Tulalip News

Strawberries, art, jousting and more weekend fun

Tulalip Tribal members Carol McKay and her brother, Peter Henry, will be representing the Tulalip Tribes as this year’s Marysville Strawberry Festival King and Queen. Photo by Diane Janes.

Lauren SalcedoHerman Williams Sr. has been selected to be the Strawberry Festival Grand Marshal. — Lauren Salcedo
Herman Williams Sr. has been selected to be the Strawberry Festival Grand Marshal.

The Herald

Strawberries: The Marysville Strawberry runs through Sunday, with a carnival, market, parades, fireworks and, of course, strawberry shortcake. For even more strawberries, the Biringer Strawberry Festival is Saturday and Sunday in Arlington with U-pick fields, pony rides and lots of other family-friendly fun. Get the details on both events in our story here.

For art lovers: The Edmonds Arts Festival is Friday through Sunday. More than 240 artists will sell their fine arts and crafts. There will also be food vendors and fun for kids. Get more details in our story here.

In honor of Dad: Sunday is Father’s Day. So, Dad gets a pass to do whatever he wants, of course. If he like cars, he might enjoy an event meant just for him. The Father’s Day celebration in Monroe includes a car show, pageant, music, soda fountain, beer, wine and more. Read more about it here.

Garden art: The Schack’s latest exhibit, “Art of Garden” is now open. It features more than 40 regional artists. The exhibit includes a variety of mediums, and artwork for display indoors or out. Read more here.

Meet an astronaut: NASA astronaut Mike Foreman will present a talk from 1 to 1:45 p.m. Saturday at the Future of Flight Aviation Center in Mukilteo. Admission is free. Foreman will be available to sign autographs and pose for photos from 1:45 to 2:15 p.m. For more information, click here.

Jousting: The Seattle Knights will present two jousting shows on Saturday at the Rhodes River Ranch in Oso. You’ll see jousting and plenty of choreographed stage combat, with real weapons. You’ll also get to enjoy dinner from the Ranch’s restaurant. Get more information here.

Get active: A Youth Fitness Expo is Saturday at McCollum Park in Everett. Kids can get information on a ton of activities. Kids can race on or simply try out the BMX track at the park. Get more information here.

For hikers: Craig Romano, a prolific Washington state guidebook author, will speak at 7 p.m. Friday at the Everett Firefighters hall. He will focus on day hiking the Columbia River Gorge. The event is the monthly program meeting for the Pilchuck Audubon Society. Get more information here.

Horses: All Breed Equine Rez-Q has an event from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday. The event will raise awareness about rescue groups in the area. There will be demonstrations with horses at liberty, games, raffles and more. Get more details here.

NW Grind: Two skateboarding and scooter competitions are this weekend. The first is Saturday at 10 a.m. at the Arlington Skate Park. The second is Sunday at 1 p.m. at Lake Tye Skate Park in Monroe. Check out NW Grind’s website for details or to register.

Weather casts pall over summer salmon opener

Tulalip Cabela’s offers free seminars on major upcoming fisheries this weekend

Wayne Kruse, The Herald

The first major saltwater salmon fishing season of the summer opened over the weekend, and results were probably better than had been anticipated.

Coastal marine areas 1 and 2 (Ilwaco and Westport) opened for their early hatchery chinook fishery — marked kings only — and despite all handicaps managed to produce decent fishing.

Wendy Beeghley, coastal creel sampling coordinator for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, said Saturday’s weather was really lousy — bad enough that the Westport bar was closed for part of the day — and only marginally better on Sunday. Add to that a forecast for a smaller run of chinook to the Columbia River this year than last (although still pretty decent) and the normal day or two needed by the charter fleet to locate the fish at the start of a season, and the average of a half-chinook per rod on Sunday at Westport wasn’t half bad.

There was little effort at Ilwaco, Beeghley said, probably attributable to the weather, and an average on Sunday of about one-third fish per person.

