …
And those who gathered for the welcoming ceremony at White Center Heights Park:
While a collection of native plants awaited shovels to place them into their new homes, light rain fell.
But spirits remained bright through a short round of speeches – Sharon Leishman, who leads the Duwamish Alive! Coalition, explained its 20 years of work, and how the river and its watershed connects us all:
She introduced King County Executive Girmay Zahilay, who was also there to spotlight a new countywide celebration of volunteer service:
His participation reminded all present that the work is for future generations too – he brought along his daughter Jazzy:
Some of the riverfront parks with Duwamish Alive! events are part of the Port of Seattle, whose Commissioner Hamdi Mohamed spoke at White Center Heights Park as well, talking about the importance of governments responsibly stewarding the environment:
That theme was echoed by county Natural Resources and Parks deputy director Tricia Davis:
Before everyone dug into the tasks at hand, Leishman presented the speakers with copies of Tom Reese‘s book “Once and Future River: Reclaiming the Duwamish“:
And before everyone dispersed, the commemorative group photo:
Watch for your chance to volunteer when next spring’s Duwamish Alive! date is announced – and in the meantime, at many other events at local parks and forests, spotlighted on calendars like ours and the Green Seattle Partnership.
Thanks to Lura Ercolano for the view of the Duwamish River and Mount Rainier from the bridge this morning. Tomorrow (Saturday, October 17) is the day the river and its watershed get lots of TLC from volunteer restoration and cleanup events, in West Seattle and beyond, during the fall edition of Duwamish Alive! If you’re not already signed up for one, check the list on the Duwamish Alive! home page, to see where they’re still looking for help. Even if you’re not volunteering, you’re invited to the 10 am welcoming ceremony at White Center Heights Park (10208 7th SW) and the afterparty at the Current Festival at Duwamish Waterway Park in South Park (7901 10th Ave. S.), starting at 1 pm.
(WSB file photo)
Looking at the week ahead – one of the biggest events on the calendar is the fall 2026 Duwamish Alive! mega-work party throughout the Duwamish River watershed and on the river itself, 10 am-2 pm Saturday (October 17). This time, the event celebrates “20 Years Caring for Our River,” and volunteers are needed! Here’s an update from Sharon Leishman, director of the Duwamish Alive! Coalition, explaining that you’re not just caring for our river, but all the lives that depend on it:
Duwamish Alive Coalition partners are local organizations with the collaborative stewardship goal of improving the health of our Duwamish River and Watershed. Community volunteers provide important support in caring for these areas of restored nature and the river by planting native plants, removing invasive plants, and mulching to improve soil health. Community members also help remove debris from the river in kayaks, lessening the harmful impacts on fish and marine life.
The Duwamish River ecosystem supports 5 salmon species including the threatened Chinook salmon, which is a critical food source for our Southern Resident Orcas; it also supports wildlife that includes river otters, beavers, bald eagles, and blue herons. Stewardship includes not only river health but also the land within the river’s watershed. With the help of community volunteers, vital habitat is being restored in this highly industrialized area.
Each native habitat sites supports this web of life while providing important environmental benefits to our communities. Its forested areas such as the West Duwamish Greenbelt, one of the largest in the lower section of the river, provides important air and water filtration of pollution, especially storm runoff one of the major sources polluting our waters. Tree canopy cover also reduces our summer heat domes, unequally affecting low-income communities of color to a greater degree. Duwamish Alive Coalition continues to nurture and expand tree canopy within our local communities which suffer the effects of pollution and heat domes
Join Duwamish Alive Coalition on Saturday, October 17th to celebrate and care for our Duwamish River and its Watershed. This event is founded on the understanding that by working together, we can continue to improve the health of our river and its lands while improving the health and wellbeing of its communities. Volunteers will be working at multiple sites throughout West Seattle, White Center, and Tukwila, including a kayak river cleanup to raise awareness that we are all connected.
King County Executive Girmay Zahilay will be the guest speaker at the Welcoming Ceremony, which kicks off the event at White Center Heights Park from 10 – 10:30 am. He will be introducing the county’s new program connecting community members with organizations that support the needs of their communities, which strengthens the wellbeing of communities and their members. (Details here.) Included at the Welcoming will be information about the program and opportunities to learn about local environmental information. Everyone is welcome to attend, both volunteers and those just dropping by.
