By Elizabeth Shepherd eshepherd@vashonbeachcomber.
An islander rescued last month by Vashon’s Interim Fire Chief Ben Davidson in the midst of a storm now has more reason to feel grateful.
Last week, an anonymous donorsteppedforward,providing new equipment that will helptheislanderweatherfuture storms and power outages.
The story of the islander — who asked for anonymity to protect her privacy — was detailed in a front page article in The Beachcomber’s March 6 issue.
During the Feb. 25 storm, Davidson had been at home monitoring the fire district’s busy response to the situation, but jumped in to personally respond to one 9-1-1 call. The call came from an islander who lived alone, and had a respiratory condition that required the use of oxygen at all times. With her power out, she had switched to using a small, battery-powered backup oxygen concentrator, which was delivering an insufficient oxygen supply — and quickly draining.
Davidson leapt into action, grabbing a portable generator from his garage and driving over to hook it up to her oxygen concentrator, the fire chief told The Beachcomber. He stayed for a little over an hour, sharing stories about island life by flashlight, until the crew could get to the house and swap out his generator with one belonging to the district. Early the next morning, Davidson returned to refuel the generator.
In a phone interview, the islander said she believed Davidson’s timely visit saved her life. “The world is spinning and seems out of control, and yet to have a human-to-human interaction like this that is positive to the max — you just don’t hear about things like that,” she said.
What happened next? The Beachcomber story about Davidson going out of his way tohelppromptedanotherlongtime islander to do the same.
After reading the story, this islander — who spoke to The Beachcomber on the condition of remaining anonymous — decided to purchase a batterypoweredgeneratortogivetothe womanwhohadfoundherselfin trouble.OnMarch17,Davidson, accompanied by Lilie Corroon, Mobile Integrated Health program director, and Denise Paquette, the district’s administrativecoordinator,arrivedatthe islander’s home with a surprise.
ADU, permitting reform pitched at housing forum
By Alex Bruell editor@vashonbeachcomber.com
Kit Gruver, human resources manager of island medical model producer Sawbones, recalls a conversation with an employee that captures the dysfunction of Vashon’s housing economy.
“You’re really knocking it out of the park,” Gruver told the employee. “It’s probably time for a raise.”
But the employee demurred, Gruver recalled: “Don’t give me a raise. I’m eligible for housing through Vashon HouseHold right now, and if you give me a raise, I won’tbeanymore,andIwon’thave anywheretogo.AndIlovethisjob.”
Vashon HouseHold promised to make every effort to keep the employee housed regardless of the raise, Gruver said. Still, it’s an illustrative story for so many on Vashon: One financial emergency, or a rent hike, or even, ironically, a raise,couldforceyouofftheisland.
Those challenge and solutions werediscussedataMarch18housing forum at Vashon Center for the Arts, hosted by island housing nonprofit Vashon HouseHold. The panel also included King County councilmemberTeresaMosqueda.
Sawbones is one of the island’s largest employers, and Gruver frequently hears from employees whose future on the island is disrupted when their landlords raise the rent or decide to sell their homes.
“This month alone, I’ve had two employees exit due to somebody raisingtheirrent,”Gruversaid.“The
devastation for these folks is that they’vemaybelivedorworkedhere all their lives … and they’ve having to look at leaving the island in their 40s, 50s and 60s with no real clarity about what’s next.”
Their workforce has gone from 5%ofitsemployeeslivingoff-island to closer to 35%, and Sawbones pays between $36,000 and $40,000 yearly in ferry subsidies for employees alone, Gruver said. The company pays all employees $20
By Alex Bruell editor@vashonbeachcomber. com
It arrived like any other donation, but this silver bracelet is clearly anything but ordinary. Linked in its chains are more than a dozen charms, inscribed with names and years — possibly birthdates and wedding dates — of loved ones. Some are shaped as hearts, others as profiles of boys or girls.
Two little silver baby shoes hang from the jewelry, too.
Who are they? And how can this treasured keepsake be returned to its family?
That’s what the folks at Granny’s Attic, the island’s iconic thrift store which recently received this artifact, hopes someone knows.
“Unfortunately we don’t know what else it came in with,” said Brian Vescovi, executive director of the nonprofit thrift store. “It’s impossible to know. There’s just too many things that come in through this place.”
These sort of keepsakes occasionally find their way into the thrift store, said
Senior Center
per hour or more, and is consideringoutsourcingsomeofitslaborin order to control costs, she said. LastTuesday’sforumfocusedon solutions for “workforce housing,” which is qualified for those who makebetween50%and90%ofarea median income. On Vashon, that’s between $53,000 and $78,000 per year for single earners, or a householdincomeof$75,000to$110,000 for a family of four, Bruno said.
According to research from
Vescovi. Half a year ago, a woman donated a collection of books that inadvertently included a picture of her husband. A social media post helped get the photo back to her.
“We do what we can when it seems like [a donation] might be something that was accidental,” Vescovi said.
They’re not sure exactly when it arrived, but it was at least within the last month or so, Vescovi said: “Then
The Vashon Senior Center, at 10004 SW Bank Rd., offers a hot lunch at noon on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and activities throughout the week.
At 1 p.m. Friday, March 28, join the Center’s End-of-Life Conversations series, which will detail Washington’s Death with Dignity law.
At 1 p.m. Wednesday, April 2, King County
Assessor John Wilson will host a discussion on the Senior Property Tax Exemption Program. This program provides property tax reductions for eligible seniors and disabled homeowners. Additionally, the Vashon Oneness Center offers a free opportunity for islanders to meditate together every Monday from 5-6 p.m. at the Senior Center. Visit vashoncenter.org for a full monthly event calendar.
McMurray Science Fair
This week marks the culimation of McMurray Middle School’s all-grades Science Fair,
one of the volunteers saw it and kind of got obsessed with it.”
That would be Vicki Clabaugh, who jokes that she’s volunteered with Granny’s for “just” 21 years.
One of the newer volunteers showed her the jewelry, she said, and Clabaugh decided to take it home, wash it and piece together the information on it.
See GRANNY’S, Page 5
HAPPENINGS
with a community showcase to take place Friday, March 28, from 2:15-2:45 p.m. at the middle school.
The annual fair is organized by science teachers Charlie Ralston (sixth grade), Erin Blaser (seventh grade) and Amy Beth Holmes (eighth grade.)
All students in the school will proudly display their work at the community showcase and explain what they have learned in the intensive project, the teachers said.
The Breathable Body
Join author Robert Litman for a five-week club exploring his book, “The Breathable Body: Transforming Your Life One Breath at a Time,” from 11-12:15 on Tuesdays, April 1-29, at the Tree of Life Wellness Center.
This series will detail breathing practices for better health, addressing issues like asthma, anxiety, sleep disturbances, and more. The class has a sliding scale of $15-$25 per session. Reservations are not required. Books are available at Vashon Bookshop or from the author. For more information, contact robert@thebreathablebody.com.
Vashon HouseHold, gleaned from mosttheisland’slargestemployers, more than half of Vashon employeessurveyedspendmorethanhalf of their income on housing, said Vashon HouseHold Interim Executive Director Kari Dohn Decker said. 30% is often considered the mostapersonshouldspendoftheir gross monthly income on housing costs to be financially secure.
BRACELET INFORMATION
These 18 sets of names and dates are inscribed on charms linked to the bracelet discovered at Granny’s Attic. If you recognize them, reach out to the thrift store at store@vashongrannysattic. org or (206) 463-3161 — and please let us know, too!
John & Mabel — June 29, 1909
Paul — January 2, 1910
James — July 26, 1910
Tom — October 2, 1921
Doris — May 25, 1926
Becky — April 24, 1932
Paul & Beryl — September 10, 1932
Ann — June 12, 1937
John — March 31, 1940
James & Doris — July 8, 1944
Patsy — April 20, 1945
Jean — April 21, 1947
Ellen — July 6, 1947
David — May 8, 1955
John & Mabel — June 29, 1959 (50th anniversary)
Matthew — March 13, 1963
Michael — March 27, 1965
Tom & Diane — August 28, 1965
Reading the book is not required to attend, but will help in understanding the concepts.
Mammogram screenings
Assured Imaging will offer mammogram screening from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 2, at the J.G. Commons Community Room, located at 17300 96th Place SW. (The event has added more time slots in the morning due to high demand.)