Best fishing in the Westport area was north, Beeghley said, off Ocean Shores, and the fish ran the whole range, size-wise, from 8 to about 20 pounds.

“We expect fishing to improve in the region as the weather calms down,” Beeghley said. “The offshore troll fishery has continued to improve, indicating better numbers of fish coming down the coast.”

The selective chinook fishery in area 1 runs through June 21, and at Westport, through June 22, allowing two fin-clipped kings per day. The regular summer salmon season opens in both areas the day after the early season closure, while the early selective season off La Push and Neah Bay runs June 22-28.

Shad

It’s the peak of the season right now for shad in the Columbia River, with daily counts over Bonneville reaching 200,000 fish on Monday, and the cumulative count at 1.75 million. “That’s about double what it was last year at this time,” said state biologist Joe Hymer in Vancouver.

“It’s crowded on the weekends,” Hymer added, “but fishing has been pretty good. The creel checks last week were about 10 shad per rod, river-wide, and most of those were incomplete fishing days so the average was probably higher than that.”

He said that unlike some previous years, most of the shad caught in this Washington-side fishery are being kept.

“More user groups are showing up that like to eat the fish,” he said, “and we’ve seen stringers of 100-plus fish. You do need a license, but there is no limit on shad in the Columbia.”

The sporty little 1- to 5- or 6-pound fish are bony, but considered fairly good table fare when properly prepared, and some anglers like the roe, grilled in the skein like sausages and served with scrambled eggs and toast. Others catch and release, or save a few for crab bait.

The area immediately below the Washington-side “new powerhouse” portion of Bonneville Dam is a popular, but crowded, spot, from the yellow deadline marker 600 feet below the dam, downstream. Hamilton Island, below the dam, is also a good bet. Drive east on Hwy 14 a couple of miles past the town of North Bonneville to a line of transmission towers, and take the turnoff to the right. That road leads to the Hamilton Island boat launch and there are good, public, bank fishing spots both above and below the launch. Any small point and its attendant eddy marks a good place to try for shad, which will generally be close to shore and out of the heavy current.

A heavy-trout-weight spinning rod with soft action is about right, and a reel loaded with 6- or 8-pound test line. Use a slinky or piece of pencil lead, or a one-ounce sliding sinker, and about three feet of leader. Lure can be most anything small and shiny or colorful — spoon, spinner, crappie jig, shad dart, bare size 1 or 2 hook with three yellow or red beads strung above it. A lot of bank fishing spots can be grabby, so go equipped with plenty of gear.

Cast upstream and about 30 feet out, let the lure sink until you think it’s just above the bottom, then retrieve slowly and let it swing around below you. Most popular spots are too crowded for float-and-jig fishing, Hymer said.

The shad fishery is considered a very good family experience, but youngsters should definitely be equipped with flotation jackets when anywhere near the Columbia’s often heavy currents.

Seminars

Good stuff this weekend at Cabela’s Tulalip store, in the form of free seminars on major upcoming fisheries:

Fishing for Kings in Area 9, Saturday, 11 a.m., in the fishing department, Hear special tips and techniques of local experts and bring your stories to share.

Fly Fishing on High Country Lakes, Sunday, 1 p.m. in the Conference Center. The snow will be melting soon and Mike Benbow has been there, done that, on many of the Cascades’ best high country waters. He’ll walk you through the ins and outs of fly fishing the highland lakes.

Waterfowl festival

Over the past 12 years, the Oregon Waterfowl Festival Association has donated nearly $20,000 to Ducks Unlimited for improving habitat on lower Columbia River estuary wetlands. This year’s event runs June 29-30, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Columbia County Fairgrounds in St. Helens, Oregon. For information go to oregonwaterfowlfestival.com.

