Environmental Committee Report Archive

On May 9th the seventh annual Lake Union, Portage Bay and Union Bay Sweep was held. Once again, the Floating Homes Association was a prime sponsor of this Puget Soundkeeper Alliance event.

Over 260 volunteers, riding in kayaks, canoes and motor boats and walking the shore, collected nearly TWO TONS of trash! Thanks to all the houseboaters who volunteered for this year's Sweep!

There is good news to report. As of July 31 the US Department of Agriculture had trapped and destroyed 209 nutria in Portage and Union Bays, and area residents are beginning to see signs of recovery in severely damaged wetlands.

FHA is again a prime sponsor for the Lake Union/Portage Bay Sweep. Try to set aside Saturday, May 9th to do your part in helping clean our water yard.

Fundraising around the Portage Bay houseboat community last December was not limited to sales of holiday wrap or wreaths. Instead, eight houseboaters spent two weekend days raising funds for a collaborative effort to stop the nutria invasion that is destroying wetlands and damaging shoreline around Portage Bay and adjacent areas.

Volunteers covered 145 houseboats on 35 docks and by December 8 had received contributions totaling $946 from 48 households, or one-third of the community. By the end of January, 36% of Portage Bay houseboaters had participated in raising a total of $1,101 - an amazing show of support and almost double the original goal!

The Milfoil Ladies

A formidable group of houseboaters has become a big factor in the debate in Portage Bay over what to do about the invasion of aquatic weeds.  They recently spent the afternoon together on the SMP Citizen's Advsory Committee (CAC) Harbor Tour on September 9th.  Diana Forman filed this report.

New neighbors may be moving into our houseboat community, but you wouldn't want to invite them to dinner. The newcomers are nutria, which look like "the biggest rat you'll ever see," according to Charles Easterberg of the UW's Department of Environmental and Occupational Health and Sciences.

Founders' Dreams

According to Seattle MOHAI's Lorraine McConaghy, Henry Yesler hired a guy with a wheelbarrow to dump waste wood from his mill into Elliott Bay for eight hours a day.  This might have been Seattle's first civil engineering project.  Yesler and other Seattle founders dreamed of a smokestack town like the ones they knew back east. The poor fellow with the wheelbarrow was just another sign of their determination to bend the land here to suit their vision.

McConaghy spoke about Yesler's obsession to members and friends of the SMP Citizen's Advisory Committee on their recent floating tour of the city's waterways. Over the course of the day, the tour saw first hand how Seattle ultimately transformed its shorelines and altered the courses of its rivers in pursuit of this dream.

The Lake Union/Portage Bay Sweep was once again a great success. Overall, the Sweep had about 250 participants, including boaters, shore volunteers and event support. About 2.1 tons (4360 lbs) of trash was recovered.

The 6th Annual Lake Union/Portage Bay Sweep organized by Puget Soundkeeper Alliance will be held on Saturday, May 10th. Once again, FHA is one of the event sponsors. Last year 39 houseboat folks participated in the Sweep

One of the Environmental Committee's goals for this year was to partner with other environmental organizations to promote stewardship of our backyard waterways. One result of our collaboration efforts is the Seattle Audubon article in the August 2007 edition of the Newsletter. Our plan is to have continuing Audubon Newsletter articles about birds, waterfowl and our shoreline natural environment. The articles will promote the protection of our waterways and urban shoreline wildlife. Let us know if you have a particular subject or topic on which you would like an article.