For more information and volunteering go to DuwamishAlive.org for sites and registration. This is a family-friendly event — all are welcome! Join Duwamish Alive’s 20th anniversary celebration afterward at Duwamish Waterway Park in South Park from 1 pm – 6:30 pm as a part of the Current Festival with music, food, art, and kayaking!
To find a site where you can volunteer, go to duwamishalive.org ASAP and look for the list of locations – including signups for kayak cleanups!
It’s fallen-leaves season. You might look at them as something to be raked up and bagged. Local masters-degree student Symone Tuleja would like you to see them, and deal with them, differently – on behalf of bees. As part of their capstone project, Symone wrote this and invited us to share it with you:
If you have a yard or outdoor space, you may choose to rake and dispose of leaves in the fall. While this encourages healthy lawns, it can remove a valuable habitat for bumblebees. Bumblebees differ from honeybees as they are very calm and gentle insects. They are also very important pollinators for flowers, fruit, and vegetable gardens. During the colder months, bumblebee queens need a safe and warm place to hibernate until spring as they may not survive through the winter. They like to hibernate in the ground and under the leaves that fall off the trees throughout the autumn season. Conservation movements such as ‘Leave the Leaves’ encourage those who own lawns to not rake their leaves in favor of creating these hibernation habitats, which may be at odds with those who want to preserve their lawns.
One way to compromise is to move the leaves to a different spot in your yard, such as a garden bed or planter, which will keep them off your grass without removing this vital hibernation habit for the bees. As a Master’s student in the Advanced Inquiry Program through Miami University, conservation is very important to me, and I am especially passionate about insects. So, I gave this method a try in October 2025 to see if it could really make a difference.
(My garden bed before adding leaves raked off of the lawn)
I started by taking the temperature of the air and the soil in the areas that I knew I wanted to put the leaves I had raked. Bumblebees need warm areas in the leaves and soil to hibernate, so I was curious whether adding leaf piles could help. These numbers would be my baseline to compare to once I was done. I then spent time raking the leaves into big piles. While it’s often viewed as a time-consuming weekend chore, I found this part easy and fun. If you have someone to jump into the leaf piles with you, raking leaves can become an engaging outdoor activity. After raking, I let my dog run through the piles a few times before moving the leaves! If you have children, invite them to explore and sort the leaves as you rake them into piles, then make sure to have fun jumping in them before relocating to your designated place in your yard. This is a great opportunity to talk to your children about bumblebees and why supporting them is important for our gardens and our ecosystems. Some ideas for inspiration include:
“Did you know that bumblebees help our flowers to grow in the spring, but they sleep under the leaves like a big blanket in the winter first? That’s why it’s important to keep some leaves for them!”
“Bumblebees are very nice insects who help our fruits and vegetables to grow. It’s important that humans do what we can to support them. We can do that now by leaving some leaves for them to sleep in during the colder months.”
“Bumblebees like to keep warm in the winter just like we do. One way they do that is to hibernate in the ground underneath piles of leaves for warmth and protection. We can support them by keeping leaves in our yard until spring when they wake up and begin pollinating our garden.”
(My dog Willow enjoying the autumnal foliage)
After raking my backyard and moving the leaf piles to easy-to-access garden beds around the edge of my yard, I measured how deep the leaves were, and once again took the temperature of the air and the soil. I found that on average, the areas with more leaf coverage had warmer soil temperatures compared to before I added the leaves. This means that keeping leaves in your yard, even if not on the grass, ensures that there are warm and cozy hibernation habitats for bumblebees!
(My garden bed after adding leaves raked off of the lawn)
(My garden bed after adding leaves raked off of the lawn, close-up)
Moving your leaf piles to your planters or garden beds may sound like extra work, but it’s no different from putting your leaves in your yard waste bin for compost. I know I was surprised to find it was easier than I expected before starting, so I encourage you to try it out this fall! Even moving just some of your leaves to create a warmer, safer hibernation habitat for bumblebee queens will mean we see more of our busy buzzers the following spring.
Here are more places to explore ‘Leave the Leaves’:
From our beloved local nursery, this page dives more into why you should leave the leaves. It makes a great case for the movement, although it doesn’t cover relocating the leaves to new areas of your yard. Luckily, all the benefits of leaving the leaves still apply if you relocate your leaf piles off of your grass to other areas of your yard or garden!
