Des Moines Naturalist Beach Walk

On Saturday, May 19, the South King County Group (SKCG) held its first Annual Beach Nature Walk at Des Moines Beach Park. Seattle Aquarium's noted Naturalist Alli Larkin led over 37 people of all ages on a beautiful walk of wonder along Puget Sound during one of the lowest tides of the month - minus 3.3 ft.

We walked along a myriad number of tide pools of all sizes. There were a variety of very small crabs and other creatures in and around each pool. Ms. Larkin and other naturalists who accompanied us pointed out many fascinating creatures that often are not seen except at such low tides. Some of the larger creatures we observed were clams, limpets, mussels, barnacles, moonsnails, chitons, sea stars, sea cucumbers, anemones, sea lettuce, kelps, and Turkish towels (they really do look like purplish-red towels).

Ms. Larkin and her crew of naturalists were very informative and answered all the many questions we posed. For instance, we learned that when crabs leave their shells (molting), they leave behind their lungs and eye lenses. Moonsnails (softball-sized) produce a distinctive egg collar (it looks like the bottom of a large toilet plunger) that can contain up to half a million eggs.

We also took a short walk up from the beach on the Des Moines Creek Trail to view the new Fish Ladder. There were beautiful native plantings all along the creek, thanks to the Friends of Des Moines Creek. We observed downed tree stumps placed in the creek to provide fish shelter. The day went so well, the Group intends to hold these beach walks annually.

Cool Cities in South King County

More and more south King County people are aware of climate change and working to address it. The Sierra Club Cool Cities campaign is working at the local level to inform and encourage our local cities to sign up. So far, the cities of Auburn, Burien, and Renton have signed the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement and pledged to combat climate change through both their policies and actions.

The South King County Group is currently working with the City of Kent and targeting the City of Federal Way to become Cool Cities. Please contact Dan Streiffert at (253) 852-8394 if you live in either of these cities and would like to help with the city in which you live.