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FOGL Volunteers hard at work
Friends of Green Lake
First Saturday of the month work parties are on hold due to weather. There
will be no First Saturday work party in February. Watch for announcement
of the next opportunity to get dirty and have fun restoring wildlife habitat
at Green Lake.
An announcement of the next work party will be sent out by email and posted
on this web site. Sign up is by email at friendsofGL@gmail.com, but you
can just come by. You don't have to sign up ahead. Come dressed
to get dirty and resist thorns, bring gloves and weeding tools, if you
have them. We borrow tools from the Park Dept. as well as bring our own
gloves, boots, etc.
Restoring dense vegetation along the shoreline encourages the birds to
again raise their chicks on our urban lake, and provides spring flowers
for nectar-loving hummingbirds and later in the season, berries for foraging
songbirds.
FOGL volunteers removed blackberries from the shoreline last Oct. re-planted
with natives in March and April, and weeded and watered in May and July
(see pictures in the slideshow, above.) In November we weeded a restoration site on the Green Lake shoreline just
north of the pitch 'n putt golf course.
Friends of Green Lake is an association of volunteers with IRS
approved tax-exempt status for environmental, scientific and educational
activities. Come join us! Photos courtesy of Mickey Schurr and Garet
Munger.
CHARTING WATER CLARITY
IN GREEN LAKE
Green Lake water clarity varies with the amount of suspended sediment
(clays and silts) and/or plankton (microscopic plants and animals also
known as algae) in the water, as seen below. Click the graph to for a
larger version. See Monitoring page for
more details.
NEWS ITEMS
Photo by Karen Schurr
POTENTIALLY TOXIC ALGAE
SEEN AGAIN
by Gayle Garman, FOGL Pres.
Photo by Karen Schurr
Earlier this year several blue-green algae scums were tested and found
to include Microcystis and Anabaena, both of which can produce toxins.
“This does not seem to indicate an acute health or safety risk at this
time because the levels were below the DNR guidelines,” Sally Abella of
King County DNR said at the time. “However, because the algae were somewhat
dispersed by the time we investigated, it is quite possible that the state
threshold could have been exceeded if a true scum had been sampled."
So it is important to get pictures and samples as soon as possible after
the scums are seen. Abella has put out a call for volunteers to lend a
hand.
"Does anyone walk around the lake frequently? If so, could you carry
a pint-sized jar or container with you (clean glass) to be able to scoop
up a sample if you see a distinct scum? We would need the location as
closely as you can describe it and the date/time of the sample. Of course,
a picture of the site is worth gold! If you do take a sample, refrigerate
it ASAP and email me
[or you can call FOGL at 206-525-1974, ed.] so we can coordinate a toxicity
test with Dept of Ecology and the King County Environmental Lab."
GL EVENTS & MEETINGS
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DISCUSSED AT MEETING
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©2012 Friends of Green Lake
PO Box 30544, Seattle, WA 98113
Updated
January 20, 2012
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