Call 888-204-9214 to schedule an appointment. Major insurers are accepted and no referral is needed, though patients should bring a picture ID and an insurance card. Patients must be 40 years old or older, with no current breast problems or complaints, who have not had a mammogram in the past year.
Rainbow Blingo
Vashon’s most colorful
ALEX BRUELL PHOTO
From left to right: Vashon HouseHold Interim Executive Director Kari Dohn Decker, Kris Hermanns, a Seattlebased social impact and philantropic strategist, Shelter America President Chris Bric, Sawbones HR Manager Kit Gruver, King County Council Member Teresa Mosqueda, and moderator Mary Bruno spoke to a crowd of nearly 100 people at Vashon Center for the Arts on March 18.
By Alex Bruell editor@vashonbeachcomber.com
The Friends of Mukai have earned a $45,000 grant to construct a memorial sculpture at Ober Park commemorating the 1942 victims of Japanese exile and incarceration.
The organization, which oversees and maintains the historical Mukai property, announced the grant award on Thursday, March 20.
The sculpture will honor the legacy of the 111 Vashon residents of Japanese ancestry who were exiled from their homes on Vashon Island on May 16, 1942. Ober Park was the site where armed soldiers rounded up those residents, forcibly deporting them off the island and into concentration camps across the western U.S.
Those islanders were among the roughly 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry exiled by President Roosevelt’s Executive
Order 9066, which authorized the forced removal and incarceration of persons of Japanese ancestry in the West Coast Exclusion Zone.
Funding for the memorial comes from the T-Mobile Hometown Grant Program, which required a “shovel ready” project that the Mukai organization
additionally funded through private donations.
The grant will facilitate a dream “we’ve had for many years,” Friends of Mukai Co-President Rita Brogan said:
“The statue allows us to tell the personal stories of Vashon residents who were unjustly imprisoned because of their race. Two-thirds of those who were incarcerated were Americanborn citizens and had committed no crime.”
Brogan also thanked the Vashon Park District for providing Ober Park for installation of the sculpture.
Though the grant will fund the bulk of construction and design, the final cost of the project may be affected by tariff-spurred economic disruptions, according to the Friends of Mukai.
An unveiling event for design of the statue will be held at Ober Park at 10 a.m. on May 18 at Vashon’s annual Day of Exile ceremony. The public is invited
to attend the ceremony.
The Japanese American exile and incarceration, according to the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, was a decision made out of “race prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership.” It shattered the Vashon Japanese American community, and only about a third returned to the island after the war.
In addition to Japanese Americans, the U.S. also oversaw the detainment of thousands of German and Italian ancestry, many of whom were United States citizens.
Founded by Issei pioneer B.D. Mukai in 1926 as a strawberry farm, Mukai Farm & Garden today features a heritage home, Japanese garden and the historic fruit barreling plant. The Friends of Mukai maintain the property open and free to the public, hosting events celebrating Japanese culture and the island’s agrarian heritage. Learn more at mukaifarmandgarden.org.
Pirates emerge undefeated from tough bouts
By Oscar Lopez For The Beachcomber
Twoweeksintotheseason, the Vashon Pirates boys soccer team is undefeated — but two hard-fought draws in their last two matches show there are still some kinks to work out.
As intended, Vashon met stiff competition in their first three games this season, which they dealt with about as well as head coach John Thomas could have hoped, considering the season is still very young.
The Pirates first met the Bush School Blazers, anticipated to be a difficult matchupduetoBush’slegacy in the challenging Emerald Sound 1A conference and their success last season.
Bushwasexpectedtobean experiencedteamthatwould test the Pirates — however, they were anything but. The Pirates thrashed a lackluster Bushinalopsided6-2match.
TheBlazerswerethearchitects of their own demise in the first half, as poor defending and an inability to control the ball in the midfield saw the Pirates up 2-0 up after only 10 minutes — both goals being scored by Pirates forward Mason Haynes.
Bush dragged a goal back midway through the first half through a strong finish by Senior Xavi Dellisanti. Still, poor coverage off a corner kickletthePirates’midfielder AveryMacLeanfireonehome alongside another from forward Rowan MarceauRoache, sending the Pirates into halftime up 4-1.
The second half was not quite as easy for Vashon, but two more from Mason Haynes secured the win and hisplaceasManoftheMatch, with a staggering four goals.
ThePirateshadlittletimeto celebrate this victory as, just twodayslater,theyhostedthe 3A Ballard Beavers.
Whereas the attack shined for the Pirates against Bush, the defense stepped up versusBallard.Thegamewas a midfield scrap, and part of Vashon’s inability to make anything happen offensively was due to Mason Haynes leaving the field after 20 minutes with a hand injury
— he did not return until late in the game. Ballard did have some chances, but they were shut down by Pirate defensive mainstay Gavin Keenan, alongside his center-back partnerandManoftheMatch
CaedenMiller,whowascalm and composed both on and off the ball for the match’s entirety.
After nearly two halves of a physical game, the score remained 0-0 until Ballard was awarded a penalty kick after Vashon goalkeeper Jeff Nelson took down Beavers forward Beckett Jacobson in the 18-yard box. Henry Peters converted the spot kick to seemingly win the game for Ballard. But with only seconds to go, Isaac Newcomb took a dive in the box and won Vashon a penaltyandachancetocome away with a draw.
The Pirates’ top goalscorer
last season, Joni Respighi, stepped up to take it, and although his first effort was saved, he put away the rebound to end the match at 1-1.
Nearlyaweeklater,Vashon and their third opponent, the University Prep Pumas, both came into the next match dealing with illness. For the Pirates, it meant that Avery MacLean and Caeden Miller would be limited, and Joni Respighi would miss the majority of the game with a calf injury.
ThePumaswerealsomissing a couple of their key players, but that didn’t stop them from taking a shock lead only two minutes in, capitalizing on defensive confusion from the Pirates on a corner kick.
U Prep maintained constant pressure on the Pirates for the next 20 minutes, cutting off Vashon’s
passing lanes in the midfield and preventing them from creatinganythingoffensively. Despite the Pumas’ dominance, Mason Haynes intercepted a poor pass from U Prepcenter-backLucaFrank, took it around the keeper, and scored to give Vashon a lifeline.
Ten minutes later, the Pirates’ corner kick woes continued as Roan Leslie scored an Olimpico (a goal straight from a corner kick) to give the Pumas a 2-1 lead going into halftime.
Vashon was able to turn things around in the second half with a dominant midfield performance by
Quill Tegenfeldt-Pfohman. Even with renewed energy, it took Vashon until the final fiveminutestoscore,asPirate sophomore Ryland Knodt put in a cross that was tucked homebyTegenfeldt-Pfohman to cap off what was already a Man of the Match performance and give the Pirates a well earned 2-2 draw.
Vashon looks ahead to a much easier schedule in the upcoming two weeks, playing only two matches — both at Pirates Stadium. The first is against Nisqually 1A rivals Klahowya, who shocked CascadeChristianlastyearin thedistricttournamentsemifinaltoearnaspotinthestate
tournament. Two days later, the Pirates face the East Jefferson Rivals, who finished last season 4-10-3overall.Vashonplayed andbeattherivalsRivalstwice lastyear,6-0and8-1,meaning that this game is not likely to provide much of a challenge, and Pirates fans can expect many changes to the lineup from coach Thomas. The week after brings spring break — a chance to rest and prepare for tougher fixtures down the road. Oscar Lopez is an island sportswriter, a senior at Vashon High School and a VoiceofVashoncommentator fortheisland’ssoccerteams.
Vashon forward Mason Haynes preparing to run at three Bush defenders.
Island pony club sweeps competition at regional Quiz Rally
By Katie Vaughan For The Beachcomber
Vashon’s Olympus Pony Club traveled to Snohomish this past weekend to compete in the regional Quiz Rally competition against 84 competitors across 24 teams from 12 different clubs in the Northwestregion.
QuizRallyisaUnitedStates Pony Club non-riding team competition,wheremembers show their knowledge and skillsofhorsemanagement.
Amulti-generationalorganization, Olympus sent 13 competitors ranging in ages from 10 to 70 years old, who collectively swept each division — winning four first placeribbonsandonesecond place ribbon. D-1 level Pony Clubber Maggie Uhlir (14) took home the coveted high point ribbon in the Junior D Divisionwiththetopscorein thatdivision.
It was a dream day for the club, made up of hardworking kids and adults who worked two-hour weekly afterschoolstudysessionsfor nearly three months to earn their victories.