From a well-known nonprofit focused on invertebrate conservation, this page is a reliable source of tips and information on how to support insects by leaving the leaves. There are even more resources linked at the bottom of the article, so definitely check those out!
(WSB photos, taken during DRCC anniversary celebration)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
“Water is life. The Duwamish is life!”
So declared Alberto Rodriguez, a former Duwamish River Community Coalition staffer who was among the speakers as the DRCC celebrated its 25th anniversary on Saturday night.
The party, fittingly, played out on the river whose life – and the lives of the people who rely on it – has been protected and championed by the DRCC over that quarter-century. Supporters and staff gathered aboard Argosy Cruises’ Lady Mary and cruised down the Duwamish and back, before, during, and after a mesmerizing sunset.
There was dinner and dancing, and lots of gratitude. But first, words of welcome from the tribe that shares the river’s name and shore, spoken by Kristina Pearson of the Duwamish Tribe.
As the boat sailed past the river’s industrial shore, it notably passed the site of a recent major victory for the DRCC, declaring victory in its fight to keep Ash Grove Cement from increasing its burn rate of tires.
Speaking at that moment was the first director of DRCC – then the Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition – B.J. Cummings. She recalled her first encounter with the river, kayaking in 1994: “I fell so hard.” Even before DRCC came to be, she spent five years patroling for illegal sources of pollution. The river’s listing as a Superfund site in 2001 brought the coalition to life, but it wasn’t all smooth sailing as the cleanups began.
The first one “was a mess,” Cummings recounted. And then there was the tale of T-117, for which the initial plan, she said, “didn’t go far enough” – the community pushed for more, and the port “overturned their own recommendations.”
Now, Cummings noted, the cleanup is “about halfway done” and in some places along the river, “habitat has been restored for salmon and people.”
(2011 WSB photo, B.J. Cummings & James Rasmussen with then-mayor Mike McGinn)
She also expressed pride for those who had followed her in DRCC leadership – particularly past and present executive directors James Rasmussen and Paulina López – for making the river “internationally known.”
She was followed by Rodriguez, an immigrant from Honduras who now works for Seattle Public Utilities in a role that includes a focus on the river, whose “straightening, shortening, deepening came with a cost,” and yet, he continued, it’s “ever flowing, adapting, shaping … never giving up, always giving back.” Like DRCC itself, a “small but mighty organization.”
The organization’s work has set precedents for others to follow. Rodriguez spotlighted some of them – including the first health assessment of a cleanup plan; a first-of-its-kind public hearing in a non-English language. He had words of praise for the DRCC’s acclaimed Duwamish Valley Youth Corps.
(WSB file photo, Duwamish Valley Youth Corps at a volunteer event)
Two young leaders who’d been part of the DWYC, Miriam Roman Olvera and Christopher Castro Leonardo, talked a bit about their experiences.
And as the night arrived, López spoke, marveling, “What a powerful night … We’re celebrating 25 years of community power … people coming together saying, our river matters, our health matters, our community matters, our children matter.”
(2020 WSB photo of Paulina López at People’s Park groundbreaking)
And not just in the context of the environment – she declared firm opposition to “the atrocities happening today” – federal immigration authorities’ violence. She compared the fight to protect “basic human rights” to the fight to save the river: “Back in 2001, they said ‘that’s the way it is’; we said, ‘the community’s speaking, and you need to listen’.”
As the Duwamish River Community Coalition navigates into its second quarter-century, it’s clear that it will be heard. Here are ways to help.
The crew from 1 Green Planet, Fauntleroy Church‘s partner in the twice-annual Recycle Roundup, has been busy already in the early going, with about 75 households dropping off items to recycle by 9:15.
Coordinator Joel tells us that was actually about half an hour in, because they opened early, with a line of vehicles waiting. You don’t have to rush over, though – they’re open until 3 pm (just don’t wait until the last minute unless that’s truly the soonest you can get there).
Here’s the official list of what they will and won’t take this time – again, this is a free service, though volunteers will be happy to accept montary donations to support the work, if you are so moved. The church is at 9140 California SW.
