photo credit: stevevoght

An informal group of birders is meeting for two walks around Green Lake. The walks will be at 8:00 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 17, 2011 and Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012. They will last about 2-3 hours and may include a coffee stop.

Walkers will meet at West Green Lake Beach (7312 West Green Lake Dr N) and will walk counterclockwise around Green Lake. Anyone who wants to learn about the birds at Green Lake is welcome. Participants should dress for the weather and bring binoculars and a field guide if they have them.

More information from Gayle Garman of the Friends of Green Lake (FOGL):

Winter is the best time to bird at Green Lake because of the many winter migrants. Green Lake’s also a great place for beginning birders because water birds are easier to see than “twit” birds that flit about in the trees, and the Lake is small, so you’re always close enough to see the birds with binoculars.

I envision the birdwalks as a group of interested people getting together and helping each other identify and learn about the birds we see at Green Lake.

We don’t have a formal leader. No sign-ups. No attendance. But FOGL is getting it started because the birdwalks led by Martin Muller are always so popular and we see numerous people walking the Lake wearing binoculars.

For more information, contact Gayle Garman at friendsofgl [at] gmail.com.

©Amy Duncan for My Green Lake | Seattle's Green Lake Blog, 2011.

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Post tags: birds, friends of green lake, walking

At its Nov 22 meeting, the Friends of Green Lake decided to cancel the Dec. 3 work party because there is not a significant accumulation of milfoil.

 Members also decided to gather more data about the discharge of groundwater and surface water from the Green Lake Village development (former Vitamilk Site). FOGL is concerned that the planned discharges to the stormwater system will further decrease the input of clean water to the Lake.   A few more volunteers are needed to collect algae samples and/or do microcystin analysis (contact Gayle Garman at friendsofgl [at] gmail.com).   The Mayor’s office noted that revisions to Seattle’s Shoreline Master Plan, including Green Lake, are available for public comment until Dec. 9 here. FOGL will not meet in December.  The next general meeting is January 24, 2012 (fourth Tuesday).  

©Amy Duncan for My Green Lake | Seattle's Green Lake Blog, 2011.

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Post tags: friends of green lake, volunteer

Photo credit: Allison Harger

Friends of Green Lake (FOGL) meets at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2011 at The Hearthstone (6720 E Green Lake Way N). All are welcome to join the meeting.

The meeting will include:

• a summary of monitoring data collected over the summer
• planning for a Dec. 3 shoreline milfoil clean-up
• discussion regarding impacts of the Green Lake Village development on Green Lake’s water quality and a FOGL response
• reports on Saturday workparties
• reports on recent algae scums
• demonstration of a new microcystin analysis kit
• discussion regarding nutrient sampling over the winter
• discussion about whether to start a birders group

Friends of Green Lake is an IRS approved non-profit association of volunteers that works to protect Green Lake and its watershed.

©Amy Duncan for My Green Lake | Seattle's Green Lake Blog, 2011.

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Post tags: friends of green lake, volunteer

Wood Duck (Aix sponsa) at Green Lake Park. Photo credit: Luke McGuff

Update, Tuesday, November 8: Both bird walks are now full and reservations are no longer being taken.

The Friends of Green Lake is offering two Green Lake bird walks with Audubon Society Master Birder Martin Muller this fall.

The walks will be on Saturday, November 12, 2011 and Saturday, November 19, 2011, 8 a.m. – 12 p.m.

The four-hour tours of Green Lake Park will cover migrants as well as local birds, including waterfowl and shorebirds. Beginners and advanced birders of all ages are welcome. Dogs, however, should stay home.

The group will walk slowly and will practice being quiet so that they can hear the birds before the birds hear the group.

Participants should wear three or four layers, including a water-repellent or waterproof outer layer if there is rain in the forecast. Field guides, binoculars and scopes are also helpful.

[reservation information removed]

©Amy Duncan for My Green Lake | Seattle's Green Lake Blog, 2011.

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Post tags: animals, bargain alert, birds, friends of green lake

Participants will weed a restoration site on the Green Lake shoreline, just north of the the Green Lake Pitch & Putt golf course (5701 East Green Lake Way N). Blackberry roots and other weeds need to be removed.

Volunteers should dress for the weather. Hiking boots and thick gloves are recommended. If you have weeding tools, you are asked to bring them.

For more information about the work party, contact Denise Pardi at friendsofgl [at] gmail.org.

©Amy Duncan for My Green Lake | Seattle's Green Lake Blog, 2011.