Olympus holds its annual spring horse show and main fundraiser of the year — The
Sassy—onSaturday,May17, atParadiseRidgeHorsePark. All are welcome, including
island equestrians who wish to participate. The event makescompetingintheQuiz Rallypossible.
Public safety roundtable
Islanders are invited to a public safety roundtable discussion at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 17 at the Vashon High School cafeteria,convenedbytheVashonMaury Community Council (VMCC), including panelists from the King County Sheriff’sOffice.
The discussion is titled: “How Can Islanders Work with the Sheriffs to Make VashonSafer?”
The first hour will be a panel discussion with Sergeant Theresa Schrimpsher and Major Coby Hamill fromthesheriff’sdepartment; Tom Walsten from Vashon Youth and Family Services (VYFS); Tanner Yelken from Thriftway; Sarah Sullivan, a mother and social worker; and Jim Hunziker, a nurse practitioner who works with islanders who are homeless, accordingtoeventorganizers.
The discussion, moderated by incoming Vashon
NEWS BRIEFS
HouseHold Executive Director Amy Drayer, will begin with a roughly one-hour long-form discussion. Panelistswillidentifywhatourmost pressing issues are, and then discuss ways the community can address those problems. The second hour will open the conversation up to the audience. If the trial roundtable format is successful, there will be more of them in the future, according to VMCC. The VMCC board is also looking for people interested injoiningtohelpcreatemore programmingfortheisland.
Islanders to join Capitol protest
Indivisible Vashon will join in a nationwide “Hands Off” protest against the Donald Trump administration on April 5 at the state Capital, starting at 12:30 p.m. by the Tivoli Fountain, and other islanders are invited to join them. Contact protest. action@indivisiblevashon.
orgformoreinformation.
Public meetings
• Vashon Island School District’snextboardmeeting starts at 6 p.m. on Thursday, March. 27 at Chautauqua Elementary School, Room 302,9309SWCemeteryRoad. Visit vashonsd.org for more information. • Water District 19’s next regular meeting starts at 6 p.m.onTuesday,April8atthe district’sboardroom,located at 17630 100th Ave SW.
For
Olympus Pony Club, or to become a sponsor, contact Betsey Archambault at
bspess@gmail.com.
KatieVaughanisamember of the Quiz Prep Team and mom of three clubbers.
COURTESY PHOTO
Olympus competitors at regional Quiz Rally from left to right: (top row) Clara Wiley, Addie Davidson, Emmy Archambault, Eloise Larson, Maggie Uhlir, Vivian Grace, Anna Wiley (bottom row) Courtney Secor, McKenzie Bomber, Juliette Kelly, Patricia Haley, Guinevere Kelly, and Jude Kelly
COURTESY PHOTO
Furry and hooved Quiz Prep helpers at the regional Show Jumping Rally October 2024, from left to right: Pepper and Dolly, ridden (respectively) by Guinevere and Juliette Kelly.
Housing
Around 20% of those island workers can’t find housing here and must commute on to the island, speakers said. And perhaps most disturbing is that 30% of those workers polled said theylivein“squalidorundesirable” conditions, Decker said.
Delays, delays, delays
Panelist Chris Bric, who runs the nonprofit Shelter America Group, said he hopes to break ground in June on his project to build 41 units of affordable housing just off Gorsuch Road. With a 14-month construction process, the units could beinservicebyAugust2026.
The project faced permitting delays and rising costs, the same challenges that have vexed other housing projects in Vashon and King County. For Bric, a permitting process that ordinarily takes four to six months has reached around 16 months.AndVashon’ssmall
Granny’s
“I’m very sentimental abouteverything,”Clabaugh said. “You see so many donations in Granny’s from
Storm
From Page 1
It was a powerful EGO Nexus Power Station — a battery-powered alternative to gas generators that delivers clean, quiet, and portable power. The gift — which includes two powerful lithium batteries — came complete with two additional batteries that brought the value of the donation to about $2,000.
The purchase was made on the advice of Ace Hardware Service Center staff member David Stone, who told The Beachcomber the donor showed up “out of the blue” at the store. On behalf ofAce,Stoneofferedhelpfilling out the warranty form on the purchase, if needed, and recharging the additional batteries for free if needed as well.
The recipient didn’t know what was coming, she said — having only been told by
Happenings
From Page 1
Hostess and chanteuse
Louvel will return to host the evening. Appetizers include pastry puffs, bacon wrappeddates,Thaichicken satay and Korean beef skewers and more. The dessert auction is sponsored by JohnL.Scottandwillfeature sweet treats including backlava, cheesecakes, flan, iramisu, cider and shortbread and more. The Senior Center will also auction off baskets of Vashon art, wine and more. Visit vashoncenter.org for more information or to puchase tables and tickets, and call the Senior Center at 206-463-5173 with questions. Doors open at 6 p.m. and Blingo starts at 7 p.m. Camp Burton is located at 9326 SW Bayview Drive.
Care Closet
Giveaway
Vashon Care Network’s CareClosetwillholdanOpen House and Giveaway from 1 to 3 p.m. on Sunday, April 6. The Care Closet celebrates National Library Week as a member of Vashon’s LendingLibraryCoalition.Browse their equipment and learn how to borrow items in the future. The Care Closet, located on the grounds of Vashon Lutheran Church, also has surplus equipment and supplies that visitors can takehomeforfree.
population and distance from the I-5 corridor lowers its priority for some housing tax credits from the State Housing Finance Commission — understandable, given the need to prioritize development where the most people can use it, but nonetheless another hurdle for building housing on Vashon.
“It’s a long game for those of us [who] want to enter into developing affordable housing here on the island,” he said.
Financing and permitting finally appear to be pulling through, he said. Policy changes at the Housing Commission have helped Bricraisethemoneyneeded to keep pushing the project along.
Design and construction alonewillcostmorethan$20 million, a premium exacerbated by the high cost of getting labor and materials on the island. “It’s staggering how expensive all of this has gotten,” Bric said.
Costs keep ballooning while permit requests wait unfinished, and developers need more predictability, said housing strategist Kris
kids who threw away things from their family’s house. We handle a lot of things and go, ‘Wow, why would somebody get rid of that?’
I’d like to find somebody in that family who treasures it.
… If I had lost this, I would be so thrilled if someone
Hermanns.
“Delay is the death of a developer,” Bric concurred.
Solving this crisis won’t happen with just one approach, Hermanns said. “We’re here because the market can’t solve it.”
“We will not build our way out of our housing crisis without private developers and private public partnerships and philanthropic partnerships,” Hermanns said.
Islander Allen de Steiguer shared his frustration in trying to permit an ADU for his daughter and son-inlaw’s family on the island.
“Two and a half to three yearstogetabuildingpermit for a single family home is pretty outrageous,” he said.
“We are very bullish on ADUs,” said Decker. “There are excellent models. … There is so much more we cando,andwedon’tneedto reinvent the wheel. We need to get these policies passed.”
There has been some county progress.
For instance, at the new Island Center Homes development: “When we visited … folks told us it was taking two, three months
brought it back into my family.”
It quickly became clear that this piece could not be treated like just any bracelet. Consider the fate of most jewelry donated to thrift stores: When Granny’s can’t sell silver or gold jewelry,
to get reimbursement from the county for specific payments,” King County council member Teresa Mosqueda said. “We came back and concluded in the comprehensive plan that … we want those payments to be done within a four week period.”
A changing island
Kicking off the forum, Anne Atwell, president of Vashon HouseHold’s board of directors, honored Diane Emerson with the “Broad Shoulders,BigHeart”award, whichhonorsthenonprofit’s first executive director, Jean Bosch. Emerson’s contributions to the island, Atwell said, have spanned multiple island nonprofits, including her “indefatigable” work with the Vashon-Maury Island Community Council, from which she recently stepped down as president.
Then Bruno interviewed Drayer — a Vashon-grown political organizer and strategic planner by trade who steps full-time into the executive role at Vashon HouseHold this June — about her thought on Vashon’s housing crisis.
such as when it’s broken, the store collects it and sends it to be melted down, with the store receiving a check for the final carat value. Melted down, the bracelet would only net the store about $30 per ounce, she said — a pittance compared to the
Davidson that “the community has a gift for you.”
Arriving at her door with the generator, Davidson told her that someone had read about her story and donated it “so you don’t ever have to
Food Bank Fundraiser
Help raise money for the Vashon Food Bank at a gourmetdinnerservicefromChef Dre Neely, of island restaurantGravy,at6p.m.onFriday, April 11 at Open Space. For more information, visit vashonfoodbank.org/events.