Two weeks from tomorrow, the multi-site volunteering event known as Duwamish Alive! offers hundreds of people the chance to give some TLC to Seattle’s only river and its watershed. Some volunteering opportunities are already linked from duwamishalive.org – and one event organizer, Anna from King County Parks, has already sent us this invitation to share with you:
Duwamish Alive! at White Center Heights Park
Saturday, October 17th from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Where: White Center Heights Park, 10208 7th Ave SW
Contact: parksvolunteer@kingcounty.gov
Registration requiredCome volunteer with King County Executive Girmay Zahilay at the King County Volunteer Program’s inaugural Regional Day of Service. On Saturday, October 17th, we’ll be bringing volunteers to Duwamish Alive! — a biannual event hosted by the Duwamish Alive Coalition for the last 20 years to improve the health of the Duwamish watershed
through collaborative stewardship and volunteering.The Executive and Duwamish Alive leadership will kick off the event at White Center Heights Park, hosted by King County Parks. Then he’ll be planting native trees, removing blackberry and ivy, and spreading mulch. Come volunteer alongside the Executive and learn more about how your work protects not only the Duwamish River ecosystem, but our
community at large.
Two days away from your next chance to drive up, ride up, walk up to the Fauntleroy Church lot (9140 California SW) for the fall Recycle Roundup – here again is the official list of what you can and can’t drop off:
Recycle Roundup is happening from 9 am to 3 pm on Saturday, October 3, in collaboration with recycler 1 Green Planet. Free (though volunteers will be happy to accept donations to support this twice-yearly event).
Next Saturday’s the day – drive up, ride up, walk up to the Fauntleroy Church lot (9140 California SW) for the fall Recycle Roundup – free dropoffs of numerous types of recyclable items, as shown on the official list:
Recycle Roundup runs 9 am to 3 pm on Saturday, October 3, but the volunteers who organize it (in collaboration with recycler 1 Green Planet) advise not waiting till the last minute so they aren’t dealing with a long line at the end – the six-hour window gives lots of time to show up and drop off items without much of a wait.
We have a followup today from the organizers of a beach cleanup at Alki that was in our highlight list last Saturday. Almost 40 volunteers showed up to take on Puget Soundkeeper‘s challenge along the West Seattle and downtown waterfronts:
Photos courtesy Puget Soundkeeper
Almost 40 volunteers joined Puget Soundkeeper on Saturday for their annual Sound Sweep Series International Coastal Cleanup, held at both Alki Beach and Myrtle Edwards Park. Between both locations, 247 pounds of trash was removed, helping prevent hundreds of plastic bits and other items from being ingested by wildlife.
Different from many other cleanup events, this one included some very approachable community science. In addition to removing debris, volunteers assisted in collecting data by tallying and recording the types and quantities of the items they collect. Following the cleanup, the data was uploaded to an international database and will be used to inform environmental legislation.
On top of the 250 cigarette butts collected, volunteers also participated in the removal of several types of construction materials, Styrofoam dock pieces, fishing line, balloon debris, and other items, highlighting the various ways which waste finds its way into Puget Sound.
“My favorite part of this event is giving people hope,” says Tanya Balaji, Stewardship and Education Manager at Puget Soundkeeper. “Removing marine debris from our waterways is important, but producing data that can be used to push for legislative action makes a huge difference. It’s a really simple way for communities to join and fight for change.”
This event was part of the International Coastal Cleanup (ICC), a global movement organized by the Ocean Conservancy, which is aligned with Puget Soundkeeper’s mission to be a trusted leader and collaborator for all communities, in court and on the water, fighting for a healthy Puget Sound.
Puget Soundkeeper thanks all of the volunteers, partners, and supporters who made this event possible and encourages the public to continue taking action to reduce plastic pollution every day.
To learn more about how to get involved in future cleanups, visit: www.pugetsoundkeeper.org.
Other organizations host cleanups throughout the year, most notably A Cleaner Alki.
(Wikimedia Commons file photo by Jmabel)
3:55 PM WEDNESDAY: The Duwamish River Community Coalition says it’s succeeded in its longrunning challenge to the Ash Grove Cement plant – just south of the West Seattle Bridge – seeking to burn tires at a faster rate. From the DRCC’s announcement:
The Duwamish River Community Coalition (DRCC) has won their two-year battle against the Notice of Construction (NOC) Permit issued by the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency (PSCAA) for the Ash Grove Cement Company (Ash Grove). The NOC permit would have removed the 30% limit on the tire-burning rate at the facility; records show Ash Grove would have combusted up to 3.7 tons of tires (about 43% of total fuels) per hour to heat their cement kilns. Due to high metals emissions that would have resulted from this change, PSCAA reinstituted the 30% cap on tire burning. The reversal stems from years of advocacy and litigation by DRCC and Front and Centered, as well as results from heavy metals testing requested by the community.