Lingcod

Marine Area 7, the San Juan Islands, close to ling fishing at the end of the day Saturday, offering one last shot at what has been an excellent season. WDFW checks at the Washington Park launch on Sunday showed 25 anglers with 9 lings and 2 cabezon. Kevin John at Holiday Sports in Burlington said that reports have slowed around Lopez Island, but that the north end of the islands has held up well. He said that while Deception Pass and Burrows Island were hit hard in the first few weeks of the season, he thinks new fish have moved in to fill the habitat and that fishing has remained good. Dunk a herring in Deception Pass, or a white or rootbeer grub on a jighead. Around Burrows, he said, work the shallower water and rockslides with a 6- or 9-inch swimshad.

Potholes Reservoir

Arguably the best all-around fishery in Eastern Washington, Potholes Reservoir is coming on as water temps warm. Mike Meseberg at MarDon Resort said bass fishing on the face of O’Sullivan Dam offers top early-season action on smallmouth bass, using topwater lures. Or run over to the Lind Coulee Arm and toss diving plugs in crawdad pattern, or half-ounce spinner baits in chartreuse or white. Work the rocky points, Meseberg said, and you might also nail the occasional walleye.

Saturday traffic detour to accomodate cancer ride

Skagit Valley Herald

Traffic detours around the fallen Skagit River Bridge will change Saturday to keep traffic away from thousands of cyclists coming south from Canada as part of the Ride to Conquer Cancer fundraiser.

The state Department of Transportation encourages drivers to use caution around cyclists.

The event begins in British Columbia, Canada and will end Sunday in Renton. Cyclists will wind their way through Whatcom County and will be in Skagit County from about 10:30 a.m. through 5 p.m. Cyclists will be on city, county and state roads.

Drivers through the area are encouraged to take an alternate detour. Southbound drivers will take exit 230 onto westbound Highway 20 to Best Road. From there, follow detour signs to Interstate 5.

Drivers northbound will use the standard detour.

For more information, check the DOT website.

Summer Concert Series, Tulalip Amphitheatre

Tickets and Packages on sale now!

Tulalip Resort Casino

Project Homeless Connect dispenses help, hope and dignity

Julie Muhlstein, The Herald

Helping with life’s basic necessities — food, shelter and medical care — is the main mission, but Project Homeless Connect offers so much more.

It brings together services and people who need them. The annual event will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. June 27 at Cascade High School. For the fourth year at the Everett school, there will be free hot meals, on-the-spot health services, and information about housing and jobs, veterans programs, federal benefits and more.

It’s not all about bare necessities.

For people whose lives are daily struggles, helpers are there to answer intangible needs. By providing things most of us take for granted, volunteers pass along hope and the recognition of dignity in all people.

Suzanne Pate, a spokeswoman for the Snohomish Health District, said 1,000 pairs of shoes have been donated by Redeeming Soles, a Seattle-based nonprofit group. That’s a first for Project Homeless Connect.

Thirty hairstylists will be there, Pate said. Pet care will be available. And a photographer who volunteered last year will again take free family portraits.

“Pictures are so important to me. I take a million pictures of my kids,” said Christy Neigel, of Sultan, who plans to volunteer all day at the event. She will bring her Nikon D3200 camera and a photo printer, and will laminate pictures to make them portable and waterproof.

“It brings me a lot of joy to bring this kind of joy to others,” Neigel said.

Last year, more than 1,100 hot meals were served at Project Homeless Connect, and 670 backpacks and bags with toiletries given out. More backpacks are needed this year. Organizers expect more than 1,200 people, homeless or at risk of becoming homeless, to come to the event. At least 70 agencies and groups will offer help. Eyeglasses and hearing screening, job and education information, substance abuse and mental health services, the list of resources is long.

Held annually since 2008 and at Cascade since 2010, Project Homeless Connect is a collaboration between Snohomish County, the city of Everett and many service organizations. United Way of Snohomish County is the lead agency this year.

Neil Parekh, a spokesman for the local United Way, said the agency’s own United Way employee campaign raised money to bring two dental care vans to Project Homeless Connect this year. Dr. Steven Wolff, branch director of the dental clinic at Naval Station Everett, will be among service providers, Pate said.

