A couple of new posts over at the Squaxin Island Tribe's natural resources blog cover issues involving the Deschutes River.

First, on a tour of the river:

One highlight of the tour was stopping at the mouth of Huckleberry Creek not far downstream from the upper Deschutes falls.  Prior to a 1990 rain storm and subsequent landslide on Weyerhaeuser property, about 10% of all returning coho in the Deschutes River system spawned in Huckleberry Creek.

We spoke with Peter Schmid, president of the local homeowners association.  He described how sediment (likely still from the 1990 landslide) continues to aggrade the Huckleberry channel.  He said the channel is now at least three feet shallower than it used to be.  He asserted that was the cause of the ongoing flooding issues the community faces.  When asked about salmon, Peter reported that he has seen none in the last couple years–not in Huckleberry Creek and not in front of his house in the mainstem Deschutes River.

Second, about a study of turbidity in the Deschutes:

Weyerhaeuser published a report in June 2009 in the Journal of American Water Resources Association (Volume 45, Number 3, Pages 793-808) detailing 30 years of turbidity data collected in the upper reaches of the Deschutes (WA) Watershed.  To my knowledge, it is the longest water quality study on private forestlands in the Pacific Northwest.

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Just in case you were wondering what is going on around the ol' Fetid Lake of Doom today, its another Tea Party. More information here.

Looks like they're also going to come back to the Capitol on July 4 too.

If you're in the mood for a counter protest, someone is trying to get one together (via email):

I was going through Capitol Lake with a friend at noon and was shocked to see a giant hate fest happening at the park with music, offensive signs and anti-immigrant and anti-gay marriage booths. I didn’t get more then that out of it, because I had to run away from all that hate...

Remember the debate around the proposed public art for the new city hall? Boy, that was fun, wasn't it?

With everything big thing the city builds (capital projects), some of the money goes to public art. Which is a great idea, but then you get stuck debating the quality of the proposed art. Now, with the city moving to do a major remake of Boulevard Road (about time), they're considering what kind of public art will go into the project. Specifically, the roundabout at Log Cabin and Boulevard. 

Check it out:

Here's the artist's description:

I plan to carve twelve, eight foot tall, naturally fallen cedar sculptures, ideally from one old growth naturally fallen tree which comes from Southworth, WA. The trees are cut in half or quarters because of the massive scale. Ten of the carvings will be placed in the roundabout in a circle, spaced approximately 12 feet apart, creating a contemporary Northwest “Stonehenge” effect. The remaining two sculptures will be placed on the southwest sidewalk, so viewers could have a closer look at them (these sculptures will have shallow relief carving to deter climbing.).

The process to approve this art included six seperate steps, including two to bring in the neighbors of the site.

More from the artist:

Almost every week this is the "What's on the city council's plate this week" review. I don't cover everything, so if you want the full rundown, read the packet and agenda yourself.

If you took all the studies that the city of Olympia has written for downtown and put them in a study stew, this is is the building that would come out the other end (scroll down for more versions):

From the South Capitol Neighborhood email list. Coolest thing is that since she doesn't own a car, she's totally dependent on busses:

Eve Johnson, our neighbor ..., was recently appointed as a community representative to the Intercity Transit Authority Board. With no automobile, Ms. Johnson relies upon the public transportation system. Her responsibilities include speaking for senior citizens and bus riders along with the regular business of the Authority.

Intercity Transit is governed by an eight-member Board of Directors, consisting of five elected officials and three citizen representatives. The Authority sets policy and direction for the agency.

Ms. Johnson moved to this neighborhood when she returned to Olympia in 1997. Prior to that time she lived in Washington, DC.

As past president of the League of Women Voters Thurston County, she chaired the Water Realities in Relation to Planned Development Study. While president she created and produced Debate Watch for the League, the City of Olympia, and The Olympian.

Since returning to Olympia, Ms. Johnson has also participated in the Washington State Legislature's Heritage Caucus and has been a member of the Washington State Historical Society.

Congratulations to Eve for her distinguished service to our local community!

Or, did politics in Lacey just get a lot less interesting? From Lacey Fire:

After arbitration hearings on Tuesday and Thursday, the City of  Lacey and the Fire District #3 agreed to settle the pending law suit out of court. The long story short is that the Willamette Drive fire station is now reopen with a crew of two people with the City willing to cover overtime when staffing falls below a preset number. In return, the city will pay for the over time and also gets out of the contract a year  sooner. It should be noted, that even though a fire engine is based out of station 35 now, it will not be staffed, instead a smaller brush truck will be available with some fire suppression capabilities and EMS capabilities.

Almost every week this is the "What's on the city council's plate this week" review. I don't cover everything, so if you want the full rundown, read the packet and agenda yourself.

46 from Ruby Re-Usable's Ephemeral Folks (Set) by dreamsjung via flickr. This was a "Here Today" installation in 2006.

This week, the city council will consider art (more art!?) when they take a look at the proposed temporary installations for the "Here Today" project in August.

From the staff report:

Through the Here Today Temporary Public Art Project, downtown Olympia becomes the venue for 8 projects of temporary public art during the month of August. Physical sculptures and time-based/performance pieces capture the interest of visitors and citizens alike and allow viewers to see facets of our community through the eyes of local artists.

This project is projected to meet various community needs:

Jim Anderson, local blogger, puts together his list of whys he loves Olympia. The best is one that flies outside the radar of stuff that fits into the "visit Olympia" box.

More like "live Olympia":

The Spaghetti Bowl.

The name comes from the spaghetti feed fundraiser that always precedes the contest. The game starts after seven, but people line up for hours to get good seats at one of the most exciting sports events in the South Sound. Crosstown rivals Olympia High and Capital battle it out in Ingersoll stadium in front of thousands of screaming fans. Goodwill always prevails in the form of blended marching bands and drill teams for halftime entertainment.

Well, there you go (via her Litte Hollywood blog):

Lacey Fire blog has another great thought, merging local fire departments for efficiency:

What I am talking about is something called a “regional fire authority” or “RFA” where by fire departments are forming new single organizations by converting multiple fire departments into one department. This eliminates redundant overhead and costly administrative infrastructure and re-organizing into one single combined entity. Or more simply put, doing the same job better for a larger area, but eliminating all the duplication and expense that multiple fire departments used to do.

In our county, this year could see four fire departments combine in two departments by this fall, and likely they leave the door open to even combine more fire departments in the near future. Other fire department’s are following suit or have already formed RFA’s. Some big cities include Centralia/Lewis FD12, Auburn/Algona/Pacific,  Kennewick/Pasco/Richland, most of Kitsap County, Kent/and multiple fire districts, Renton and the adjacent fire district, and a whole bunch more!

We just wanted to congratulate local fire departments of Yelm (District #2) and Rainier (District #4), and Littlerock (#11) and Rochester/Grand Mound(#1/14) fire departments on their pending RFA’s. You’re citizens are truly lucky for your progressive leadership.

It wasn't so long ago that Tumwater and Olympia were considering merging their two fire departments. But, Tumwater pulled out of the discussions when they realized that the merger would require them to increase what they're paying firemen. And, since Olympia was taking a "this needs to be cost neutral to us" position in the discussions, Tumwater realized it would likely cost them to merge.