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Keep an eye on our Events page and upcoming newsletters for details about these events. Dates and times will be announced soon!
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Workshops and Beach Walks Coming Up Soon!
Do you live along the King County marine shoreline? Want to know more about the unique location of your home and how to improve ecological function while supporting your needs?
Join us for KCD’s FREE Where the Water Begins workshops and beach tours.
Vashon on May 14 and Federal Way on May 21
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Streamside Restoration Webinar
Wednesday, June 22 via Zoom
Learn from restoration experts about managing your yard to support both the environment and your own needs.
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Streamside Tour
Date TBD
Tour a restored streamside site with technical experts and learn how to care for your residential property along a stream, lake, or wetland and provide essential wildlife habitat.
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Forestry Tours and Workshops
Saturday, August 27 on Vashon Island with WSU Forestry Extension
Saturday, September 24 in Maple Valley
Tour sustainably managed small lot forests with technical experts and learn how to identify forest threats, address common resource concerns, and implement strategies to sustainably manage small lot forests.
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Farm Tours and Workshops
September and October
Tour local farms with technical experts to learn conservation practices to help protect the natural resources on your farm.
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Earth Day Spring Break
KCD joined White River Valley Museum and Mary Olson Farm on Monday for Spring Break at the Museum – Down to Earth week! We shared the importance of soil health and brought some soil samples for kids to find tiny critter friends, like earth worms, rollie pollies, and other organisms.
Read More
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Shore Friendly King County
A new shoreline restoration resource for Vashon residents...and beyond - A Vashon Nature Center Write-Up
KCD, in collaboration with Mid Sound Fisheries Enhancement Group, King County, WRIA 8, and WRIA 9, launched Shore Friendly King County last year. The Vashon Nature Center does a great job of explaining the value and benefit of the program in the excerpt below:
Whether you live on, or visit Vashon-Maury Island, you likely know the wealth of our abundant shorelines. The islands’ 51 miles of shoreline are beautiful, active, and important habitats that relate deeply to the health of not just our local community but the whole of the Salish Sea.
Shorelines are important connective habitats where the terrestrial and marine world meet... But currently, ⅓ of the shoreline of the Puget Sound is armored in some way... this means that human inhabitants of the shoreline face an increasingly complex conundrum: as sea levels rise how can shoreline properties be protected while still allowing for natural processes that sustain the Puget Sound food web?
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KCD offers Where the Water Begins workshops and beach walks to connect marine shoreline residents with resources to help manage their shoreline.
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The Importance of Urban Tree Canopy
In 2019, KCD brought together a group of urban forestry and stormwater management professionals to develop modeling and resources on the role urban tree canopy plays in reducing negative effects of stormwater runoff. Snohomish Conservation District took up this work and just produced the companion handbook to the original technical report.
The Puget Sound Urban Tree Canopy and Stormwater Management Handbook sheds light on science-based proof of the multiple benefits of urban trees and demonstrates the advantages of collaboration across industries and municipalities when designing and implementing green stormwater infrastructure.
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Soil Nutrient Testing Update
Thank you for your cooperation and understanding with the changes to the Soil Nutrient Testing Program.
Each resident in our service area* is eligible for a total of five free basic soil nutrient tests for properties they either own or rent. If you have used up your five free tests, additional soil tests can be ordered for $25 each.
Be sure that:
- Each sample has at least THREE POUNDS of material
- The form is properly filled out
- The sample bags are labels on the outside of the bag
Soil test results are typically completed within about three weeks and will be sent via email as soon as they are received from the lab. If you have not received your results within four weeks, please send a message to soiltests@kingcd.org and someone will get back to you.
Our office is currently closed to the public due to the COVID-19 pandemic in order to keep KCD staff and the public safe. Soil samples can be mailed to the KCD office Monday through Thursday or put in our drop box outside the KCD office door located inside the building at 800 SW 39th St, Suite 150, Renton, WA 98057 during the hours of 8am to 5pm, Monday through Friday.
* Our soil testing service is available to all residents within King Conservation District boundaries, which includes 34 cities and all of unincorporated King County. The cities of Enumclaw, Federal Way, Skykomish, Milton, and Pacific are outside the District boundaries. However, residents of those cities can have samples processed for a fee of $25 per soil test.
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Green/Duwamish and Central Puget Sound Watershed Youth Seats!
Do you know a teenager who cares about our environment, salmon restoration, and watershed quality health? Encourage them to apply to become a youth ecosystem steward for salmon recovery efforts in the Green/Duwamish and Central Puget Sound Watershed.
If you are interested in applying, submit an application by May 23 to Matt Goehring or Suzanna Smith.
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KCD Employment Opportunities
KCD is currently hiring for a wide variety of positions. Please see our website for opportunities and detailed descriptions.
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Compost Awareness Week
May 1-7 is International Compost Awareness Week and this year's theme is Recipe for Regeneration: Compost, with the goal being to build awareness on the benefits of compost use and organics recycling. The 2022 theme highlights the overall regenerative agriculture movement and how compost and organics recycling fit into that process.
