Meeting Summary
Tuesday, June 26, 2012, 7:00-9:00 PM
The Hearthstone, 6720 East Green Lake Way N
Board Room
Recorder: Davis Patterson
Attendees:
Katie Gray, Seattle Parks Department North Parks Manager
Jeannine FloranceSusan LevyGaret MungerRuth CallardNancy HelmBrian DeLucaKaren SchurrMarcia NormanRichard FlemingMarcia NormanBen HallLinda NobleGayle GarmanAnita Gras Bryant
Opening of Meeting: Meeting called to order by Gayle. Purpose of meeting; to review the 10 year history of Friends of Green Lake for benefit of new members.
Election of Garet Munger as vice president. Gayle introduced motion to have Garet elected to fill vacant position of vice president. Motion was seconded by Karen Schurr. Appointment of Garet Munger as vice president was approved with voice vote of those in attendance.
Introduction of Katie Gray. Katie Gray was introduced as the Seattle Parks Department North Parks Manager. Katie made short presentation of Parks Department activities at Green Lake. Katie or Colleen Hackett will be available to attend and respond to questions and comments at future FOGL meetings. Katie’s email address is katie.gray@seattle.gov. Superintendent of Parks, Chris Williams, recently appointed Katie the Parks Dept Coordinator for all activities at Green Lake.
Benches One of the benches has been installed on the concrete pad off the southwest corner of the Green Lake Community Center. A meeting will be held to get community comment and input about installation of the remaining benches. Meeting time is being determined but is likely to be July 31 or August 1, in the Green Lake Community Center. Time and place will be posted and announced in advance of the meeting.
Aqua Theater clean up. Work is underway on clean up of the Aqua Theater at the south end of the lake. Work under way includes asbestos and lead abatement. No materials are being removed from the stands. Surfaces with asbestos or lead are being painted to contain the asbestos and lead. There is also work to upgrade the lighting of the rowing and sailing facility.
The clean up was undertaken in part to prepare the space for hosting a rowing competition to be held on Green Lake in August.
Bathhouse Theater: Work is under way on reroofing and installation of new heating and air conditioning for the Bathhouse Theater building.
Community Input Ms. Grey indicated that she and Seattle Parks Department need to be more careful about getting input ahead of time when new projects are being planned. She gave as example the bright red painting of the refurbished stand near the Bath House Theater building. The color was requested by the concessionaire.
Goose Population at Green Lake A question about the apparent increase in the goose population around the lake. Gayle noted that this is a seasonal phenomenon. Geese are molting during this time period and are less able to fly, so they use the Lake as a refuge.
Big Leaf Maple A local family has been following this big leaf maple tree over several years. The family has an effort underway to raise money for the purchase and installation of a bench to be located near the stump.
Request for Volunteers for booth at the upcoming Milk Carton Derby Gayle asked for volunteers for educational booth to be set up at the Milk Carton Derby on July 14. FOGL had a booth every year from 2004 thru 2010. FOGL has informational maps and materials prepared for display.
Treasurer’s Report Karen Schurr reported that FOGL received $225.00 from My Green Lake Blog. My Green Lake Blog has been making regular donations to FOGL. This funding likely will not continue as Amy Duncan has discontinued the blog. An additional $100.00 was received from a donor.
Karen Schurr presentation of early history of FOGL Karen presented an account of the beginnings of FOGL. The group was formed in response to periodic algae blooms in the lake which resulted in murky smelly conditions in and around the lake and resulted in closures of the lake to swimming. Initially FOGL was a committee within the Green Lake Community Council. FOGL was successful in lobbying Seattle City Council and Mayor Greg Nickels to fund application of Alum to reduce phosphorous content of the lake water. Following the alum application in 2004, water quality has improved and there have been no large scale algae blooms in the lake.
Gayle Garman continued presentation of history and activities of FOGL Regular monitoring of the lake in cooperation with King County was initiated in 2005 by Gayle and Richard. Clarity and temperature measurements as well as the collection of samples for analysis of nitrogen, phosphorous, and chlorophyll a levels are ongoing. Richard Fleming records the data. Ben Hall and Scott McCready started doing this sampling last summer.
The following is a brief outline of the events in the history of FOGL that were covered in Gayle’s presentation.
| 2005: | FOGL begins monitoring as part of King County Small Lakes program; temp, clarity, nutrients, chlorophyll a. Monitoring is continuing to this day. |
| 2006: | FOGL gets SPU to install permanent grate on Densmore Drain; study of lake’s watershed, water sources and “sinks”. Attempt to update map of milfoil (October). |
| 2007: | Write Washington DOH regarding contaminants in carp, needed fish advisory signs. Letter requesting monitoring at both GL beaches. First annual shoreline milfoil clean-up. |
| 2008: | Support artificial turf in Lower Woodland Park. Citizen request leads FOGL to work for end of water-skiing on Green Lake. King Co DNR grant to monitor algae concentrations and kind during summer 2008; presentation to WALPA annual meeting (Washington Lakes Protection Association). Comment on Parks 5-yr Plan asking for manager to integrate management of Park & Lake. |
| 2009: | 501(c)3 certification finalized by IRS, important non-partisan requirements. |
| 2010: | Shoreline Habitat restoration projects begin as means to grant for milfoil mapping, 9 work-parties so far at 2 sites. Collect samples for Sound Science project at U. W. Earth Day Teach-in: learn about methods to control milfoil, including the weevil. |
| 2011: | Winter shoreline algae blooms again observed, King County tests for toxins. FOGL purchases microcystin test kit, 2 monitors trained |
Discussion of Future Activities Garet Munger began brief introduction of future activities for FOGL. There was discussion of the appropriate kinds of interests that FOGL should become involved in. Brian noted that FOGL’s purpose when founded was protection of the Lake, and he hoped that focus would continue.
Meeting adjourned shortly after 9:00.