Electronics recycling
ZeroWasteVashonhostsits
annual Electronics Recycling Event from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Saturday, April 12 at Vashon HighSchool.Theeventisfree, withdonationsaccepted.
Not accepted at the event: Rear screen projection TVs, miscellaneous metal boxes, cabinets, or large devices. No appliancesexceptmicrowave ovens. Large flat-screen TVs, old-style CRT TVs, and CRT computer monitors require a $10 charge per item for disposal.
Not on Our Island presentsaworkshop,“Anchoring in a Storm,” aimed at helping participants learn to set boundaries, build autonomy and choice, and find an internal anchor even in a time of challenge. The workshop is from 1-3 p.m. on Saturday, April 19. Deborah King, a yoga therapist who partners with The Dove Project to create yoga therapy offerings for survivors of gender-based
bewithoutoxygen,”therecipient said.
Atfirst,shesaid,shefeltshe couldnotacceptthegift,until Davidson quietly told her: “This is a community that takes care of one another.”
violence, has presented workshops on secondary trauma and stress management for Northwest Justice Project and Comunidad, as well as on yoga therapy and MS with Swedish Neuroscience Institute’s medical staff.
Register and find out the workshoplocationbyemailing hello@notonourisland. org.
Flea Market
Vashon Eagles will host the Finders Keepers Flea Market from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, April 26. The market will be held indoors, with live music and food available. Some table space is still available, with tables provided for wares. The cost of a 6-foot table is $25. Email Susan, at pitiger@comcast. net, with questions or to reserve a table.
Travelling back-and-forth to spend time with her wife, who lives in Denver, the couple got a foothold in the Vashon housing market in 2015, Drayer said. “We were lucky enough to find one of those traditional Vashon ‘fixer-uppers.’ “ The island will need to have “some difficult conversations” about residents’ collective will to solve the problem, she said. “It’s an exciting time. It’s a challenge.”
As the forum opened up to public discussion, other property owners on Vashon also used the “luck” word in describinghowtheygottheir own homes.
Islander Terry Sullivan, a Vashon HouseHold board member and chair of the Community Council’s affordable housing committee, described moving to the island in 1971 after a Peace Corps tour. Three years later he bought 10 wooded acres in Paradise Valley for $9,500 and built his home there.
“If I were to come to the island today, given my incomerightnow,Iwouldn’t be able to get my little toe on the island,” he said. “There
sentimental and familial value of the piece.
“That’s not what we want to happen,” Clabaugh said.
Instead, the team at Granny’s is hoping that someone on or off Vashon will recognize the names and dates (see breakout box) and help
didn’trealizehowmuchhelp they needed — there are not enough words to thank that personforrekindlingmyfaith in humanity.”
The donor, also reached by phone, described the gift as her immediate response to the story she had read in The Beachcomber.
“When I read about Ben Davidson’s action — providing such sensible, caring and practical help for somebody — I thought, I’m not going to doanythingheroic,butcould she use her own generator?” she said.
are a lot of people that are lucky like me, that got in when it was cheap.”
Two numbers cited at the top of the panel show the contrast today:
• $925,688: The average cost of a home on Vashon, according to Zillow.
• $3,350: The average monthly rent payment on Vashon — Higher than Los Angeles, and comparable to New York City.
Based on county and island estimates, Vashon probably needs about 500 more housing units over the next 20 years, Decker said. Vashon HouseHold has pledged to double its housingunits—i.e.add150more affordableunits—by2035to help reach that number. In the meantime, what else can islanders do?
Look at your own property, Hermanns said. Can you build smarter, more efficiently,alittlehigher,and denser?
“McMansions are not the vision and the values that I’ve heard on this island,” Mosqueda said to applause. An expanded version of this story appears online at vashonbeachcomber.com.
connect the bracelet with a rightful owner.
“I hope there’s some magic, and we find somebody’s grandma or aunt,” Clabaugh said. “The karma on Vashon is incredible. The things that happen at Granny’s are incredible.”
Anotherresultofthestory?
“I was speechless,” she said. “In this day of political change and division, to have somebody reach out to try and help someone who
Her decision to simply give an islander something she needed, the donor said, reflected the spirit of Vashon — a place filled with organizations, including the Vashon Senior Center and the Vashon Food Bank, that are dependent on the work of volunteers and donors.
“There are lots of ‘somebodies’ like me on Vashon,” she said.
According to Davidson, he has now met with leaders of both VashonBePrepared and its affiliated group, the Community Emergency Response Team, to discuss how those groups might further identify community resources, including generators, to help vulnurable islanders during storms and power outages. Davidson said he, too, was deeply moved by the generosity of the donor who decidedtomakesureanother islander had the equipment she needed to survive a storm.
“It’s a huge game changer to have something like that sitting there ready, so you don’t have to rely on your backup system,” he said. “Something like this makes me so proud to lead this fire department. We live in a place where people have enormous hearts, and look out for each other.”
ELIZABETH SHEPHERD PHOTO
Mobile Integrated Health and fire district staff members joined Interim Fire Chief Ben Davidson as he prepared to deliver a donated generator to an islander in need. (Left to right) Dan O’Connell, Davidson, Lilie Corroon, Lisa Coley, and Denise Paquette.
Introduced last year, the new midday sailings on King County’s VashonSeattle water taxi have proven to be a boon to the island.
Thanks to concerted efforts by local advocates such as Islanders for Ferry Action and lawmakers including Sen. Emily Alvarado and King County Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda, the state Legislature appropriated $3.17 million for those new sailings — four every weekday — which started in the summer.
The added trips were intended to provide some relief for the hardships and inconvenience islanders have endured from flagging Washington State Ferries service, and they’ve worked: Total ridership increased from roughly 45,00 in the second half of 2023 to about 69,500 for the second half of 2024, more than a 50% leap driven mostly by midday sailings.
“This has been a huge success, and shows pent-up demand,” Islanders for Ferry Action steering committee member Wendy Aman told The Beachcomber. “We’re still in crisis, and we’re starting to solve it. … That water taxi is a very important service to this community.”
But that appropriation expires June 30, unless it’s renewed in the next twoyear budget cycle. Legislators need to make more than $1 billion in cuts to the state transportation budget alone this year, and they’ll be scrutinizing any programs that aren’t considered essential.
They may be led to believe that we don’t need the midday service anymore
Opinion
Few things can induce March Madness in gardeners and ecologists like the springtime advance of invasive plants, and few invasive plants are as
(or tasty) as the Himalayan blackberry, which is actually native to Armenia and Iran.
because Gov. Bob Ferguson has promised to restore the Triangle Route to full service. Here’s why that line of thinking is wrong. First: Full, lasting restoration of the Triangle is far from guaranteed. The day Governor Bob Ferguson announced the restoration of full domestic ferry service in Washington, Washington State Ferries Deputy Executive Director John Vezina sobered that announcement for Vashon: Three-boat service will require having three Issaquah-class vessels available, he said, which will not always be a given due to the fleet’s tight margins and maintenance needs.
“When we don’t have a third Issaquah-class available, we may have to go to the improved two-boat [schedule], and one of
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the conversations we’ll be having with the community is … we don’t want to go back and forth [between two- and three-boat schedules], right? That’s going to be really confusing for people,” he told The Beachcomber earlier this month.
“We know that Washington State Ferries are committed to providing three boat service … and that is our expectation,” said Islanders for Ferry Action Director Amy Drayer. “But we also know there are always hiccups along the line. It’ll be an improvement, but people going to medical care … need reliability. And reliable, almost to a fault, is the water taxi.”
Meanwhile, the first of a new generation of electric car ferries now isn’t expected until 2029, a year later than an estimate given last year. Taking away
midday water taxi service — all of this progress — now could leave us in a worse position than where we started, and potentially for many years to come.
Second, the new water taxi sailings have quickly become a relied-upon service. Mid-day service alone accounted for 20,000 new trips on the water taxi, indirectly helping car ferry riders and staff by reducing lines and crowding.
“How many times does a government program get to say we are wildly successful and popular? That’s what’s happening with the water taxi,” said Islanders for Ferry Action steering committee member Rick Wallace.
Axing a successful program just as we’re crawling out of this crisis would be ill-advised and disruptive.
Don’t fix what ain’t broke.
Finally, every rider who
chooses the water taxi rather than driving onto a ferry is spewing fewer fossil fuel byproducts and orcathreatening tire particulates into the Salish Sea.