Tire burning releases particulate matter, heavy metals, and hazardous air pollutants known to harm human health in many ways, including respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, cancer, and other chronic health problems.
As a frontline community, the Duwamish Valley is already disproportionately exposed to higher rates of air pollution resulting in serious health impacts. Some of these impacts include the highest rates of childhood asthma hospitalizations in King County and a life expectancy ten years less than other neighborhoods without these exposures, like Laurelhurst, only ten miles away.
Over 500 community members and 30 local businesses joined with DRCC, Front and Centered, and Earthjustice in strong opposition to the permit during the public comment period. Community members also led a protest in front of PSCAA headquarters in November of 2025, demanding their health be prioritized and the 30% limit remain in place. Despite this community advocacy, PSCAA issued a Final NOC to Ash Grove that eliminated the cap on burning tires at Ash Grove’s Seattle facility. In January 2026, DRCC and Front and Centered filed an appeal before the Pollution Control Hearings Board challenging that notice of construction order. Because PSCAA has reinstated the 30% limit, DRCC and Front and Centered dismissed their appeal.
“In frontline communities like the Duwamish Valley, any increase in air pollution is unacceptable, and should be faced with the highest level of scrutiny,” said Paulina López, Executive Director of DRCC. “For too long, communities like ours who already bear a disproportionate share of environmental harms have also been forced to shoulder the responsibility of monitoring neglectful government decisions and advocating for our health.”
By issuing a final permit that allowed for increased tire burning without instituting measures to control the corresponding increase in pollution, decision-makers at PSCAA failed to take seriously community concerns that have ultimately been proven true.
DRCC and the community’s advocacy led PSCAA to add a condition to the Final NOC permit (issued Dec 2025) that required testing for hazardous air pollutants – arsenic, beryllium, cadmium, chromium, lead, manganese, nickel, and selenium – following the increase in the tire-firing rate. If the testing showed an increase in emissions of any pollution, the previous 30% rate would remain in place.
In June 2026, Ash Grove conducted the required testing, and results showed an increase in cadmium air pollution from Ash Grove’s increased burning of tires. Cadmium is a Class-1 carcinogen, known to cause lung and prostate cancer, and bioaccumulates in the kidneys and bones, causing kidney damage and bone demineralization. As a result, PSCAA reinstituted the 30% limit on tire combustion, to prevent an increase in metals emissions.
“Without the overwhelming outcry from the Duwamish Valley community, DRCC, and our partners” said Mia Ayala-Marshall, Clean Air Program Manager at DRCC, “PSCAA would have allowed this modification to occur without proper testing, further exposing our community to more dangerous air pollution that impacts our health.”
The news release also says they are urging advocacy for legislation that could prevent similar situations:
Under Washington’s current laws, permitting processes do not require polluting businesses to consider the effects of historical environmental racism and the cumulative health risk burdens that Frontline communities face. Legislation like the CURB Pollution Act is an important next step in ensuring that our communities have the healthy environment we all deserve.
DRCC – whose clean-air advocacy is detailed here – and Front and Centered say they voluntarily dismissed their appeal today. (Here’s the document.) We’re seeking comment from Ash Grove, which has operated the Seattle plant for more than a century.
ADDED 9:26 AM THURSDAY: Here’s the statement sent to us in response to our request for comment:
Ash Grove will continue to comply with its existing permit obligations. We are committed to being a
responsible environmental steward and operating in full compliance with regulatory requirements. We
appreciate the collaborative review process and will continue exploring opportunities to advance our
sustainability objectives while meeting environmental and community expectations.
Looking for something to do as the holiday weekend winds down? You can sort your no-longer-needed stuff for the fall Recycle Roundup at Fauntleroy Church, coming up Saturday, October 3. Here’s the official list:
It’s happening 9 am-3 pm in the church’s main parking lot (9140 California SW). Volunteers and the crew from 1 Green Planet will be there to take your recyclables from home, office, or school – drive up, ride up, or walk up. The church has been offering these events since 2010, and reported last spring that more than 400 tons of recyclables have been collected over the years!