Dental professionals will treat emergencies on the day of Project Homeless Connect. For the first time, Parekh said, a dental van will be back at Cascade the following day to treat people who have made appointments the day before, essentially doubling the dental care available in past years. Two denturists also will volunteer this year, another first, Pate said.

The health district will offer HIV and hepatitis tests, and free shots to prevent whooping cough.

Neigel learned about Project Homeless Connect from her husband, Joseph, who works for Snohomish County. She’s not a professional photographer, but hopes to do more charity work with the effort she calls Family Focus Portraits.

She remembers last year taking pictures of individuals, of children whose families couldn’t afford school pictures, and of one large family with three generations.

Neigel had a problem with a computer program at last year’s event, and her husband stopped by to help. “He only helped out a few minutes,” Neigel said.

Not long ago, she said, he was at a bus stop. Someone recognized him from their photo station, thanked him for a picture, and asked if they would be back at Project Homeless Connect this year.

“It makes me feel I’m doing something worthwhile,” Neigel said. “It’s an amazing event.”

Project Homeless

Connect needs items

Project Homeless Connect is scheduled for 9 a.m.-3 p.m. June 27 at Cascade High School, 801 E. Casino Road, Everett. Backpacks and toiletry items are needed. Donations may be dropped off during business hours by June 21 at:

YWCA Pathways for Women, 6027 208th St. SW, Lynnwood; and the Everett YWCA Regional Center, 3301 Broadway, Everett.

To donate money, mail checks made out to Everett Gospel Mission c/o Project Homeless Connect, to P.O. Box 423, Everett, WA 98206-0423.

Chickasaw Nation’s Community Garden Serves as Outdoor Classroom

Ten-year-old Sean Higdon, Ada, checks out a caterpillar at the Chickasaw Nation Community Gardens during Environmental Camp.

Chickasaw Nation Media

Ten-year-old Sean Higdon is well-versed in plants and compost and can even name a few beneficial insects, thanks to Chickasaw Nation Environmental Camp.

Strolling among the raised beds of onions, peppers, beans and other crops on a sunny Friday morning at the Chickasaw Nation Community Gardens, Sean and 27 other students paused to pick ripe strawberries and examine a caterpillar.

“This caterpillar is not a bad one, because he is fuzzy,” Sean explained.

Sean, of Ada, credits time spent at the unique camp for introducing him to such concepts as mulch, water conservation, gardening and natural pest control.

Designed to enlighten 8-12 year olds about the world around them, Environmental Camp offers behind-the-scenes tours of facilities, including a municipal water treatment plant, waste water treatment plant, and community gardens, where the group learned about hydroponics, compost and how the facility uses ladybugs for pest control.

Lesson about compost and how it benefits the soil made an impact on the young lives.

“This right here feels like my own garden,” said the spunky fourth grader, as he surveyed the community gardens, located southeast of Ada.

The Community Gardens is Sean’s garden– as well as all Chickasaw citizens.

The Community Garden Program is a part of the Chickasaw Nation horticulture department, and is dedicated to improving the quality of life of all Chickasaws by providing the tools and training to ensure Chickasaw people have the opportunity to attain healthy and nutritious vegetables.

Workers strive daily to fulfill the mission statement of “renewing the connection between our people and the earth.”

Crops such as corn, lettuce, onions, tomatoes and watermelon from the Community Gardens are consumed in the near-by Chickasaw Medical Center and the Cultural Center Café in Sulphur.

Thousands of tomato, squash and pepper plants are given to Chickasaw elders each spring and the general public can purchase vegetables and vegetable plants at local Farmer’s Markets during the summer months.

Shrubs and flowers grown at the gardens are available to Chickasaw homeowners and are used in landscaping at Chickasaw facilities.

Community Gardens, as well as Environmental Camp, reflects the mission of this year’s June 5 World Environmental Day observance, with objectives of teaching self-sustaining, earth- friendly concepts to young people.

The theme for this year’s World Environment Day celebrations is: Think. Eat. Save.

