Join “Team S.O.D.A.” and walk/run with your DOG!   King County Parks will be hosting their fourth annual 5K to benefit the King County Parks system on Sunday, June 2^nd at Marymoor Park.  King County Park users like you are what keep the park system strong.  King County Parks would like to invite you to participate and to help us spread the word about this 5k to your friends and family. Jim and I have already registered and would like to invite you to participate with “TEAM S.O.D.A.” to show that dog owners should be included in events such as this ‘cause we support Parks!  We will be there – will you?  Here’s how you do it …

Click here: www.bby5k.com  Then click on: REGISTER NOW! 

Would you like to start or join a team?  YES  Team Name: S.O.D.A.  (Be exact-include periods & be case sensitive!)

Register by April 30 for lower registration fee!   Promo Code for extra $5 discount:  bby5kteam-021

Forward this email to your friends & family & tell them to come walk/run the dog!

Pre-Register on line & receive a t-shirt! 

100% of proceeds benefit the King County Park System

January 25, 2013:  The Blue Heron are RETURNING to Marymoor Dog Park Rookery … !?    

Last February (2012)* the Great Blue Herons began gathering and building a rookery with 11 nests in the tall Cottonwood Trees at the main Dog Park intersection along the river.  We all enjoyed watching as baby heron were hatched and eventually left the nests.  We all wondered:  Will they come back next year (2013)? 

It appears that the Blue Herons are beginning to gather at the Dog Park rookery again.  Late this afternoon (Jan 25) six heron were seen sitting in six of the nests that were built last year and two or three more sat in branches near-by.  We hope to see the heron begin to pair-up, mate, lay eggs and raise babies again …

So keep looking up to the nests in the big Dog Park Cottonwood Trees to see what happens this year … and ENJOY!

*To read about the 2012 Blue Heron experience at Marymoor Dog Park go to http://www.soda.org/2012/blue-heron-colony-nesting-in-marymoor-dog-park/

Happy RE-NEW Year!   2013 IS HERE!       2012 has come to an end!  S.O.D.A. would like to thank all the people who took the time to RENEW their S.O.D.A. contributing memberships or JOIN as a NEW member in 2012.  Because of your support we have been able to carry out our mission to provide well maintained, self-supporting public off-leash recreation areas at Marymoor and Grandview.  We depend on your annual (Yes, every year!) financial contributions (Yes, money!).  REMEMBER:  Taking care of our Dog Parks is NOT a one year deal, but an EVERY YEAR commitment.  Please make 2013 a very, very Happy RE-NEW Year by responding to your membership renewal cards – your continued support is vital to the success of our Dog Parks.

DID YOU FORGET to RENEW in 2012?  Where is YOUR membership renewal card?

I know they’re out there!  Hundreds of them …. Sitting on desk tops, kitchen counters, and in piles of “stuff” waiting for you to respond.  Please, please, please – the time has come!  We can NOT take care of Marymoor and Grandview Dog Parks without your $upport!  Please renew your past due S.O.D.A. Membership today – your dog will thank you!

P.S.  You can’t find your membership renewal card?? – NO WORRIES!  Just send a check to: S.O.D.A., 16546 NE 98^th Ct, Redmond, WA 98052.  Write “renewal” on your check and I will get you up-dated.  Or  JOIN – RENEW – DONATE on line at www.soda.org/membership-info/

THANKS!  If everyone gives a little, we can accomplish a lot!

Judy Trockel, Treasurer

S.O.D.A. (Serve Our Dog Areas)

dogsoffleash@soda.org

www.soda.org

AUGUST 16, 2012:  A “NO SMOKING LAW” was signed by Dow Constantine, King County Executive, on July 28, 2012 banning smoking in King County Parks.  This “NO SMOKING LAW” applies to Marymoor Dog Park.   PLEASE KEEP OUR DOG PARK PATRONS SAFE FROM THE HAZARDS ASSOCIATED WITH TOBACCO PRODUCTS BY NOT SMOKING IN THE DOG PARK – THANK YOU!  

