Miscellaneous Items - 6/30/09

Aquifer Meeting Tonight (6/30). This is a reminder of the Aquifer meeting tonight (6/30) a 6:30 pm at the Norm Dicks Center.

Questions Already. We have some residents who have to work evenings or have other meetings and cannot attend the aquifer meeting. We took some their questions early which include these:

1. We have a development that wants to put in high density homes with sewers along the Illahee Creek corridor. The adjoining residents would like to see lower density homes with septics. Should we be concerned about nitrates from the septics getting into the aquifers?
2. Over the years there have been conflicting reports of where our ground water is coming from. Some of us remember hearing it was coming from the Olympic Mountains. Now it is said to come locally as our rain water infiltrates down through the soil and into the aquifers. Does anyone really know where our water comes from? And, how can we be sure the latest information is correct?
3. If groundwater and aquifers are so important, how come we haven’t heard much about them from our government officials? Who is in charge of managing the groundwater and aquifers?
4. I’m concerned about the low flows in Illahee Creek. Who is supposed to be watching out for our streams? The state, the county, the federal government? Does anyone really care? The only group we ever hear about caring is the tribes because of salmon. Should we be talking with them?
5. Do things like rain gardens and infiltration pits actually work? And what happens when we get a major downpour like what happened on December 3rd of 2007 and the rain gardens and infiltration pits can’t absorb all the water?
6. If the stormwater contaminates that are polluting Puget Sound are infiltrated into the ground, won’t they eventually pollute our groundwater?
7. I live some distance away from Illahee Creek, about a mile, and want to know if my infiltrating of my roof rain water will help?
8. What about people who have zinc strips on their roofs, or copper impregnated shingles, to keep the moss off? Won’t those metals harm the groundwater? And, what about pesticides and other lawn chemicals?

Canada Geese Eating Up the Blueberries. While we like our wildlife we have reports the Canada geese have developed a taste for green and ripening blueberries. They have already devoured the berries on some of the small bushes and are working on the big bushes. Time to put the nets up.

Another Deer Solution. Thank you to all who provided your remedies to keep deer out of garden areas. Here is the latest:

Just thought I'd throw my two cents in on the subject of critters in the garden .... so here's a couple more suggestions ....not only does human hair work, but dog hair works great too, put it in old nylons and hang it around your garden area, chicken house,etc..... and it will keep those critters at bay, I have a friend who lives on a farm in Hungary and this is how she keeps the foxes out of her hen house....and deer out of her garden.

Fly solutions, For those of you who have trouble with those little flies that come in when you leave your door open and just circle around in the air this is an "old wives tale" that works....put water in a plastic baggie and hang it above your doorway or let it hang on little rope and you will never have one of those pesky little flies in you house....

Community Garden Tour Response. Just a few responders to the idea of having an Illahee gardens tour. We will see what that group wants to do and report back. Let us know if you would like to be part of the group.

New Format. We were asked to eliminate the underlining in our Updates as it makes it more difficult to transfer them to the illaheecommunity.com web page.

Eagle Attacking Ornamental Chicken Article. When we posted the "eagle attacking ornamental chicken" item in a previous update, we didn't have a picture of the chicken. The next day the Kitsap Sun did a front page report, complete with a picture. The chicken looked very real so we now understand how this happened. Click on the following for the picture and article. http://kitsapsun.com/news/2009/jun/23/eagle-eyed-misguided-bird-leaves-illahee-empty/

Illahee Mentioned in Mediation Article. The Kitsap County Commissioner's have added a mediation step to their land use process and said it was because of the Illahee Community's outfall fight (which was to keep the 42" diameter stormwater pipe from being installed under the Illahee Community Dock). While the community came to an agreement with the developer, the primary problem was with Kitsap County for allowing the outfall in the first place. We hope the mediation process also includes the Kitsap County employees, who in spite of being paid by the citizens, do not always act in their best interests of local communities. The link to the article is: http://kitsapsun.com/news/2009/jun/24/kitsap-commissioners-ok-new-land-use-mediation/

Illahee Referenced in Rob Woutat Article. There was a recent article by Rob Woutat in the Kitsap Sun where he mentioned what it was like living in the Illahee community. Unfortunately, the Kitsap Sun has not made that article available on its website. When it shows up, we will provide a link to it.

Jim Aho