Join us on September 27th & 28th as we cultivate knowledge, nurture passion, and sow the seeds of a greener future! The virtual 2024 WSU Extension Master Gardener Advanced Education Conference, Gardening in a Changing Climate, provides exceptional opportunities with high-quality classes and instructors. WSU Extension Master Gardeners earn continuing education hours while improving their ability to teach sustainable horticulture skills. Our aim is to empower garden enthusiasts with knowledge, inspiration, and sustainable practices.

Enjoy our inspiring keynote speaker, Rebecca McMackin, an ecologically obsessed horticulturist and visionary garden designer. Her insights will ignite your passion.

Benjamin Franklin once famously said, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” When it comes to protecting valuable habitat, Benjamin Franklin’s words take on a whole new meaning. The Washington Invasive Species Council has received funding to help protect the shrub-steppe from noxious weed spread and development. With support from the United States Forest Service, we are giving away 50 PlayCleanGo® Boot Brush Stations with custom signage to install around Washington’s shrub steppe. We hope your organization is interested in helping our mission to preserve this critical habitat by receiving and installing a free boot brush station. Below is a link to a form to express interest in a boot brush station. Receiving organizations will be responsible for installation, which is not difficult. A concise guide with pictures can be found here.

Link to one-page interest form: https://survey123.arcgis.com/share/14fdb57db76c443ebaf2657509ecf2f0?portalUrl=https://wa-rco.maps.arcgis.com

As the warmer temperatures of spring arrive and parks become a hub of outdoor activities, providing your visitors with comfortable and long-lasting amenities is crucial. Kalispel Metal Products offers a wide range of items that make enjoying a day in the sunshine a walk in the park! We have picnic tables, benches, trail markers, garbage cans, and much more that are the perfect choice for enhancing any park or outdoor space.   

Guest Post By Life Floor

By: Briana Massie, Marketing Manager for Life Floor ([email protected])

Playgrounds and splash pads are designed with very similar intentions in mind. Both provide play features and open spaces that encourage imaginative exploration, running, and risky play opportunities. Playgrounds feature spring riders, slides, and play panels whereas splash pads feature spray jets, dump buckets, and water slides. Where playgrounds are generally dry, splash pads feature constantly flowing water. However, where playgrounds require safety surfacing, splash pads are still being commonly surfaced with concrete, tile, or stone. If splash pads are essentially wet playgrounds (leaving visitors more prone to accident and injury), how are hard, slick surfacing options still permitted?

Why Don't We Often See Safety Surfacing at Splash Pads if They're Playgrounds too?

The aquatics industry is so accustomed to seeing concrete and other surfaces at pools that it has turned a blind eye to the problem with using it at splash pads. Many people believe that concrete isn’t an issue at all and that it’s perfectly safe for aquatic play areas. Forty years ago, concrete was considered perfectly safe for dry playgrounds too. It took 78 years from the time dry playgrounds were first introduced in 1903 for the Consumer Product Safety Commission to publish the Handbook for Public Playground Safety in 1981. 

Guest Post by Life Floor

By: Briana Massie, Marketing Manager for Life Floor ([email protected])

Everyone experiences play in different ways. It’s the reason why there isn’t just one type of spray feature or just one type of pool. Aquatic environments are always changing and adapting to new trends and regulations in the industry. Likewise, aquatic facility directors and operators are constantly evaluating updates that will deliver increased value to their guests and members. In order to provide features that appeal to a wide variety of individuals, facility staff members need to choose what combination of elements will allow for limitless play for their intended audiences.

Providing options for guests to engage with a facility in different ways is a crucial component of play value. Play value directly influences guest perception of a facility and can be a determining factor of whether or not guests will return. For example, if a child has a better experience at a park farther away, parents may be more inclined to return to that park even if it is more inconvenient. 

Guest Post By Justin Bush, Executive Coordinator to the Washington Invasive Species Council, Washington Recreation and Conservation Office

Hello all,

I wanted to let you know about an exciting event that the Washington Invasive Species Council is hosting throughout October. During the month of October, the Council in partnership with the Washington State Department of Agriculture, Washington Noxious Weed Control Board, and others, are asking people to report any sightings of tree-of-heaven to the Washington Invasives app (Download via Google Play or download via the App Store). The goal of this campaign is to collect data on the range and density of this noxious weed in addition to raising awareness about the risk of spotted lanternfly, which is an invasive species not known to be in Washington. We have created a communications schedule, shown below, that highlights a different aspect of the issues each week.

Guest Post from the Washington Invasive Species Council

OLYMPIA–State agencies are asking the public to report an invasive tree called tree-of-heaven throughout October to help prevent the introduction of a harmful insect, the spotted lanternfly.

Puget Sound Parks Should Be Protected and Preserved

Port Ludlow Resident Shares Opinion in Seattle Time Article

The following article, "Protect the legacy of our urban parks, a classic public good," was posted to the Seattle Times on July 22, 2021 and was written by Lee Springgate.

Guest Post by the Brain Injury Alliance of Washington

By Suzette Hart, Marketing & Development Director, Brain Injury Alliance of Washington

Youth sports create a direct connection between the parks and recreation field and the work of the Brain Injury Alliance of Washington (BIAWA). WRPA members organize and administer sports leagues and/or coordinate with sports leagues that use public facilities. BIAWA fully embraces the importance of play, participation, and engagement in sports. That said, BIAWA also recognizes the possibility that injuries can and do occur during play.

About T.R.E.A.D

Most of us love our Region’s outstanding systems. These trails provide exercise, escape, and enjoyment. We understand that it’s vital to take care of the system that has quickly become one of the most recognized assets of our community. And visitors are discovering and enjoying our trails, too.

TREAD is leading a project called TREAD Map. This comprehensive trail mapping app allows locals and visitors to plan the next outing, share experiences and conditions out on the trails or water, create connections with other trail enthusiasts and provide all the various land managers with a portal to create two-way communication with user groups and individuals.