Monday began foggy and gray but concluded colorfully with regional wildfire smoke still in the air. The panorama above was sent by Wyatt; the ferry-enhanced sunset view below is by Yvonne Frankovich:
And this one’s from Carol Ann Joyce:
We don’t have a photo but the moonset had an orange-ish tint too. Some of the smoke seems to be getting down to ground level, as the air-quality readings are in the “moderate” range right now.
Thanks to Chris Frankovich (above) and Curry Gibson (below) for photos from tonight’s sunset, as a mile-high layer of smoke again intensified the color. This time, cloud layers also gave the sun a distended appearance before it disappeared behind the Olympics.
Though we’re seeing this side effect of smoke, we’re not breathing it – tonight’s area air-quality levels are resoundingly normal.
Another night of wildfire smoke tinting the setting sun. The photo above is from Chris Frankovich, while the sun was hidden behind clouds; the one below is from WSB senior contributor Christopher Boffoli, when it reappeared between the clouds and the Olympics:
According to the Washington Smoke Blog, the current smoke layer is almost a mile above the surface.
Tonight just might have been the last red sunset, for now. The Air Quality Alert, originally set to expire this evening, was extended to 8 am, but the air quality is already improving.
Thanks to Joan (above) and Michael (below) for sending tonight’s sunset photos, as smoke reddens the setting sun and its reflection on Puget Sound for a third night.
The smoke and heat alerts continue through tomorrow, and then, the National Weather Service says tonight: “The thermal trough along the coast is expected to push inland tomorrow and east of the area late Thursday. Onshore flow should help improve smoke conditions as early as late Thursday along the coast and Friday for the interior.”
Perhaps the most striking feature of tonight’s smoke-red sunset was – if you were within sight of Puget Sound – the red reflection. Above is Mike Tyler‘s photo from Lincoln Park. The Air Quality Alert for wildfire smoke from around the region continues until 5 pm Thursday; the Heat Advisory will be in effect 10 am tomorrow until 10 pm Thursday.
(Reader photos)
Also seen at sunset: West Seattle’s latest derelict boat, still beached at Constellation Park. We first mentioned it a week ago; it apparently floated off for a while, then we started hearing about it again a few days later, and published this Saturday night.
More people noticed it today, including the texter who sent these photos this evening. We’re still working to find out who’s ultimately accountable for it. Over the weekend, we reached the U.S. Coast Guard, which told us to contact the state Department of Natural Resources, which has a Derelict Vessel Removal Program. They haven’t returned our messages yet; we’ve also inquired with Seattle Parks, since the boat is aground on one of their beaches.We’ll update whe we finally reach whomever has a plan to deal with it.
Thanks to Carol Ann Joyce for the photo of tonight’s sunset, with the expected tint that results from wildfire smoke. As reported this morning, an Air Quality Alert is in effect for at least the next two days. Most West Seattle sensors on the Puget Sound Clean Air map still show “good” air quality right now, though; most east of I-5 are showing the air quality worsening. (Here’s a map showing where our state’s big fires are currently; fires north of the border are contributing too.)
The photo, report, and request are from Victoria:
This is what I picked up on a single walk in Lincoln Park (last night).
This is the second time in the last week that I’ve gone for a walk in Lincoln Park and, instead of staying on the main path, walked closer to the shoreline. Both times I ended up collecting this much garbage.
I’m hoping it’s mostly being left by visitors to our beautiful Lincoln Park. If it’s from West Seattle residents… shame on you.
I’d like to encourage everyone to keep an eye out and pick up any litter they see before it makes its way into Puget Sound. Every little bit helps. And the best part: there multiple garbage cans in Lincoln Park. It’s that simple!
Next time you’re out for a walk, bring a glove or bag and pick up a few pieces of litter. If enough of us do it, we can make a big impact. And keep our waters clean!
(Washington Ecology Department photo)
Cleanup work continues tonight at Vigor Shipyard on Harbor Island, where the state Department of Ecology says up to 5,000 gallons of diesel spilled into Elliott Bay.
According to Ecology’s announcement, it happened this afternoon while the USS Sampson was having fuel removed, and a hose failed, sending thousands of gallons into the bay, in an area that had been “pre-boomed” before the removal. Ecology says it’s working with the Navy, Coast Guard, and “response contractors” on the cleanup.
We happened to photograph the Everett-based Sampson (DDG 102) as it was headed toward Vigor last Monday.
(WSB photo, July 6)
Vigor has a quarter-billion-dollar contract for repairs, maintenance, and modernization work on the Sampson.
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