July 24, 2013 FOMP Meeting Summary

1) Introductions: Herb Bone, Marymoor R/C Club, FOMP Board; Norah Robinson, King County Parks; Michael Hobbs, Eastside Audubon, FOMP Secretary; Ollie Oliver, neighbors and Eastside Audubon; Greg Helland, FOMP President and SODA representative; Steve Gety (sp?) and Jack (?), Marymoor R/C Club.

2) New Zealand Mudsnail: This is a highly invasive, non-native, very tiny snail, and it has become established at several locations in Washington. King County is hoping to prevent spread, since there is currently no way to control them. They have been found in a few places in King County, including the Kelsey Creek drainage in Bellevue, and thus are quite close, geographically, to Marymoor. They are requesting that anybody working in the water or wetlands should take measures to make sure they’re not bringing these snails in when they arrive, nor carrying them away on their boots when they leave. This would apply, for instance, to SODA volunteers working in the Sammamish Slough. If practicable, the easiest method is to use different boots at each site that you might be working in. Cleaning boots is possible, but not trivial. Instructions and more information can be found at the following website:

Birdloop – Overlook fencing (actually, the extension of the fencing to enclose the compost piles / gravel storage area): delayed more, but it will happen very soon. [In fact, being completed as I write this on 8/1].
Garden Loosestrife Control Project - Parks will continue work in 2013, with spray work in June, July and August; earlier than previous attempts.
Community Gardens - Good weather is greatly helping the vegetable growing in the Food Bank plots, so donations are way ahead of even the best previous year, 2011. As of 7/23, 824 pounds of fresh foods have been donated (compared to 609 at the same date in 2011). They are looking forward to a banner year.
East Lake Sammamish Trail Construction - The Issaquah section is complete. Also, just south of the Redmond section, a new park has been opened: Sammamish Landing Park. See http://www.kingcounty.gov/operations/capitalImprovements/parkscip/projects/eastlakesammamishtrail.aspx and http://www.ci.sammamish.wa.us/departments/parksandrec/projects/SammamishLanding.aspx
Lighting Projects - new poles are going in, and wiring is being reworked to reestablish lights near mansion/concert venue. Tennis court lights done. North Athletic Fields will hopefully be acted on in 2013.
Sammamish River Transition Zone - there was a public meeting held June 27 at Clise Mansion, where the scope of the project was described, and where they announced the creation of a Stakeholders Advisory Committee which will give input to the design team, will review proposals, and will make recommendations. [That committee had its first meeting in August.] This project try to leverage Storm Water Management funds to modify the stretch of the Sammamish River that currently runs through the Transition Zone, just downstream of the weir, with the goals of better regulating water levels in Lake Sammamish, providing necessary flood controls both upstream and down, and providing better habitat for Chinook Salmon. Michael Hobbs will be the FOMP representative on the Committee. There are also representatives from SODA, Eastside Audubon, and the Sammamish Rowing Association.
Venue seating surface – Greg was not keen on the idea of permeable concrete, and instead proposed pavers (which fit in better with the mansion styling), and which could be arranged in an artistically pleasing pattern.

These notes do not constitute an official record of the meeting. They may have inaccuracies and omissions. If anyone has any complaints about the content of these notes, they should direct them to Michael Hobbs at fomp@marymoor.org, and he will endeavor to correct them.

July 24, 2013 Meeting Summary