Amon Wildlands Walk hosted by Tapteal Greenway

Mark your calendars for a family-friendly, educational event April 29 in Amon Creek Natural Preserve in south Richland. The Wildlands Walk is a 1.5-mile guided hike through the Preserve and features stations along the trail where you will learn about the treasures that can be found in both shrub-steppe and wetland habitats. Short presentations about reptiles, shrub-steppe restoration, insects, mammals, birds, geology; a bird banding demonstration and native plant seed ball-making; and booths with information from several non-profit organizations are all part of this free event.

Tours start from Claybell Park (425 Broadmoor Street, Richland) at 9:00 a.m. and will run about 90 minutes. The last tour will leave at 10:00 a.m. Please leave dogs at home. There is no charge to attend.

See flyer here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BwgK5xuUH4mnLUd3ZjF4MG1BWW8

Irrigation and KID

Willowbrook,

For information:  The Kennewick Irrigation District web site (www.kid.org) indicates that Willowbrook is currently experiencing an outage due to a failed pump that is being repaired.  The estimated date of irrigation water availability is April 25-30.

The web site is not the easiest web site to use. But if you have patience and persistence and want to check on the status yourself, go to the KID web page, click on Water Status/Outage Map, then follow the directions in the white pop-up box.  You will need to scroll down in the white box to see all the directions.  You will need to:

·         Select your address in the list of addresses that pop up under the search bar.

·         Click on the red area somewhere around where the arrow is pointing from the white box.  Hopefully you will see a white box titled “WATER On Date”.  To see the rest of the information click on the right arrow (triangle) in the gray bar to see the second part of the information.

·         Try clicking on different areas – I got different pop-up boxes when I clicked on different areas. You have to click on a piece of property (and not a culdesac or street) to get useful information.  The difficulty is that there are no lines to show property boundaries.  That’s where the patience and persistence comes in. J

Rachel Road Open House Update

Willowbrook,

Bryant Kuechle (who sent the message below**) works for the consulting company hired by Richland to work on the Rachel Road Alignment Study. His message says the materials from the open house are now available online – a great way to view them if you weren’t able to attend the open house last night.  

Comments are seriously considered and have played a big role in the study all along.  So if you have comments, please submit them by April 26.  You can submit electronic comments by emailing Bryant directly at bk@langdongroupinc.com.  The comment form here cannot be completed and submitted electronically (it must be printed, completed, and mailed in).  It suggests comments in the categories of:

·         Alignment alternatives and ranking

·         Design elements, and

·         Opportunities for environmental enhancement and mitigation.

Page 6 of the displays from last night (located here) provide the Alternative Evaluation Scoring Results. Note that route alternatives C (opposite Rachel Road), E (BPA access road), and G (opposite Lorayne J) ranked relatively closely, with G scoring the highest.

The current plan is to present the results of the study to the City Council on June 6th

If you have questions, please let me know. If I don’t know the answers I will find someone who does.

Janet  (janetsdavis@gmail.com)

**CAC – Thank you all for your participation in last night’s meeting. 46 people signed in and 22 comments were submitted.

The display boards and comment form are posted online at: https://www.ci.richland.wa.us/rachel [Note from Janet:  Click on “Project Materials” to access the documentation.]

Please share this information with anyone that was unable to attend the meeting. We will be accepting comments through April 26. After the 26^th, I will follow up with all of you regarding next steps.

Thanks again,

Bryant

Wildlands Walk in Amon Creek Natural Preserve

What:  Wildlands Walk in Amon Creek Natural Preserve

When:  Saturday, April 29, 9:00 a.m.

Where:  Starts at Claybell Park parking lot (near the corner of Bellerive Dr and Broadmoor St in Richland)

Did you know the area behind our neighborhood is actually a Preserve?  Tapteal Greenway is hosting one of their largest educational, outdoor events April 29 in the Preserve, formally known as Amon Creek Natural Preserve (ACNP).  The Wildlands Walk is a great opportunity for all ages to see what a treasure we have in the Preserve, including its wetland and shrub steppe ecosystems.

The Wildlands Walk begins at Claybell Park at 9:00 a.m. and consists of a guided 1.5 mile walk through the Preserve.  There will be stops at learning stations along the trail, where experts will be providing information and answering questions about:

·         Geology of ACNP and Amon Basin

·         Insects and reptiles of ACNP

·         Mammals of ACNP

·         Native plant restoration activity in ACNP

This is a fun event, and I highly recommend it.  I hope you can participate!

If you have questions, please email taptealgreenway@gmail.com.