Port of Seattle Mitigation Project
We've spent all of our time at the Auburn mitigation site this week.
The most heavily planted zone was completed on Monday with the aid of Redmond's Energy Corp crew. Unfortunately for the Energy Corp crew, their project has lost its funding. Originally the prime objective was to winterize low income housing by making them more energy efficient: installing low flow shower heads, utilizing CFL bulbs, installing aerators on faucets, insulating hot water pipes, and educating home owners on reduction of energy use and resource conservation. In the mean time they have been assigned to assist other crews.
More below
Monday - Finished the southern corner that experienced greater flooding than anticipated that resulted in higher plant mortality. Everything was placed from the previous week, so it was just a matter of getting things into the ground. For the first half of the day the other crew started staging the next site. We also had our wonderful IP (Individual Placement) Jenn also aided us for part of the day.
When all the planting had been finished, we headed to the other zone to start placing the plants that had been staged earlier.
Tuesday - A very straight forward day. We placed the rest of the plants for this zone and planted everything. From what I recall... it was ~950 plants or so. Or perhaps it was Monday... Too many numbers!!! Anyway the truck was nearby so we we're fortunate to have the radio on for most of the day.
Wednesday - Kris, our supervisor, is attending a project management course for the next two days. Michelle, the assistant, lead us on our new area, which was quite a challenge!
Essentially this area is a plot created by a road loop that is around a small pond. Around the pond, a ring of different forest type (can't find the word I am looking for here...) extend out. The tricky part is the fact that they do no extend out in a even manner and a clear border was not easily discernible.
Our focus was the Oregon Ash (Fraxinus latifolia) ring. Max and I took the task of placing and planting in the more ambiguous areas where the Oregon Ash ring thins out and blends with the other rings. Imagine a crescent moon that almost extends where the tips touch and now imagine trying to create that shape in the middle of a forest. Confusing but we were able to identify plants in the ring that should not be in other rings and formed a rough perimeter for planting.
Thursday - Another fairly easy area that only challenged us in terms of length and the task of transporting plants.
Every morning that we've worked this week, we will hear sirens in the distance for a brief moment. Today the sirens extended for maybe half an hour. Within the hour, several helicopters buzzed above us for half the day. It felt like they had their cameras on us because they would slowly hover by above us. We later found out that in Auburn a stolen car was chased and the four men inside fled when they were stopped. Two were captured soon, one at the edge of the Green River decided to jump in to get away (he swam to shore where the police waited for him), and another managed to evade the police for the time being. I am sure the helicopters were searching for that man.
Photos from the past 2 weeks.
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| Snowflake! |
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| Hummock - Mounds of mulch and bark marking planting areas. |
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| Staged and placed plants! |
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| Empty pots from the day. |
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| A newt or a salamander? |
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| Transporting plants! |
A New Era
I call this a New Era because I picked up my very first pro-grade lens. It is yet another commitment to photography as my serious pursuit.
At Glazer's in Seattle, Nikon Days is happening and they have 15% off used equipment. I picked up a first generation Nikkor AF 80-200mm f/2.8 ED. It is a TANK. Pretty much all metal and glass. Optically it is spectacular and the constant aperture is awesome. The only thing I am not pleased with is the focusing speed on the D70 body. It is a bit slow and the focus hunts more compared to my 70-210mm. I will test the lens on a D200 and D90 to decide if I am going to keep it.
Even if I don't keep it. I am now hooked on pro glass. I will find another lens to replace it if this doesn't work out. Sometimes I wonder how I went so long without picking up great glass.
Samples:
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| Pike Tower |
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| Fortress of Solitude |
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| Testing AF... |
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| The Giant |
Enjoy!
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