This campaign discourages food waste and food loss, encourages people to reduce their “foodprint” and to become more aware of the environmental impact of food choices. By purposefully choosing organic foods grown with pesticides and locally grown foods can decrease the use of dangerous chemicals and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

World Environment Day celebration began in 1972 and has grown to become one of the main vehicles through which the United Nations stimulates worldwide awareness of the environment and encourages political attention and action.

Every year 1.3 billion tons of food is wasted, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization. This is equivalent to the same amount produced in the whole of sub-Saharan Africa.

Also, one in every seven people worldwide go to bed hungry and more than 20,000 children under the age of five die from hunger every day.

About World Environmental Day

Through World Environment Day, the United Nations Environment Program is able to personalize environmental issues and enable everyone to realize not only their responsibility, but also their power to become agents for change in support of sustainable and equitable development.

World Environment Day is also a day to remind people from all walks of life of the need to come together to ensure a cleaner, greener and brighter outlook for themselves and future generations.

Victory Car Show benefits Food Bank

Lauren Salcedo, Marysville Globe

MARYSVILLE — Victory Foursquare Church will host its third annual Victory Car Show to benefit the Allen Creek Community Food Bank, on July 27, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

“All the proceeds go to the food bank, and we are trying to get something together to help seniors and widows get small car repairs as well,” said Robin Taylor, who started the event three years ago.

“I’ve always liked hot rods and cars, ever since I was a little kid. I thought that the grounds of the church had a nice property for a car show, and that it would be a good way to connect with the community in Marysville.”

The car show will host a silent auction and give trophies to winners of four different categories.

“We will also have a cash drawing done by car registration number for one $500 prize and 10 $100 prizes,” said Taylor. “It gives people the chance to win something just for bringing a car even if it’s not the best car in the lot.”

Visitors can fill up at the Famous Dave’s barbecue truck on burgers and hot dogs, all the proceeds of which will also be donated to the food bank. The car show’s first year saw 35 vehicles, a number which doubled the following year. Taylor is hoping for more than 100 cars this year, and $2,500 in donations.

Victory Foursquare Church is located at 11911 State Ave. in Marysville. For more information call 360-651-1110.

Kathleen “Kaye Kathy” Queen

Kathleen “Kaye Kathy” Queen

Kathy Queen was born July 26, 1941 to Eugene and Alice (Brown) Joseph. She passed away peacefully at home surrounded by her
loving family on June 6, 2013.
Some of the things she loved were camping, traveling to Reno, working her fireworks and concession stands, working for Tulalip building maintenance ,raising her grandchildren and spending time with family.
She leaves behind her loving husband of 46 years, Troy; children, Mike Johnson, David (Darlene) Johnson, Donna Chambers,
Daniel “Sauki” Queen; sisters, Mary Fryberg, Faye (Ed) Cox; and several grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces and nephews.
A visitation will be held Monday, June 10, 2013 at 1:00 p.m. at Schaefer-Shipman with an interfaith service following at the Tulalip Tribal Center at 6:00 p.m. Funeral Services will be held Tuesday June 11, 2013 at 10:00 a.m. at the Tulalip Tribal Gym with burial following at Mission Beach Cemetery.

Tulalip Montessori Graduation

By Monica Brown

TULALIP, Wash. – Family and friends joined together to watch their precious ones graduate from Tulalip Montessori school. The ceremony, which took place at the Tulalip Don Hatch/Greg Williams Court on June 13, 2013, included songs sung by the children and a slideshow of the children’s photos that had been taken throughout the school year. School staff honored the children for their graduation achievement and cake and refreshments were served.

How removing trees can kill you

Jason Kane, PBS Newshour

The trees died first. One hundred million of them in the eastern and midwestern United States. The culprit: the emerald ash borer, a beetle that entered the U.S. through Detroit in 2002 and quickly spread to Iowa, New York, Virginia and nearly every state between. The bug attacks all 22 species of North American ash and kills nearly every tree it infests.