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Post tags: friends of green lake, gardening, volunteer

photo credit: Allison Harger

The Friends of Green Lake meets at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2011 at The Hearthstone (6720 E Green Lake Way N). All are welcome to join the meeting. Doors will open at 6:45 p.m. for socializing.

Friends of Green Lake volunteers monitored the Lake for temperature, water clarity, nutrients and algae through the summer.  At Tuesday’s meeting, our new Lake monitors will make brief reports and we’ll have graphs summarizing this summer’s data.  We’ll show the new microcystin test kit, which allows us to measure one of the toxins produced by cyanobacteria.

Our main topic will be planning:  Which monitoring programs can we continue through fall and winter?  Will we have work parties to care for the restoration plantings and/or do shoreline milfoil clean-up?  Can we do more about milfoil?  Should we start a birders group?  Should we do more lobbying for active management of the Lake?  Only projects with volunteers will succeed.

Please come to the meeting with your ideas, interests, concerns, and feedback.    If you are unable to attend, you can still participate (and volunteer!) by writing our email account:  FriendsofGL [at] gmail.com  or via the website:  www.friendsofgreenlake.org

©Amy Duncan for My Green Lake | Seattle's Green Lake Blog, 2011.

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Post tags: friends of green lake, volunteer

Photo courtesy Mary Griffin

King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks took a sample of the algae the next day. Sally Abella of King County DNR identified the predominant bacteria as three cyanobacteria species, including Microcystis and Anabaena, both of which can produce toxins.  Preliminary chemical analysis by Washington Department of Ecology was completed Friday afternoon. It indicated 1.8 ug/L microcystis (a liver toxin), significantly less than the state recreational guideline of 6 ug/L.

“This does not seem to indicate an acute health or safety risk at this time,” Abella said. “However, because the algae were somewhat dispersed by the time we investigated, it is quite possible that the state threshold could have been exceeded if a true scum had been sampled. I am recommending that we keep a close eye on the lake to see if more accumulations are formed over the next month or so and try to catch one at its height in order to assess the maximum potential risk to dogs or children playing along the shoreline.”

Abella has put out a call for volunteers who walk around Green Lake frequently: “Could you carry a pint-sized jar or container with you (clean glass) to be able to scoop up a sample if you see a distinct scum? We would need the location as closely as you can describe it and the date/time of the sample. Of course, a picture of the site is worth gold! If you do take a sample, refrigerate it ASAP and email me (Sally.Abella [at] kingcounty.gov) so we can coordinate a toxicity test with Dept of Ecology and the King County Environmental Lab.“

If you would like to learn more about algae in Green Lake, the Friends of Green Lake meets at 7 p.m. this Tuesday (June 28, 2011) at The Hearthstone (6720 E Green Lake Way N). All are welcome to join the meeting, which will feature a discussion about Green Lake’s algae, a plan for additional sampling, and a summary of ongoing monitoring for temperature, clarity and nutrients.

©Amy Duncan for My Green Lake | Seattle's Green Lake Blog, 2011.

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Post tags: friends of green lake, safety, volunteer

We want a ground to which people may easily go after their day’s work is done, and where they may stroll for an hour seeing, hearing and feeling nothing of the bustle and jar of the streets…

- Fredrick Law Olmsted Sr., 1870, “Public Parks and the Enlargement of Towns”

On Tuesday (April 26, 2011), the Friends of Green Lake hosted a presentation by Sue Nicol, Vice President of Friends of Seattle’s Olmsted Parks. Sue spoke on the Olmsted plans for Green Lake Park, Ravenna Park, and Ravenna Blvd.

The presentation was well-attended, with an estimated 50 people in attendance, including Mitch Spute, who provided us with the following report:

Sue Nicol of Friends of Seattle’s Olmsted Parks gave a wonderful presentation on Tuesday night, which put into perspective how the Olmsted Legacy impacted the Green Lake Park that we know and use today. It quickly became apparent to the people in attendance that we owe an enormous debt of gratitude to a pair of visionary men.

Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr.

Fredrick Law Olmsted Sr gained notoriety by designing Central Park in New York City, and his two sons John Charles Olmsted and Fredrick Law Olmsted Jr took their father’s expertise with them to the northwest. The Olmsted brothers designs stretched from Portland to Seattle and over to Spokane, including parks, boulevards, college grounds and private residences. The Olmsted brothers created twenty parks and boulevards in the Seattle area including Volunteer, Seward, Cowen and Green Lake Parks. They also designed the grounds for the 1909 A-Y-P Exposition, also known as Seattle’s first World’s Fair with 3 million attendance.

