Boots on the ground: Members clean, pack, and plant to honor Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Every year, our Washington Conservation Corps (WCC) members join AmeriCorps programs across the country to make Martin Luther King Jr. Day a “day on” rather than a “day off.” On MLK Day of Service, members transform Dr. King's life and teachings into community service that empowers individuals and helps solve social problems. Let's take a look at some projects our members arranged this year!

Left to right: Members Raechal Burke, Jordan Billheimer, Presley Barbo, Emma Mobley, and Allie Trister spent MLK Day serving the non-profit organization Homeless Backpacks, in Lacey, packing bags of food for youth experiencing homelessness. Photo contributed by Raechal Burke.

Packing bags for food assistance  

One of our field crews in Tumwater took a break from planting trees and shrubs to help make sure youth experiencing homelessness had food for the following weekend. Members packed bags of food with Homeless Backpacks in Thurston County, an organization that provides free bags of food for middle and high school youth for the weekend, when government-supported meals are not available.

Members also served food or conducted inventory at 13 different food pantries or shelters across the state, including FISH Community Food Bank in Kittitas County, Everett Food Bank in Snohomish County, and Helping Hands Food Bank in Skagit County.

Mailing books to support education

Another field crew in Tumwater supported enrichment and educational opportunities for incarcerated people across the country through the nonprofit Books to Prisoners Olympia in Thurston County.

“It was a heartwarming and rewarding experience,” said WCC AmeriCorps member Grace McLarty. “We got to choose books based on letters we received, and write letters to incarcerated people.” The crew rounded out their day leading volunteers in invasive species removal with Capitol Land Trust. “We had an amazing day and are grateful to have been able to serve our communities,” Grace said.

Left to right: Members Julie Pick, Mason Haynes, and Rainer Connelly select books for specific prisoners based on hand-written letters. Photo by Grace McLarty.

Building and painting walls for accessible housing 

WCC members built homes, assembled furniture, and improved facilities at 15 different affordable housing or senior housing organizations across the state. In Jefferson, Pierce, and Skagit counties, members assisted with painting and construction activities with the global nonprofit housing organization Habitat for Humanity.

One of our crews cleaned rooms and facilities at Admiral House in King County, one of Plymouth Healing Communities’ apartment buildings. Plymouth Healing Communities provides housing and companionship to people living with housing instability and mental illness. Staff and residents invited our WCC members to enjoy food and conversation together after they wrapped up cleaning tasks, and our members shared that turned out to be a highlight of the day.

“My favorite and most challenging aspect of my MLK day of service experience was that it required me to exercise a completely different set of skills than the ones we use in our usual line of project work,” said AmeriCorps member Jon Simo. “Socializing with the residents is a skill that comes the least naturally to me than any other. However, that was precisely what made it so rewarding for me. I got to meet and help people from very different walks of life from my own.”

Planting trees for healthy ecosystems

Left to right: Members Bryan Sibrian, Ben Papadopoulos, Malise Yun, Abby Jackson, Lilya Jaeren, Tyler Ransier,
and Gabby Alampay. Photo contributed by Lilya Jaeren.

Seven Individual Placement AmeriCorps members opted to serve outdoors for their MLK Day of Service with Nisqually Land Trust in Thurston County. Together with community volunteers, they planted more than 1,000 native trees and shrubs.

“All seven of us do monitoring for our everyday projects so it was nice to do some environmental restoration, and good exercise digging holes and hammering stakes into the ground,” said Lilya Jaeren, who serves on the state Department of Natural Resources' Aquatic Reserves Team. “It was nice to know that our efforts will have a positive impact on the Nisqually River Watershed.”

In addition, a handful of crew members honed their leadership skills by teaching community volunteers about safety and planting techniques for a restoration event at Whatcom Falls Park in Skagit County, with Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association, City of Bellingham, and Washington Trails Association. In total, volunteers planted 592 native shrubs, ferns, and trees, re-planted more than 2,000 feet of social trails, spread almost 50 cubic yards of mulch, and removed almost 10 cubic yards of invasive Himalayan blackberry, English holly, and English ivy!

These activities will help improve habitat for salmon and octher wildlife along Whatcom Creek, and hopefully inspire local residents to continue getting their hands dirty and building community by attending future volunteer events.

Honoring Dr. King's legacy all year

Our WCC joins thousands of AmeriCorps members, community members, and organizations across the nation in striving to honor Dr. King's legacy every day. As an AmeriCorps program focusing on environmental stewardship, WCC commits to continuing conversations about justice and service, creating a service atmosphere where all can thrive, and working to ensure service opportunities are available to everyone.

Fecal Matters: Saltwater State Park is now open to the public, King County

BEACH program update

Seattle and King County Public Health have lifted the no-contact advisory to water contact at Saltwater State Park and Washington State Parks have re-opened the park to the public. Last month, heavy rains caused a sewage spill at the Midway Sewer District that discharged near the park. Recent water quality samples taken show that bacteria levels have dropped to safe levels.

Contact with fecal contaminated waters can result in gastroenteritis, skin rashes, upper respiratory infections, and other illnesses. Children and the elderly may be more vulnerable to waterborne illnesses.

Stay updated on water quality at your beaches by following our Fecal Matters blog posts, connecting on Facebook, or joining our listserv.

Julianne Ruffner, our BEACH Program Manager, is available at 360-407-6154 or julianne.ruffner@ecy.wa.gov for questions.

