Taiga Wetlands - Green Lake Floating Ecosystem Demonstration Project Update

SUCCESS!

Taiga Wetlands were successfully installed on Saturday May 28, 2022 by a team of about 40 volunteers. It was an incredible accomplishment to transport, assemble, plant, launch, and anchor the two 680 square-foot floating wetlands in One Day by volunteers who mostly had not done this nor even seen floating wetlands before. You can see them anchored west of Duck Island along with all the nesting ducks and resting great blue heron.

Many thanks go to Galen Fulford from Biomatrix Water for making the trip from Scotland to direct our efforts, which could not have been done without the hard work by our volunteers and with inspiration from Taiga. Be sure to see the project newsletter by Biomatrix with photos and a 1-minute video of the installation.

You can save the link to the Biomatrix Water newsletter and video of the Taiga Wetland Project: https://www.biomatrixwater.com/news/green-lake-seattle-taiga-wetlands/

A huge thanks to Sean Hermes and Seattle Parks and Recreation staff for storing and transporting the wetland materials to the lake, supplying wood chips and gravel, and providing foot traffic control during installation. We are thankful for Go Natives Nursery! providing most of the 1,090 plants at a great price and for being able to more than double our order on a Saturday when we realized we had greatly under-planned plant density. Thanks to Taiga’s family for supporting volunteer efforts and to the many Herrera staff who contributed to project design, planning, and installation.

This project was made possible by many private donations and a $50,000 grant from the Seattle’s Neighborhood Matching Fund.  We need to raise about $6,000 more to supplement our material costs and provide sufficient funds for long-term maintenance and monitoring. Please help fund our project by contributing a tax-deductible donation using our Venmo account or mail us a check.

GREEN LAKE NEEDS YOUR HELP!!

For more information see the Project Page.

Green Lake Stewards Work Party - March 4, 2023

Green Lake Work Party Saturday March 4, 2023, 10AM to 12N

Hello Stewards

Hope this message finds you well.

We are having a work party on the first week of March, instead of our usual second week to accommodate some scheduling conflicts. It will be on Saturday, March 4th from 10 am to 12 pm. Hope that you are able to make it work to join us!
Also there is a slight change around COVID restrictions:

  • COVID-19 Considerations: Although vaccinations and masks are no longer required to participate, please continue to do your part to keep our community safe. Do not attend if you are sick.
  • RSVP at https://seattle.greencitypartnerships.org/event/19962/, if you are interested.
  • If you arrive late, follow the Event signs to find the work site:

Date:  March 4, 2023
Time: 10 AM to 12 PM
Meet: Beside the Aqua Theater at the east end of the Small Craft Center (5900 West Green Lake Way North)

Dress for the weather and the dirty work, wear close-toed shoes and bring a bottle of water. Hope to see you there!

Questions?
Dan Kujawinski (773) 629.2516 or danielkujawinski@gmail.com

Our mailing address is:
greenlakestewards@gmail.com

Green Lake Water Quality - March 26, 2023

Secchi Depth: 1.5 meters, (4.9 feet)
Water Temp 5.0 C, (41.0 F)
Lake Water Quality is monitored weekly by Jeffrey Howard at East Green Lake from the T-dock near the Green Lake Community Center or from a boat at the deepest part of the lake. The weekly data are reported quarterly and uploaded to the King County Lakes website available here. Select “Green-1” and “View Data”. General lake information, water quality data, and reports are available here.

For continuous Green Lake Water Level and Temperature Gauge data tracked by King County, go to the King County Hydrologic Information Center website where you can search for both temperature (in C) and lake elevation. Here are instructions:
1. Click on either Water Temperature or State Only Gage to get a map of monitoring sites.
2. Click on the red dot at Green Lake
3. Click on View Graph. (The graph is currently being updated to improve visibility.) More data selections are listed left of the graph

Spring 2022 Green Lake Trout Plant

A favorite family activity enjoyed at Green Lake over the years has been fishing.

On April 27, 2022 Green Lake was planted with 4,851 catchable-size trout weighing a total of 10,187 pounds. For lake trout stocking reports see the WSFW website: https://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/reports/stocking/trout-plants?lake_stocked=GREEN+LK+%28KING%29&county=&species=&hatchery=&region=   This is a typical amount that is planted in the lake each spring, with the exception of an unusually high amount of 45,000 pounds in 2014 due to a surplus of large hatchery trout that year.

While trout are fun to catch, trout stocking may increase the amount of algae (measured as chlorophyll-a) in the lake due to their consumption of algae-eating zooplankton and their additional nutrients, as indicated by this graph. For a detailed study on the effects of trout stocking on algae blooms in Washington lakes see the report by Herrera Environmental Consultants: https://www.herrerainc.com/publications/trophic-cascade-effects-on-algae-blooms-in-washington-state/

Green Lake Beach Bacteria Monitoring

Studies Show Water Quality Impacts of Homeless Waste Disposal at Green Lake

Statistical analysis of weekly fecal bacteria data shows a significant increase in levels at West Beach but not East Beach in the past 2 years. This finding suggests that the increase may have been due to human waste disposal in the lake since West Beach is down current of homeless encampments and RVs, while East Beach is not near encampments and was closed to swimming and more populated by geese in this period. Human waste pathogens and floating hypodermic needles pose a risk to swimmers on the west shore of the lake.

Read More...

Friends of Green Lake VIRTUAL MEETING Tomorrow, March 28

YOU’RE INVITED! Please join our ZOOM MEETING tomorrow, Tuesday, March 28 at 7 pm

AGENDA:

  • 2022 Aquatic Plant Survey (Oliver Bazinet, SPR)

  • Taiga Floating Wetlands Project 

  • Pacific Tree Frog Project

  • Water Quality Status

  • Treasurer’s Report

  • Additional items of interest

We look forward to seeing you then!

Zoom Instructions

Topic: Friends of Green Lake
Time: March 28, 2023 at 07:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting! 

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83243044314?pwd=TzR3RjFSOXZFWEhYamRvSitqZHZSQT09

Meeting ID: 832 4304 43114
Passcode: 670140
One tap mobile
+12532050468,,83243044314#,,,,*670140# US
+12532158782,,83243044314#,,,,*670140# US (Tacoma)

Rob Zisette
FOGL President 206-787-8262 office
206-930-6585 cell
https://friendsofgreenlake.org/

Next meeting: Tuesday May 23, 2023

See FOGL photos, videos and more on Instagram.

Meeting Minutes Are Now Online

Minutes for previous meetings are being posted in the blog, retroactively. Click here for a minutes-only archive.