108 years ago, on April 30, 1903, John Charles arrived in Seattle. By 1907, he and his brother were asked to design Green Lake Park. They are responsible for designing the original walking trail, boating centers, bathhouse and beaches, which no doubt were similarly located to the ones we use today. The brothers even chose which plants and trees should be planted at the park and where to place them.

On a larger scale they designed our Ravenna Blvd, which largely follows the old course of Ravenna Creek. The creek, which flows from the northwest to the southeast, at one time drained water from Green Lake. A remnant of the creek still exists within Cowen and Ravenna Park. (Note: this paragraph has been updated with the help of a comment from Benjamin Lukoff.)

Ravenna Park, 1911. Photo credit: Seattle Municipal Archives

Following the design of Ravenna Blvd, the Olmsted brothers were dismayed by the lack of remaining park land at Green Lake. They recommended lowering the lake by four feet, a controversial idea that ended with the city actually lowering the lake by seven feet. The lowering provided an additional 100 acres of park land, most significant on the east side of the lake, which gained 40 acres. Had the lowering not taken place, we would not have the play fields and open green space that we enjoy today.

Green Lake, 1913. Photo credit: Seattle Municipal Archives

I found it quite interesting that Guy Phinney, a wealthy entrepreneur, owned most of Woodland Park and S. Green Lake from about 1891 to 1905 or so. The entrance to his estate is now the south entrance to the Woodland Park Zoo and his home sat where the parking lot to the zoo’s south gate is. His personal rose garden remains today as the zoo’s famous rose garden.

Woodland Park entrance, 1909. Photo credit: Seattle Municipal Archives

This was only my second Friends of Green Lake, the other I attended also had a speaker. However, FOGL meets monthly on the fourth Tuesday of the month at the Hearthstone, at 7 p.m.

Friends of Green Lake was created in 2003 following the third closure of the lake in a five year span. The lake had been closed due to toxic algae blooms and the water was off limits to boaters and swimmers. The group continues to monitor water quality, which will be the topic of discussion at next month’s meeting. Apparently, one water sample taken in January returned results of being ten times more toxic than deemed safe by the State of Washington.

The Friends of Green Lake also does work restoring the shoreline habitats of native wildlife and many work parties have recently taken place. They are looking for a few volunteers to occasionally do upkeep maintenance on the recently worked on areas, such as weeding.

The Friends of Green Lake annual picnic will be on July 26, 2011. Attending the next two meetings would be a great idea, so as not to seem like a picnic crasher come July!

Thank you for the report, Mitch!

Note: The Friends of Seattle’s Olmsted Parks is offering a walking presentation about the Olmsted Legacy in Green Lake on Saturday, May 14, 2011, 10 a.m. – noon.  The walk will begin at the main entrance to the Green Lake Community Center (7201 E Green Lake Dr N).

© for My Green Lake | Seattle's Green Lake Blog, 2011.

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Post tags: friends of green lake, historical, ravenna

Green Lake, 1913

photo credit: Seattle Municipal Archives

The Friends of Green Lake (FOGL) are meeting on Tuesday, April 26, 2011 at 7 p.m. in The Hearthstone‘s chapel (6720 E Green Lake Way N). The meeting is free and open to the public.

Sue Nicol of Friends of Seattle’s Olmsted Parks will be speaking on the Olmsted plans for Green Lake Park, Ravenna Park, and Ravenna Blvd.  John Charles Olmsted began designing Seattle’s park system, including Green Lake Park, in 1903.

In October 2010, Nicol visited a FOGL meeting and presented on the history of Woodland Park and the Woodland Park Zoo. You can read about that presentation here.

In October, Sue Nicol spoke on the Olmsted history of Woodland Park and the Woodland Park Zoo.

©Amy Duncan for My Green Lake | Seattle's Green Lake Blog, 2011.

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Post tags: friends of green lake, historical, ravenna

The group removed blackberries along the southeast shoreline of Green Lake, just north of the split rail fence. The area was then re-planted with 100 native trees, shrubs, and perennials which were provided by the Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation.

“Within a few months,” Friends of Green Lake President Gayle Garman said, “the restored habitat will provide food and refuge for birds and other wildlife.”

Saturday’s work party was the last Friends of Green Lake work party of the season. “Green Lake birds are beginning nesting activities,” Garman said, “and our purpose is to encourage their nesting within Green Lake Park, so we will not have any more work parties until fall.”

Garet Munger was kind enough to share these photographs of the habitat restoration with us:

Thank you, Gayle, Garet, and the Friends of Green Lake!

©Amy Duncan for My Green Lake | Seattle's Green Lake Blog, 2011.

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Post tags: friends of green lake, trees