Then came the humans. In the 15 states infected with the bug starting, an additional 15,000 people died from cardiovascular disease and 6,000 more from lower respiratory disease compared with uninfected areas of the country.

A team of researchers with the U.S. Forest Services looked at data from 1,296 counties, accounted for the influence of other variables — things like income, race, and education — and came to a simple conclusion: Having fewer trees around may be bad for your health. Their findings, published recently in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, suggest an associative rather than a direct, causal link between the death of trees and the death of humans.

Geoffrey Donovan, a research forester at the Forest Service’s Pacific Northwest Research Station, joined the NewsHour recently to discuss why.

NEWSHOUR: Geoffrey Donovan, thank you so much for joining us. It’s an interesting premise. What made you want to study this?

DONAVON: Well my basic hypothesis was that trees improve people’s health. And if that’s true, then killing 100 million of them in 10 years should have an effect. So if we take away these 100 million trees, does the health of humans suffer? We found that it does.

Researchers have shown this in other ways in the past. There’s been some famous research showing that people recover faster from surgery and take fewer drugs if their hospital room has a view of trees. Other research — including some of my own — has shown that mothers with more trees around their homes are less likely to have underweight babies. It’s been shown that if you put people in a natural environment, it can reduce their blood pressure, heart rate and other measures of stress. Obviously we also know that trees can improve air quality. And that’s why I looked at these two causes of death. I didn’t look at pancreatic cancer or something like that. I looked at cardiovascular disease and respiratory disease because both can be affected by air quality and stress.

NEWSHOUR: So the emergence of the emerald ash borer presented a new opportunity to study the effect?

DONAVON: Exactly. This is what we call a natural experiment. If the emerald ash borer were to come around your house, you would probably never see it because the beetle itself has no direct effect on people’s health. All it really does is serve as a tree removal agent. It just gets rid of the trees — kills them with no other effects, almost like the trees were beamed up into space or something.

That’s a really unique opportunity. Imagine if you were trying to look at the effect of trees growing on someone’s health and I got 100 people, I put them in 100 identical houses, and I planted trees in front of 50 of those houses and then waited. It would take 40 or 50 years before you found anything because trees grow really slowly. It’s hard to see significant changes quickly. On the other hand, trees die really quickly. That’s why you have this unique opportunity to see a big change in the natural environment in a short amount of time.

NEWSHOUR: And what did you find?

DONOVAN: Increased rates of death from cardiovascular and lower respiratory mortality in the counties with emerald ash borer. And interestingly, what we found was the effect got bigger the longer you had an infestation, which makes sense because it takes two to five years for a tree to die typically.

We looked across space and time and saw this repeated over and over again in places with very different demographic make-ups. So you’re seeing it in Michigan but then you’re seeing it in Ohio, you’re seeing it in Indiana, in New York, Maryland and Tennessee. So it’s happening again and again in very different places. Places with high education, with low education, with great income, with low income, with different racial makeups.

NEWSHOUR: So what’s the takeaway message here?

DONOVAN: I put it in terms of a question. Maybe we want to start thinking of trees as part of our public health infrastructure. Not only do they do the things we would expect like shade our houses and make our neighborhoods more beautiful, but maybe they do something more fundamental. Maybe trees are not only essential for the natural environment but just as essential for our well-being. That’s the message for public health officials.

For ordinary people: Get involved in planting trees. In most cities, either the city itself or nonprofits will help with tree planting efforts. Also, spend time in the natural environment. I think people intuitively know that. There’s a reason that we like to go walk in the woods or that we like to spend time in the park.

The only thing that’s new here is we’re trying to quantify it. If you talk to a painter or a poet or a writer, do you think they understand that trees are part of our well-being? Look at things like the tree of life metaphor in the Bible. Look at how often trees get painted as symbols of well-being or used in literature. The idea that trees and humans are linked is as old as humanity. So I think you need to look at my research in that context.

NEWSHOUR: Geoffrey Donovan, thank you so much for joining us.

DONOVAN: Thank you.