Regionally, water taxis are growing in popularity as a nimbler and environmentally conscious solution to aquatic transportation.
These expanded water taxi sailings are an economic, environmental and moral victory.
But while quality aquatic transportation is one of the fundamental responsibilities our state and county have to our bridgeless island, that doesn’t mean it’s a given.
If the state of our nation is any indication, we know that we risk losing what we hold precious if we don’t fight for it.
The Legislative process moves faster than we can
print a paper. For rapid updates on this budget process — and how islanders can get involved — the Vashon Chamber Facebook page is a great start. In the meantime, if you use the water taxi, you should let our elected officials know. Reach out with positive stories about how its service makes the difference for your family — stories we can share with the rest of the state. We can soapbox from this editorial page all day, but real human stories are the best cases for keeping the water taxi sailing.
• 34th District Sen. Emily Alvarado: Emily.alvarado@ leg.wa.gov
• 34th District Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon: Joe.Fitzgibbon@ leg.wa.gov
• 34th District Rep. Brianna Thomas: Brianna. Thomas@leg.wa.gov
Lost in — and out of — America
This February, when it reached an icy 25 degrees on Vashon, I flew to Madrid.
Spain’s capital is full of stylishlydressed people in vast pedestrian crowds, flowing together through streets and subways. February in Madrid meant it was spring already, and people had picnic blankets spread out in the parks. Little green parakeets glided above the picnickers.
We saw art by Picasso, Bosch, Goya and El Greco. We saw a painting of a man shrouded in medieval darkness, looking up at a hole of golden light, cut out of the dark sky. It seemed like a rip in the firmament of things. The look in the man’s eyes was either vast hope or vast terror. It was impossible to tell which.
I’m not sure what it means to be an American right now. I seem to be in the
Riding the Cyclone twice
I made my way to Vashon High School to see “Ride the Cyclone” on its opening weekend. The production so impressed me that I went to see it again last weekend, and I was moved to joyous tears and disbelief at what a bunch of teenagers could accomplish. There have been no theatrical, musical, dance or other type of stage production that I have seen on this island in 30 years that was any better. “Ride the Cyclone” actually outshone most of the shows I have attended. Only after seeing a few Broadway productions
process of figuring that out. Whatever an American is, I do know that I still am one. On my trip, I compulsively checked that my passport was in my bag, zippered safely away from pickpockets. I locked it in my hotel safe, as precious as gold. It was my golden ticket back home.
I saw my fellow Americans in Madrid, having trouble ordering coffee, or looking confused by subway maps. I recognized other Americans immediately, and they recognized me too. Our eyes filled with relief as we saw each other: here’s someone
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
have I ever been as impressed with a live stage performance. When I read Elizabeth Shepherd’s review of the show in The Beachcomber I felt she somehow masterfully grabbed the “Cyclone” magic in words and recreated the extraordinary feeling this production exudes. Besides drawing audience members to the show, the review was a gift to each and every member of Cyclone’s cast and crew. I hope they all tuck a copy away in a scrapbook and read it at least once a decade as they age so they can reexperience the thrill of what they created together as Vashon High School students. Ellen Call
Modern day fascists
TheIsraelisareviolatingthe ceasefire,bombingGaza,killing hundreds of people, 170 children. Welcome to Holocaust 2. Trump is bombing Yemen, with no declaration of war from Congress. That’s an irrelevant detail, since the current administration, like those before it, think the Constitution a nuisance. Many individuals in public life have said that Trump should not be president. He is incompetent, childish, self-centered, a habitual liar, crazy, a sociopath, and the most dangerous man since Joe McCarthy. In my life I’ve not heard comments like this about the President.
who’s as lost as I am. When I was on the trip, a friend asked, “Is anybody being rude to you because you’re American?” The answer was, resoundingly, no. The look in the eyes of the Spanish people I met was one not of annoyance or even condescension. It was one of pity. They pitied me, I think, because of my feeble attempts to speak Spanish. They pitied me and let me try, but then gamely switched over to English, humbling me with the ease of their bilingualism.
Statements applying to WWII history apply today. Let’s update the names. For Hitler, Goebbels, and Mussolini, we’ve got Trump, Musk, and Netanyahu. For Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy we’ve got the U. S. and Israel. For the SS we’ve got ICE. For Auschwitz we’ve got ICE detentionfacilitiesandGuantanamo.FortheJewswe’vegot Palestinians and immigrants. Some Germans in the thirties realized what Hitler was, but failed to stop him. Will we stop Trump or let him gut SocialSecurity,Medicare,and Medicaid? Will we let him trash the Constitution while weactasgoodGermans—er, ah, I mean good Americans, heads in the sand? If you’re not alarmed, you’re a fool. Shelley Simon
CARTOON BY MICHELLE LASSALINE.
resilient
ELIZABETH FITTERER
Celebrating our women educators
Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about my mother, Joyce Mae Sladek (1933-1983). She passed away when I was 15 years old and in the 10th grade. At the time, we were living in Central Florida with my brother, who was just a year younger than I, almost to the day. In the short amount of time we had together, I remember she had very high expectations of me, instilled in me a sense of humor, and gave me the confidence to take on any challenge.
One of my favorite memories is from my Little League days when I was a pitcher. My mom was always the loudest parent in the stands, always standing and always cheering me on with an unmistakable, “All right!” every time I struck someone out. No matter what the score was, whether we were up or down, she believed in me. Her unwavering support and encouragement has stuck with me and also makes me think about March and National
Women’s History Month. This month is a time to reflect on the countless contributions women have made to our society. Here on Vashon and across the country, the vast majority of educators are women. Every day, we entrust them with our students, knowing they will guide, challenge, and nurture them. If we think of education as a journey, female educators are the steady hands on the wheel, navigating our students through new ideas, tough challenges, and moments of discovery. Women have been shaping education for centuries. Maria Montessori (1870-1952) revolutionized early childhood learning
with her student-centered approach, emphasizing independence and handson discovery. Her methods are still widely used today, and can be seen in many of our Vashon classrooms. More recently, educators such as Dr. Gloria Ladson-Billings have led the way in equity-focused teaching, advocating for culturally responsive education that ensures all students see themselves reflected in what they learn. Her breakthrough research was one of the foundations for my own dissertation, shaping my understanding of how teachers can better support students living in poverty. Her work
Slade McSheehy is the Superintendent of the Vashon Island School District. Vashon-Maury
An epic fix for Vashon’s rogue tires
How often have you noticed derelict tires littering our island’s beaches?
Recently, I counted more than 20 of them on two recent, short, low tide walks — one along Tramp Harbor east of Portage and the other between Klahanie and Dilworth. Those tires aren’t just eyesores. They contain hazardous chemicals that slowly disperse into and contaminate marine ecosystems through chemical leaching, microplastic pollution, habitat disruption, and bioaccumulation of toxins. These chemicals are poisonous to salmon and other fish, shellfish, crustaceans, filter feeders such as whales, bivalves and krill, and even plankton, disrupting the food web. As tires break down, they release tiny rubber particles and micro-plastics into the water and sand. These particles can get ingested by marine
organisms and seabirds, and if they are buried, they can disrupt burrowing species.
Fear not! There is a solution to this problem, and you can help. Join the Vashon Rotary Club and island partners for a Global Day of Action on Saturday, May 17, 2025. As part of Rotary’s “Epic Day of Service,” we will join thousands of others around the world to make a difference in our communities. On
Vashon-Maury Island, we are tackling beach pollution, and we need your help. In addition to cleaning up all the plastic and other trash on Vashon beaches, we will be focusing on rogue beach tires. Vashon Rotary is partnering with Vashon Parks, Zero Waste Vashon, King County Parks and Solid Waste Departments, Puget Soundkeeper Alliance, Vashon Adventures, and other organizations and
But I think I saw something else in their eyes, too. I think they pitied me for being an American. American writers have different ways to address the pain of this moment. Some draw historical parallels between this time and others. Naturalists remind me to watch the migrations of the birds. A Buddhist writer veers off script by being raw and angry. Some write with the precision of a surgeon, detailing exactly what is happening, step-by-step. But none of these words touch whatever I wish they could touch. I still feel lost; as lost as an American tourist trying to figure out a Spanish subway map. As an American in Spain, I didn’t feel like a global badass. I felt like somebody who didn’t know so much about the world; who didn’t know so many languages; who didn’t even know the quick, transactional language of living in densely packed urban spaces, spoken by so much of the world. Things felt faster and more indifferent to me there, yet more ancient and resilient than things in America will ever be.