$215 million proposed for clean water projects across the state

Ecology is proposing to award $215 million in grants and loans for 89 high-priority clean water projects across the state. Our Water Quality Combined Funding Program supports local communities by helping them upgrade wastewater treatment systems and sewer systems, manage polluted stormwater, and complete a variety of other projects to prevent and cleanup more diffuse sources of pollution also known as nonpoint pollution. More than $172 million of the funding is for projects that will help support Puget Sound recovery by improving water quality and creating a healthier habitat for the endangered Southern Resident Orca, salmon, and their food web.

“These projects are vital to support Puget Sound recovery and protect our waters across the state,” said Heather Bartlett, Ecology’s Water Quality Program Manager. “Continued support from the legislature to fund these projects ensures Washingtonians clean water now and for future generations.”

We always receive more project applications than we are able to fund. We were only able to fund 54% of the need during this cycle. In addition, State Centennial Clean Water Program grant resources were reduced in recent biennia. We use this funding for both wastewater-hardship projects and nonpoint pollution control projects. Some of these unfunded projects include small financially challenged communities with expensive wastewater infrastructure repair needs.

Nearly 90% of the funding the water quality program receives is passed through to local communities for environmental projects. Our clean water funding comes from a mix of state and federal funds dedicated for water quality improvements and protection. State financial managers calculate that 11 direct and indirect jobs are created in Washington for every $1 million spent on building clean water infrastructure. We encourage your comments on our draft list of projects  as well as comments on our evaluation.

Here are some highlights about the potential projects

Thirty-two communities will split $36 million in grants and low interest loans to implement projects to manage and reduce stormwater pollution. The highest priority stormwater projects include:


Ebey Slough will benefit from upriver green development that
mimics natural environment.

• The town of Marysville in Snohomish County is slated to receive a $2.3 million grant to improve water quality in Ebey Slough (a tributary to the Snohomish River estuary). The project will install green infrastructure, infrastructure that mimics natural environment at both 2nd Street and Cedar Avenue to help reduce fine particles, oils, copper, zinc, and phosphorus in addition to reducing flows.
• The City of Rosyln in Kittitas County is proposed to receive a $156,984 grant to develop a plan for reducing stormwater impacts to Crystal Creek, an impaired waterbody. The project will evaluate options for low impact development and best management practices to guide future design and implementation of capital improvement projects to improve water quality.

Twenty-one projects are set to receive $9 million in grants and low interest rate loans to address nonpoint pollution. Nonpoint pollution has a significant impact on water quality; it comes from activities a variety of diffuse sources instead of an identifiable pipe. The top-rated nonpoint projects include:

A previous restoration brought the creek from inside a pipe
 into the daylight. Now improvements to the creek will
continue to restore natural function.

• The City of Bellingham in Whatcom County is on the list to receive a $500,000 grant to improve the water quality and aquatic function of Padden Creek, an urban stream. The project will create structurally and biologically diverse instream, off-channel, and riparian buffer habitats, through the use of floodplain widening, riparian buffer enhancement, wetland restoration, and installation of large woody debris in addition to the creation of backwaters, side channels, pools, and riffles.
• The nonprofit, Mid-Columbia Fisheries Enhancement Group, is slated for a $250,000 grant for work in the upper Yakima River in Kittitas County. The project aims to reduce sediment, fecal coliform, and temperatures through riparian buffer restoration and protection projects, including: installing riparian trees along 900 stream feet; excluding livestock on 25 acres along 2,700 stream feet; maintaining plants along 3,000 stream feet; and identifying 10 new projects within a 30 mile area.



There are 35 wastewater treatment projects marked to receive approximately $169 million. Nine of the projects qualify for hardship financial assistance in order to ensure the project can go forward with out undue residential sewer bill rate changes to these small and financially challenged communities. The following wastewater hardship projects were the highest rated among all applications received.

A trickling filter at the Town of Garfield’s
wastewater treatment plant. Their project will fix
issues significantly affecting the plant function.

• The Town of Garfield in Whitman County is proposed to receive $610,643 in a combination of grant, forgivable loan, and low interest loan to line sewer mains at critical locations throughout the town. The project will fix key deficiencies in the sewer system that were identified during a recent infiltration and inflow study. The deficiencies are significantly affecting the function of the town’s wastewater treatment plant.


• Okanogan County Public Health is slated to receive $97,829 in forgivable loan and low interest loan to remove an old septic system and connect an Oroville Housing Authority seasonal farmworker/homeless housing project to the City of Oroville’s sewer system. Our funding will complement funding from other agencies to fully fund the project. The goal of the project is to avoid contamination of Tonasket Creek that occasionally floods the current septic system’s drain field. Tonasket Creek drains to the Okanogan River.

Let us know what you think

A public review and comment period on the Draft Funding List is open until 5:00pm on Feb. 17, 2020. We will hold a public meeting to present the Draft Funding List and discuss the project evaluation and funding process.

Public Meeting:

Wednesday, Feb. 5 at 10 a.m.

Pierce County Library

3005 112th Street East

Tacoma, WA

How to comment

Please email comments to:

Daniel Thompson

Department of Ecology

Water Quality Program - Financial Management Section

P.O. Box 47600

Olympia, WA 98504-7600

Email: daniel.thompson@ecy.wa.gov

We will respond to all comments received during the comment period and notify all commenters when we publish our Final Funding List around July 1.

More information

For more information, including access to an interactive map of funded projects and access to a worksheet describing the projects and funding proposed, please visit the Water Quality Combined Funding Program Funding Cycles webpage



Visit our interactive map of funded projects

By Daniel Thompson and Stacy Galleher, Water Quality Program