]]> http://www.soda.org/2012/please-no-smoking-at-marymoor/feed/ 0 http://www.soda.org/2012/722/ http://www.soda.org/2012/722/#comments Fri, 17 Aug 2012 01:32:16 +0000 admin http://www.soda.org/?p=722

AUGUST 16, 2012:  We made a huge dent in the Foxtail located at the northern entrance to the park last Sunday, August 5.  Unfortunately due to the lateness in the season much of the work done was removing the dangerous seed pods. This means that the weed is still present at the park and more work will need to be done in the future to eradicate the weed.  We will be having another work party very soon to try and remove any remaining Foxtail seeds before they fall to the ground. 

Foxtail can be very dangerous to dogs.  It is very important that we get lots of volunteers to help eradicate this from the park.  We will be working on this project over the next few years.

For more information about helping to remove Foxtail from Grandview Dog Park, please contact David at soda_south@soda.org.

AUGUST 4, 2012:   The heron babies are all grown up now and the families have abandoned their nests.  Saturday, Aug 4, S.O.D.A. volunteers will be taking down the closure fencing which protected the area under the heron nests.  What an interesting and educational experience it has been watching the adult heron build nests, lay eggs and tend to their babies while they grew and grew and flew away!  Thank you Dog Park users for your patience and support through this process.  Wonder if they will come back to Marymoor Dog Park to nest next year?

SPRING/SUMMER 2012:  Grandview has had a rainy season drainage problem on the “shelter field” (where the rain barrels are located) for years.    This spring/summer S.O.D.A. has partnered with the SeaTac Parks Department to address this problem.  The goal of this project is to create a below grade drainage trench to retain water coming off the hillside.  This will enable the water to seep into the soil rather than sitting on top of the field and becoming mud.  City workers have dug a two foot (oops! three foot) deep water retention ditch along the hillside that will collect the water running off the hill into the shelter field below.   SeaTac Parks donated wash rock and S.O.D.A. purchased drainage pipe for the project.  On Saturday, June 16, 2012, nearly thirty S.O.D.A. volunteers came to Grandview equipped with shovels and wheel barrows to fill the ditch with pipe and wash rock.  This group of volunteers put in a hard day of work moving all the available pipe and rock into the ditch.  BUT it turns out that the city had accidently dug the ditch 3 feet deep instead of 2 feet deep!  So volunteers ran out of rock to finish the job in one day.  S.O.D.A. had to then purchase a big double-load of wash rock so that a second work party could be held on Sunday, July 1, 2012, to move the additional rock into the remaining ditch.  About 15 volunteers showed up with their tools and finished the job at hand.  Later this summer this project will continue.  By having the SeaTac Parks Department dig additional trenching to the north end of the field, the completed drainage ditch will enable most of the water coming off the hillsides to be captured.  Hopefully this will prevent flooding on the low lying shelter field.     S.O.D.A. will need YOUR volunteer help with this drainage project when it continues later this summer…  Volunteering is FUN!

SPRING/SUMMER 2012 :   In February, a group of Blue Heron started gathering in the tall cottonwood trees at one of the busiest intersections of the Dog Park near the Main Beach.  Soon they were pairing-up and flying-in twigs and small branches to build 11 nests in the tallest tree branches.  Herons nest in colonies called “rookeries” or “heronries”.   This is very exciting as Blue Heron have not nested at Marymoor in at least 20 years!   The “heronry” area has now been temporarily fenced-off to keep people and dogs from getting too close.  The baby’s began hatching in May.  Now they are getting big and sqwauking loudly when parents feed them.  Some babies may fall out of the nests before they can fly.  This is a natural part of heron nesting.  The most important thing is to let the herons handle the situaton themselves.  The parents may come down and tend to a fallen baby if they feel they can do so safely.  So if you see a baby heron on the ground, make sure neither you nor your dogs get close.  PLEASE leave the baby heron alone so that nature can take its course.  Great Blue Heron eat mostly fish, but also frogs, voles, etc.  They are almost 4 feet tall, with a 6 foot wingspan, but weigh less than 5.5 pounds.  They lay 3-5 eggs per nest and both parents tend to the young.  The eggs hatch about one month after they are laid and the young will be free flying about two months later.  Nesting should be complete by the end of July.