I awoke to the sound of ancient cathedral bells every morning. One day I walked to the cathedral, and I let a wandering peddler-lady press a bit of rosemary into my hand. I
let her tell me a bunch of magical incantations that I couldn’t really understand. I knew it was a con, and that it would eventually come with a price. But I wanted a blessing of protection from somebody, from anybody, even if it was a lie. She passed her fingertip over my palm. She looked deeply into my eyes. She said she would protect me from anything, if only I paid her. And pay up I did. On the flight back to America, as we entered U.S. airspace, the captain of the plane switched the cabin lights to a decorative
pattern of red, white and blue. Like any good American, I can’t resist a good light show. I loved it so much that I took a picture of it. I’m an American, through and through: easily entertained; not so very worldly; an easy mark for a traveling salesman.
My golden ticket has been punched, and it leads right to the view of that golden rift in the sky that keeps on widening. My eyes catch the eyes of my fellow Americans at home. They also see the rift. They are just as lost as I am.
continues to influence educators both on Vashon and nationwide, reinforcing the importance of inclusive and meaningful learning experiences.
The impact of female educators extends far beyond lesson plans, playground games, and report cards. They foster curiosity, creativity, and confidence. They teach our students not just how to read, write, and solve equations, but also how to think critically, collaborate, and care about each other and the world around them. For so many kids, educators are the people who believe in them when they don’t yet believe in themselves.
As we honor Women’s History Month, please take a moment to celebrate
who will be transforming lots of the beach trash into works of art. Where are these tires coming from, you ask? For some, we have to go back to the 1960s, when a plan to create artificial reefs in Puget Sound with car tires was hatched by Washington’s Department of Natural Resources.
The goal was to attract native reef fish to improve recreational fishing opportunities.
A few dozen groups of tires (totaling more than 100,000 tires) were strung together with polypropylene rope and placed at the bottom of Puget Sound in the 1970s and 80s. Then the Law of Unintended Consequences kicked in, when the plastic string broke and the tires started moving around, with some washing ashore on Puget Sound beaches, including Vashon-Maury Island.
Cassidy Biondo, DNR’s tire removal project manager, told me they
and recognize the female teachers, paraeducators, counselors, bus drivers, and all building staff who have shaped us and continue to shape the next generation. Because when we celebrate them, we celebrate a future shaped by their work, one student at a time.
As I think back to my own mother, who lived a pretty tough life, I remember how, through it all, she kept me on track and ensured I had what I needed to live a rich, fulfilling life. That’s what great educators do, too. They see the potential, they cheer us on, and they help us find our way.
have a massive cleanup effort in progress, having already removed two of the 15 priority tire reefs out of the over 35 identified reefs. DNR is limited to working on stateowned sub-tidal aquatic lands, which is why we are pitching in to help with the Vashon beaches. Vashon Rotary is working with island residents and organizations to identify the locations of rogue beach tires and which segments of the 52 miles of Vashon shorelines need the most attention. We will provide recycled feed bags — thanks to Erinn McIntyre — and instructions. Details on how to sign up, and collection staging locations, are available at tinyurl.com/VashonRotaryTires. If you have any questions or have more ideas, contact Steve Bergman by emailing scbergmanvashon@gmail.com. Steve Bergman is a geologist, Zero Waste Vashon board member and Whole Vashon Project advisor.
islander activists for this event. We are also working with artist Addie Boswell,
STEVE BERGMAN
COURTESY PHOTO COLLAGE
Cleaning up rogue tires like these found on Vashons beaches is the mission of Rotary’s upcoming “Epic Day of Service.”
Asiya Korepanova
Virtuoso pianist, transcriber, composer, visual artist and poet Asiya Korepanova will perform at 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 28, at Vashon Center for the Arts. Her program will include her own composition as well as works by Beethoven, Schumann, Rachmaninoff, and Mussorgsky. Find out more and get tickets at vashoncenterforthearts.org.
Art Talk
Join art historian Rebecca Albiani for an art talk at 2 p.m. Sunday, March30,atVashonCenter for the Arts.
In honor of Women’s History Month, Albiani will explore the work of Frida Kahlo, who has become an internationally known feminist icon. Kahlo took up painting after a devastating streetcar accident andwedDiegoRiveraafew years later. She adopted a flamboyant persona, slugging tequila and taking lovers of both sexes, while using art as a way of combating her physical and emotional pain.
Workshop
Join Eva Papp, founder of the Active Authenticity path to well-being, for a full day workshop, “Relationshp Boundaries and the Strategies That Make Them Work,” from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Sunday, March 30, at Open Space for Arts & Community.
Find out more and get tickets at openspacevashon.com.
UMO’s Squeeze
UMOEnsemblewillhave a run of its newest production, “Squeeze,” from April 4-13, at Seattle Public Theatre, located at 7312 West Green Lake Dr N, in Seattle.
Theplay,byaward-wining playwright Trista Baldwin, features performances by Acrobatic Conundrum’s Terry Crane and Emma Curtiss, Seattle actor Rhys Daly, and UMO Ensemble members Meghan Ames, David Godsey, Janet McAlpinandLyamWhite.
The production is directed by Elizabeth Klob.
The production — in development by UMO for the past three years — is described by the group as being a “dystopian funhouse,” concocted from a recipe to “take five lonely souls, three platforms, two acrobats, sprinkle ladders to top, mix with a good measure of displacement, scarcity and greed, blend on high and bake in an overheated climate … Through humor, grace and physical, “Squeeze” challenges its audiences to adapt and connect in a world on the edge.”
Get tickets and find out more at tinyurl.com/ ywbtuhzw.
All island artists are invited to enter the 2025 Vashon Island Visual Artists members’ show, “Our Island, Our Home,” at Vashon Center for the Arts, May 2–25, 2025. This exhibition invites island artists to explore the meaning of “home” through relationships — family, friends, community, and the land and sea, reflecting the close-knit spirit of Vashon life. The show is open to all current VIVA members — join or renew now to participate.
The deadline to enter is April 11.
Visit vivartists.com for more details and to enter.
Concerts at the Vashon Havurah
The Vashon Havurah,
15401 Westside Hwy SW, will host two Celtic music performances this spring. At 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 11, Bangers and Blunders, a a Boulder, a young, Colorado-based traditional Irish music duo, will take the stage. Members Shannon Muenchow and Graeme Danforth originally met at Irish sessions in the Denver/Boulder area are now bringing uplifting traditional tunes to life with twin-fiddle melodic interplay and driving rhythmic renditions on fiddle and Irish bouzouki. There will be an Irish music session after the concert, so bring your instruments. A $20 donation is requested at the door.
Scottish guitar master, Tony McManus, will play in concert at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 17. Hailed by John Renbourn as “the best Celtic guitarist in the world,” McManus has also been listed as one of the 50 transcendent guitarists of all time by Guitar Player magazine. His music draws on traditions from the entire Celtic world, along with still further-ranging flavors such as jazz and eastern European music. Long applauded for his ability to transpose the delicate, complex ornamentation characteristic of traditional bagpipe or fiddle tunes onto his own six strings, McManus is increasingly acknowledged as a pioneering figure in bridging the realms of Celtic music and other guitar genres. There will be a requested donation of $25 at the door. Reservations are recommended for both shows — email janstrolle@comcast. net.
Recommended: Pete Droge premieres new album
John
(Jacq) Henry
Skeffington (1951-2025)
Pete Droge is a low-key, easy-going guy — Vashon through and through.
He’s a troubadour with a honeyed drawl and a knack for writing songs that feel like old friends, and when he’s joined by the harmonies of his partner in life and music, Elaine Summers, it feels like family.
While so many of their 1990s music contemporaries chose to chase the limelight, Pete and Elaine saw the allure of life on Vashon. As his song “Island” goes, “You never get a better night’s sleep / On an Island / You know still waters run deep / On an Island.”
And here he is — still crafting melodies that ache in all the right places, still making records that matter.