Compost, when added to farmland, gardens, yards, and other landscapes creates healthier soils and crops by providing food for soil microbes in the ground. These microbes enrich the quality of the soil while also sequestering carbon in the soil through photosynthesis.
Just as a chef pulls together the best ingredients to create the perfect recipe, this year's theme focuses on the crucial role recycling our food scraps and yard trimmings plays by creating compost, which when added to soil results in a recipe that makes our food more nutritious, the air we breathe cleaner and our climate healthier overall.
Here are some key facts from the Compost Research and Education Foundation regarding organics recycling and compost use:
- The use of landfill space and incineration can be reduced by at least one-third when organics are recycled.
- Methane, a greenhouse gas twenty-five times as powerful as carbon dioxide, can be significantly reduced through the recycling of organics.
- Soil health and productivity is dependent on organic matter – the essence of compost -- to provide the sustenance for the biological diversity in soil. Plants depend on this to convert materials into plant-available nutrients and to keep soil well-aerated, as well as reducing the need for pesticide use to ward off soil-borne and other plant diseases.
- Compost returning to the soil serves as a “carbon bank,” helping to store by removing it from the atmosphere.
- Compost is a huge benefit for both water conservation and quality. When used in water quality projects, compost bind pollutants to the organics material and prevents them from entering our lakes, wetlands, streams and rivers. Soil erosion is mitigated, and water-holding capacity improved through compost’s enhancement of soil structure, binding soil particles together.
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Manure Match
Through Manure Match, landowners who have more manure or compost than they can use on their own property can connect with other landowners seeking a source of nutrients and organic matter for their gardens, pastures and crops.
If you are a livestock owners in King county with surplus manure, submit a request to be added by using the form on the Manure Match page. For those wishing to share their manure or compost more quickly, consider contacting the folks that have listed themselves in the “Manure Wanted” section of this sheet.
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Equipment Share Program
Reservations are being accepted for KCD Farm Equipment. Visit each page to find out more and to get signed up now for the 2022 season.
And these tools are available for use for free:
Visit Equipment Share Program to check availability and rent or borrow any of the equipment.
KCD’s office is still currently closed to the public and scheduling and processes are adjusted for COVID-19 guidelines.
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Get involved at one of these upcoming KCD or Partner events.
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Saturday May 14, 2022
Learn from experts about managing your beach or bluff property to support both the environment and your own needs. Is your marine bluff or beach property eroding or jeopardizing your house? Do you want to manage vegetation to stabilize slopes while maintaining a beautiful view of Puget Sound?
RSVP Now!
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Saturday May 21, 2022
Learn from experts about managing your beach or bluff property to support both the environment and your own needs. Is your marine bluff or beach property eroding or jeopardizing your house? Do you want to manage vegetation to stabilize slopes while maintaining a beautiful view of Puget Sound?
RSVP Now!
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South Sound Conservation Districts’ Forest Stewardship Field Day
Saturday, May 21, Eatonville
9:00am - 12:00noon
Join Conservation District Forestry experts and the Thompson family as we tour the Coburg Tree Farm in Eatonville, a shining example of forest stewardship. We will look at elements discussed in the South Sound Conservation District’s 4-part Forestry Education Webinar Series that took place January-April 2022. Elements include general forest health and risk trees, managing wildfire risk around your Western WA home, multi-benefit forestry, riparian habitat, and invasive species control. You won’t want to miss this tour, which will inspire you to make improvements to your own forest!
Register Now
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Streamside Restoration Webinar
Wednesday, June 22, Online via Zoom
6:00pm - 7:00pm
Restoration experts will share about managing your yard to support both the environment and your own needs to return your stream, lake or wetland property to its more natural state. And they will highlight ways you can support wildlife, enhance your property’s aesthetic, and reduce maintenance needs?
TOpics will include how to:
- Minimize pollution runoff on your property
- Control invasive weeds
- Utilize native plants for wildlife habitat and erosion control
- Add value and beauty to your yard naturally
This FREE 1-hour webinar is for homeowners living along the water.
RSVP Now
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39th Annual Tilth Alliance Edible Plant Sale
Meridian Playground
May 6 and 7
9am-3pm
Support Tilth Alliance’s biggest fundraiser of the year! The annual Edible Plant Sale features the largest selection of organically, sustainably and locally grown vegetable plant starts in the Puget Sound region. All revenue will benefit Tilth Alliance’s year-round programming.
More Information
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Miller Creek Trail Stewardship
Miller-Walker Basin Stewardship Program
9:30am - 12pm
Miller Creek Trail, Normandy Park
May 14, November 5
Walker Preserve, Burien
June 4, October 29
Join the Miller-Walker Basin Steward and local community to restore the forest around Miller and Walker Creeks to continue work that was done in 2017-2019. By volunteering, you help make the Miller and Walker Creek basins better for people, fish, and wildlife.
Sign Up Now
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Please watch our website and social media outlets for information about other events and visit kingcd.org/events to register for future KCD-organized Workshops, Farm Tours and Volunteer Events.
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