One of the main design elements for any successful road project is the street trees. Some may look at street trees as an afterthought, but they shouldn’t. Street trees serve many important functions such as creating shade (minimizing heat island effect), enhancing the aesthetic appeal of the street, providing habitat for birds and other wildlife within developed areas, and adding to the value of nearby homes and businesses.

Because of all the benefits provided by street trees – especially mature trees – maximizing survival rates is a top priority. When considering the keys to street tree survival, species selection is obviously important, but if there is one thing I have learned over the years it is that for successful planting you must start with the soil.

Previously in this series, we discussed the primary source of stormwater pollution and the effects that urban stormwater runoff is having on salmon throughout the Northwest. In summary, very few (about 25%) coho adult salmon are surviving long enough to spawn in urban creeks and only about 25% of hatched salmon embryos are surviving when raised in unfiltered water. With this post, we begin a series of posts discussing Low Impact Development (LID) solutions that can be used to minimize impacts to fish, starting with bio-retention.

If you read the first post in this series last month, you read that some of the most common sources of stormwater pollutants are from seemingly benign activities such as driving a car or fertilizing a lawn.  What is the effect of this stormwater pollution? With the salmon spawning and salmon fishing season upon us, fish are at the top of mind, so it seems appropriate to discuss the effects of stormwater pollution on fish, specifically coho salmon.

The bare minimum: “the smallest possible quantity or the least fulfilling, but still adequate, condition that is required, acceptable, or suitable for some purpose.” (Per Wiktionary)