At 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 29, Pete and Elaine will return to the stage at Vashon Center for the Arts, offering fans a rare and intimate opportunity to hear both his classic favorites and a batch
of fresh songs from his forthcoming album, “Fade Away Blue” — his first new studio release in years. 2025 is shaping up to be a busy year for Pete. His breakout 1994 album “Necktie Second,” which introduced the world to his breezy style of heartland rock, will get a deluxe vinyl re-release soon. (Join “Love Songs Etc.” — Pete’s Substack — to keep up with his latest news.) The new record, “Fade Away Blue,” produced by Grammy-winner Paul Bryan — best known for his work with Aimee Mann — is set for release later this year on Puzzle Tree Records and marks a triumphant return to the spotlight for Pete. For fans lucky enough to snag a ticket, this intimate performance on the island Droge calls home will be a homecoming in more ways than one. While the new album will undoubtedly be the night’s centerpiece, longtime fans can also expect a journey through Droge’s back catalog. There’s no way he’ll take the stage without playing
“If You Don’t Love Me…” — the wry, aching single that landed him on movie soundtracks and radio playlists back in the ‘90s. Tracks like “Northern Bound Train” and “So I Am Over You” still carry that same cinematic warmth, and you can bet they’ll make an appearance in the set list.
But the real magic will come from those moments in between — the spaces where Droge lets the songs breathe, shares stories, cracks jokes and reminds the audience why his music still resonates after all these years.
VCA is a fitting place for this show. With its intimate settinganddeepconnection tothelocalartscommunity, itprovidestheperfectbackdrop for a night of storytelling and song. It’s a space where Pete and Elaine can be themselves — no pressure, no pretense, just a couple of great musicians and a whole lot of songs to share. Visit vashoncenterforthearts.org for tickets.
Ian Bell is the marketing director of Vashon Center for the Arts.
Pete Droge will perform with his partner in music and life, Elaine Summers, on March 29, at Vashon Center for the Arts.
Step lively: Vashon Daughter’s Dance
By Erik Steffens For
The Vashon Daughters’ Dance willreturnforits14theditionfrom 5:30-9 p.m. Saturday, April 12 — a nightfilledwithdancing,laughter, andmakingcherishedmemories.
Takingplaceinthegrandatrium of Vashon Center for the Arts, festivitieswillstartwithasumptuous pre-dance meal and dessert, before attendees kick up their heels. The beloved island tradition has now charmed generations of daughters and their chaperones alike.
“I loved seeing the dresses the othergirlswerewearing,thedancinganddessert,”saidCalyxVroom, age10.“I’mlookingforwardtothis year’sdance—andhavingspecial timewithjustmeandmydad.”
“TheDaughter’sDanceishandsdown one of our favorite nights of the year,” said Jamie Lopez, one of the lead organizers this year. “My
something really special for our kids.”
This year’s theme, Do-Si-Do Delight, is Western-inspired and promisesanunforgettableevening ofalltypesofdancing.DaveHarry, one of Washington’s most wellknown line callers since 1968, will lead square and line dancing fun, beforethedanceflooropensupfor dancefavoritesuntil9p.m. Dressisformal,withanoptional western flair. A complimentary professional photo will capture the magic of the evening for all attendees.
This year, tickets are all-inclusive,coveringboththedinnerand dance: $50 per adult, $50 for first daughter, and $25 for each additional daughter. The event often sells out, so get tickets early for a delightful evening of connection, celebration,anddancing. Visit vashoncenterforthearts. org/event/14th-annual-daughter-dance for more information andtickets.
As the bulbs push their way skyward and the first floral fragrances begin to waft, gardeners across our island begin looking forward to the annual Vashon Garden Tour in June — a fundraiser to sustain the nonprofit work of Vashon Center for the Arts as it celebrates the arts on Vashon and cultivates the artists of tomorrow.
While gardeners love to take care of their gardens, this year’s Vashon Garden Tour is all about the ways gardens care for us. In addition to enjoying some of Vashon’s truly wonderful landscaping and horticulture, each garden offers another way to figuratively “stop and smell the flowers.”
Find inner peace on a bench in the pastoral Madrona Meadows; indulge your playful side with some “goofy goats” or a treasure hunt at
BrambleByrne; escape into a Rousseau painting in the garden of Dustin Schulte and Alan Rose; experience the verdant muse of nature photographer Mary Liz Austin; get mindful about stewarding the earth at Littlest Bird Farm; or be inspired to nurture yourself with organics at Aeggy’s Farm.
You can find peace at Madrona Meadows, the idyllic and pastoral property of Sue and Scott DeNies.
There, you’ll peruse an impressive vegetable garden, admire blooming flowerbeds galore and marvel at the detail of a
French country-style postand-beam barn. Take a woodedtrailthroughnative madronas,Douglasfirsand salal, and rest on a quiet bench while soaking in the surroundings — a great bird-watching spot.
Finish up your tour at a serenepondsurroundedby mature forest and plenty of wildlife.
BrambleByrne
A tranquil Cascade mountain pond, tumbling waterfall, and meandering rock river blend with contrasting Salish driftwood and Southwest desert gardens. The park-like setting of Mike and Brigitte Brown’s BrambleByrne was once a cattle and chicken farm and now serves as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit ruminant rescue.
Beginning in 2020, the Browns have transformed pastures into a peaceful retreat, combining native and non-native gardens with whimsical art and Granny’s Attic treasures. Their guests can mingle with a small herd of goofy goats, forage for fruits and vegetables, pick flowers, curl up with a good book, or watch the sunset by the pond. Garden Tour visitors are welcome to play a round of croquet, complete a treasure hunt, or feed the goats.
,
VCA, Windermere and Beth de Groen present the 2025 Vashon Garden Tour
• What: Visit six private gardens across the island during public tours — a chance to inspire your own home and take in local beauty. Browse or purchase garden-themed art at VCA’s special exhibit. Proceeds support VCA’s work to promote art on Vashon and cultivate the artists of tomorrow.
• When: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. on both Saturday, June 21, and Sunday, June 22.
• Where: Ticketholders can check in at Vashon Center for the Arts (19600 Vashon Hwy SW) to receive their Garden Map at the box office.
• How: Get tickets and more information at vashongardentour.org.
Madrona Meadows
By Ian Bell and Allie Maki Maya For Vashon Center for the Arts
COURTESY PHOTO
A tranquil pond, tumbling waterfall, and meandering rock river blend await at BrambleByrne.
COURTESY PHOTO
Find peace at Madrona Meadows, the idyllic and pastoral property of Sue and Scott DeNies, with blooming flowerbeds galore and a serene pond surrounded by mature forest and plenty
wildlife.
Austin’s Garden is a portal to a verdant knoll of bewitching beauty.
Dustin Schulte and Alan Rose
The garden of Alan Rose and Dustin Schulte is a plant collector and garden designer’s garden. Featuring many unusual specimens acquired from specialty nurseries near and far, this 2-acre garden will delight visitors with a broad range of plant textures and colors inspired by the verdant and eclectic landscapes of the Pacific Northwest.
The garden has been a labor of love for Rose and Schulte for the last ten years, with a significant garden expansion and hardscaping improvements completed in 2024. Plants range from rare rhododendrons and ferns to kniphofias and grasses. Together, they have transformed a sunny island property into a lush tapestry and showcase of plants reminiscent of a Rousseau painting.
Mary Liz Austin
Hidden in plain sight on Morgan Hill, Mary Liz
Thoughtful planting combinations include a variety of sun-loving perennials, a mix of grasses, and whimsical garden art. A visit to her garden reveals a window into the heart of a true artist: a creative soul who transforms the ordinary into the exceptional through the alchemy of hard work, imagination and the love of nature.
Littlest Bird Farm
LittlestBirdFarmwasonce the Zarth farm, and Kim Kambak continues to honor this land that was stewarded for millennia by the Coast Salish people. Today, Kim raises poultry, sheep, pork, blueberries, flowers, and vegetables on 5.7 acres. She removes invasive plants and has planted more than 100 native shrubs and bushes.
Integratingvarioustypesof compostspecifictotheplant’s needsispartofthefarmplan. “I hope to move towards the farm becoming a closed loop needing less inputs,” she said. “I hope to leave this soil healthy and productive for future generations.”
Aeggy’s Farm
Aeggy’s Farm is a small, multi-generational family farm with a greenhouse, two cultivated acres of fruit and vegetables, and 120 laying hens who are the secret to the farm’s signature egg sandwichessoldattheSaturday Vashon Farmers Market.
Aeggy’s practices regenerative farming, rotating their chickens so they forage, cultivate, and fertilize the land. This fertile fouracre hillside property is a gardener’s paradise, with raspberries, blueberries,
strawberries, tomatoes, cucumbers, and peas, and of course, beautiful flowers such as dahlias, sunflowers, zinnias, and peonies.
