Tips, tricks, and a quick peek into the everyday life of the conservation district.
As the school year gets underway, Snohomish Conservation District’s Youth Education Team is excited to announce the start of a new, four-part Sound Education Program for elementary school classrooms in Snohomish County and Camano Island!
Read MoreAgroforestry can provide major benefits for farms—it also presents unique challenges. Unlike traditional monocultures, agroforestry requires farmers to understand the needs of multiple plants and how they interact with each other. It takes planning, adaptation, and patience to create a successful system. It also isn’t static. Many agroforestry practices incorporate trees that affect shade conditions as they grow. That means crops may need to shift over the years.
So why bother with all the trouble?
Read MoreSnohomish Conservation District is excited to announce that we’re partnering with the Cama Beach Foundation to host a series of free, family-friendly educational activities at Cama Beach this summer!
Read MoreModest Family Solutions is a non-profit on the front lines of addressing food insecurity. They grow food using sustainable, innovative gardening techniques like hydroponics (growing crops without soil) and aquaponics (using fish waste as nutrients while also filtering the water). They also manage the Agroecology Center in Everett, which leads community youth programs that teach the basics of gardening, composting, and hydroponics farming.
As a recipient of our Lawns to Lettuce cost share award, Modest Family Solutions is using the funding to increase vegetable production from the aquaponics and hydroponics gardening systems.
Read MoreLast week, we welcomed Snohomish County Council members Nate Nehring and Sam Low, Town of Darrington Mayor Dan Rankin, and Linda Neunzig, Snohomish County Agriculture Coordinator, on behalf of Executive Dave Somers, for a tour of three of our conservation projects throughout Snohomish County.
Read MoreOn July 16, we had an action-packed Youth Education Day, hosted by the City of Mountlake Terrace. Families joined in on the fun: 36 adults and 34 youth ventured to Lake Ballinger to learn about water conservation and how they can protect the rivers, streams, and lakes in their communities.
Read MoreJoe Crumbley, Urban Agriculture Program Coordinator, covers growing food basics to help you start your summer garden. He talks about the benefits of soil health, mulching and composting, growing seasons, companion planting, and more. Thanks to the City of Lake Stevens for supporting this work in 2022!
Read MoreThanks to David Jackson for presenting this year’s webinar on Detention Ponds Awareness and Maintenance.
Read MoreNick Pate, owner of Raising Cane Ranch in Snohomish, has incorporated several agroforestry practices on his farm. His food forest also serves as a harvestable, multi-functional, or working buffer. The trees and shrubs in the food forest essentially act as a second layer to his native forest riparian buffer, which borders the Snohomish River.
Read MoreAre you interested in renewable energy for your farm or rural small business? Snohomish and Pierce Conservation Districts have teamed up with Spark Northwest to help farms and rural small businesses apply for grant funds for renewable energy and energy efficient projects through the Rural Energy Development Program.
Read MoreTucked towards the back of Raising Cane Ranch, beyond their farm stand and Highland cows, you’ll find a food forest filled with chestnut, walnut, and hazelnut trees, black currants, evergreen huckleberries, and aronia berries.
“It’s one of the most peaceful places on the property,” says farm owner, Nick Pate. “I just love working out there.”
Read MoreBack in January/February, a group of brave storytellers joined virtually for a two week training that generated 12 digital stories now known as “Tales of Two Rivers.” This group of stories was split between the Snohomish and the Stillaguamish basins within Snohomish County. On Thursday, June 9, the first of two film festivals was held to feature the Snohomish basin stories.
Read MoreView the two webinars from the spring series of natural yard care for the City of Everett.
Read MoreWe had one of our very own hometown heroes representing Snohomish County at the 2022 Washington State Envirothon competition. The team from Sequoia High School in Everett was one of the winners of the regional competition in March, and they went on to compete at the state competition in May!
Read MoreThe Puget Sound region is one of the fastest growing urban population centers in the United States, and the added concrete, metal and other impervious surfaces, coupled with tree loss, has increased stormwater runoff.
Read MoreNothing beats an in person, hands on environmental learning experience! Read more about the Northwest Regional Envirothon competition held at Brightwater Education Center.
Read MoreHaystack Creek, with its plentiful vegetation and woody debris, has enough organic matter to delight any fish looking to spawn. Tony Peterson, who lives just outside of the city of Sultan, has always loved this creek bordering his farmland where he has a small cattle operation.
Read MoreIt’s no surprise that we get a lot of rain—the Pacific Northwest is a temperate rainforest, after all. How we manage that rain once it hits the ground is important, especially in our region, where we’re experiencing rapid growth. In many places, the pervious soil of forests, farms, and undeveloped land is being replaced with impervious surfaces like roofs, roads, and parking lots, which can lead to increased flooding and water pollution.
Read MoreIf you’re driving along State Route 530 towards Darrington, you might overlook a quiet creek nestled beneath the mountains. Don’t let its small stature fool you, however. Ashton Creek holds something of immense value: cold water.
Read MoreStudies have proven what many of us have suspected for a long time: planting trees in urban areas measurably improves quality of life and overall health of the residents living in those spaces. However, these trees have another secret benefit. Urban trees can also play a vital role in addressing stormwater problems.
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Snohomish Conservation District | 528 91st Ave NE, Lake Stevens, WA 98258 | 425-335-5634
