Soos Creek Park Restoration

On Saturday, October 20, in cooperation with Friends of Soos Creek Park and King County Parks, we held our 9th semiannual restoration work at Soos Creek Park. We’re now in our fifth year of restoration work at the park, a beautiful ribbon of greenery running through Renton, Kent, and Covington that provides exceptional wildlife habitat in an otherwise urban setting. Volunteers turned out to uproot ivy and scotch broom, gird ivy from majestic trees, and make tremendous progress at what is probably the worst ivy infestation on the park’s south end.

The project has been a great success on many levels as it has proven to be a great vehicle of outreach to people both within and outside the club to the great benefit of not only the park, but also the Sierra Club and its goals. Over the course of the project’s history, we have been joined by numerous local park users, 2 soldiers from Fort Lewis, a group of MBA students, a high school class, various Cub Scout troops, and several club members who have never attended a Sierra Club meeting of any kind, but are drawn to this kind of work. We appreciate all their efforts.

We expect to continue this work in the years ahead to expand our positive impacts on this beautiful and accessible park, and ensure that the gains we’ve already made are sustained.

Hybrid Vehicle Tours

On Saturday, November 17, about a dozen people participated in our visits to two Auburn-area hybrid vehicle dealers. Our first stop was at Doxon Toyota. There new received a very informative presentation from Don Stose Regional Sales Manager, on all of Toyotas current hybrid vehicles and future plans. Mr. Stose indicated that Toyota has committed to offering a hybrid version of every one of their vehicles--a big and important goal.

Following the presentation all participants were offered the opportunity to either drive or ride in three different hybrids: Prius, Camry, or the new crossover Highlander SUV. Once our drivers mastered the futuristic cockpit and controls, each vehicle drove quietly and efficiently and showed considerable power.

Next up was a visit to Robert’s Jeep-Oldsmobile to view their GEM vehicles manufactured by Global Electric Motorcars, LLC. The GEM is the first multipurpose neighborhood electric vehicle available for sale from a major automaker. The GEM is engineered to meet federal safety requirements for street-legal operation as a low-speed vehicle (LSV).  Currently, they sell about 5-6 per month. Several customers are using them to commute to Boeing from the Kent/Auburn area. They are available in 2-, 4-, 6-, and 8- passenger versions and can come with a variety of accessories. More information and photos of these can be found at. http://www.robertsgem.com/default.aspx.

The hybrid vehicle tours were fun and informative. But even more important is that hybrid vehicles are now being developed by every major auto company throughout their fleets in every size category to meet the growing needs and public desires to increase gas mileage, reduce exhaust pollution, and decrease greenhouse gas emissions.