Because Aeggy’s Farm has its own stand, you can take home the flowers you see! You’ll also be able to purchase fresh eggs, produce, and fruit at the
farm stand, and if you come on Sunday, they’ll be cooking up hot prepared dishes straight from the garden.
The Vashon Garden Tour runs June 21–22, from 10 a.m.–5p.m.eachday.Tickets are$36eachandarevalidon
both days, so you can stroll atyourleisure.Findinformation and purchase tickets at vashongardentour.org.
Allie Maki Maya is VCA’s development director. Ian Bell is VCA’s marketing director.
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Aeggy’s Farm is a gardener’s paradise with 120 laying hens.
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Littlest Bird Farm features poultry, sheep, pork, blueberries, flowers, and vegetables on 5.7 acres.
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The garden of Alan Rose and Dustin Schulte is a plant collector’s and garden designer’s paradise.
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Mary Liz Austin’s summer perennial garden is a portal to a verdant knoll of bewitching beauty.
Garden Club gives awards to color-bursting gardens
By Mary Alice Sanguinetti
Say hello to your 2024 Vashon-Maury Island Garden Club award winners.
Each year, the Garden Clubholdsanawardsevent toacknowledgenon-garden clubhomeownersandbusinesses who have enhanced the natural beauty of the islandbycreatingoutstanding or unusual gardens.
A committee of Garden Clubmembersselectsthree to four gardens of islanders who do not belong to the Garden Club in recognition of outstanding horticulture practices. These gardenownersarehonored atourannualawardsevent, and a certificate is awarded for each garden, along with video and poster presentations.
This fun, social event is an opportunity for Garden Club members and their gueststoappreciatedistinctivegardensandcreatenew friendships.
Thesefourislandgardens were celebrated at our November 2024 awards banquet.
Janis and Greg McElroy
Fiftyyearsago,whenGreg and Janis McElroy moved into their Paradise Valley
home,therewereonlysome clumps of peonies in the garden.
Today, from the busy road, you might notice only anorchardandsomerhododendrons in the lawn in frontofthisgrayhouse.
However, there is far more. Behind the house there a broad lawn, interesting outbuildings including Greg’s pottery studio, and two fenced gardens — one for vegetables and one for flowers. Near a fire pit, a sandbox with a toy truck awaitsagrandchild’svisits.
Inside the fenced flower garden, we find hydrangeas, columbine and a tree peony. In one corner is a climbingrose,whileanother has a honeysuckle. Janis particularly likes zinnias,
which bloom in colorful sweeps during the summer. This is a garden in which to linger and enjoy a summer afternoon.
Susan Boyle and Scott Fife
When Susan Boyle and Scott bought their Dockton houseintheearly2010s,the garden contained cardoons and a persimmon tree. The persimmon tree is a Fuyu, or sweet persimmon, which can be eaten while it is still firm. There was also a pasture full of blackberries where deer had made tunnels through the blackberrycane.
Today the blackberries have been replaced with an orchard containing pears,
apples, and a plum tree. In March, daffodils line the driveway, which passes the fenced garden and goes up to Scott’s studio. The cardoons, along the west side of the house, grew as high as the second story one year. Now they are part of a fenced garden which contains hollyhocks, roses andmore.
In the back, painted owls overlook a porch where gnarledbranchesgracefully ornamenttherailingandred floweringcurrantflowers.
Wendell Bowerman
A compact, tiled lawn edged with blue hyacinths and forget-me-nots welcomes March visitors toWendell’scentralVashon garden. In May, elegant blue and white iris with ruffled petals, and deep red snapdragons replace the earlier blooming bulbs. Stepping down and proceeding around the
side of the house, we come to a generous greenhouse, an ancient Italian plum with tulips underneath, and a fenced garden where there are raised beds for broccolini, asparagus, kale and other vegetables. Nearbyrosesaddcolorand interest.
By the back porch is a profusion of calla lilies with a small, S-shaped true cedar with blues-tinted needles.Anexpansivelawn slopes down to a fence. Beyond the fence we see blackandwhitesheepgrazing peacefully. It’s a perfect setting for a garden party.
Cheryl Lubbert
At Nashi Orchards, near Frog Holler Forest, rows of pear trees are crowned by an elegant and tasteful garden. Here, welltrimmed hedges enclose the garden rooms and cultivated beds edge the forest beyond.
Passing through a gate to the left of the owner’s house, we come to an expansive lawn with a greenhouse and nursery beds on one side and flowering trees and shrubs on the other. Expansive lawns and colorful flower beds lead to the forest and pond beyond. The greenhouse contains a collection of succulents and various citrus trees, including lemons, finger limes, grapefruit, and tangerines. Outside the greenhouse, the heather has been trimmed to form graceful curving mounds, reminiscent of rolling hills. In late April, a filigree crab apple spreads its snowy branches, setting off the wisteria arbors and rhododendrons. The garden is punctuated with art. Mary Alice Sanguinetti is a Garden Club member who serves on the awards committee.
For Vashon-Maury Island Garden Club
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Janis & Greg McElroy’s home
gardens
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At Susan Boyle and Scott Fife’s home, daffodils line the driveway, which passes the fenced garden and goes up to Scott’s studio.
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At Nashi Orchards, rows of pear trees are crowned by an elegant and tasteful garden.
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A compact, tiled lawn edged with blue hyacinths and forgetme-nots welcomes March visitors to Wendell Bowerman’s central Vashon garden.
Find a start and plant a seed at Garden Club plant sale
By Trudy Rosemarin and Mem Rippey For The Beachcomber
You know it’s time to get serious about your garden when the annual Garden Club Plant Sale comes around.
TheplantsaleistheGarden Club’sbigandonlyfundraiser — last year, it netted $13,000 dollars, helping to fund club operations and programs including rent, insurance, fees for monthly speakers, the club’s website, and more. A lot of the income goes directly back into the Vashon community, too.
Through the Helen Puz Horticulture Grants, the Garden Club supports the robust agriculture and horticulture programs within Vashon’s public and private schools by contributing to structures, planting supplies and educational materials — solicitingproposalsfromlocal elementary, middle and high school teachers and staff for gardeningrelatededucational projects.Inrecognitionofher many years of tremendous dedication to the Garden Club, these awards are given in the name of Helen Puz.
The Garden Club awards three Kay White scholarships — named for the generous namesake of the beautiful performance hall in Vashon Center for the Arts VCA and a great contributor to the Garden Club and Vashon gardens — to graduating Vashon High School students, based on the student’s commitment to the study of horticulture, botany, environmentalscience,landscapearchitectureorforestry.
Funds for the Kay White scholarship are awarded throughtheVashonCommunityScholarshipFoundation. Garden Club members are encouraged to attend the scholarshipawardsceremony as it means so much to the recipients.
The Garden Club also helped Vashon Island Grower’s Association last year with a $1000 donation. Where do the plants we sell come from? The dedicated greenhouse crew, led by Karen Dale, starts working in one of the Matsuda greenhouses — thank you, Vashon-Maury Island Land Trust! — in mid-February, sowingvegetableandannual flower seeds. A work party of GardenClubmembersmeets weekly to continue sowing, transplanting and babying thelittle,allorganically-grown plants, hoping for no freezes orheatwaves.AsetofGarden Clubwater-witcheswatersthe plants daily.
The dig and divide crew,
Here’s what one recipient said in a thank you letter: “I have been gardening since I was little, digging in the gardenwithmyGrandpaJack. The money kindly awarded will help me pursue a career inenvironmentalscienceand conservation, where I will try my hardest to preserve our beautiful earth.”
ledbyJessicaScruggs,sources plants from beautiful island gardens, such as Whit and Mary Carhart’s. A Garden Clubcrewthenmeetsweekly atMatsudaandpotsupthese plants into 4-to-5 inch gallon pots, waters them as needed, weeds and primps them so that they look enticing to the customer.
Then there are the Dirty Dozen. Each Garden Club memberissupposedtobring 12 plants from their garden to the plant sale. The Garden Club has currently 140 members, so that’s a whole lot of plants.
Themostcommonlyasked question at the plant sale is: “What will the deer not eat?”
We are happy to lead customers to deer resistant plants. But let’s be clear, we live in Bambi Land, and the only true deer barrier is a fence. But we can lead you to deer resistant plants, shade plants, trees, vegetables, tomatoes galore, plants you haveneverheardofandmust
have — each and all grown with love and sold at incredibly reasonable prices.
For the second year in a row, we are holding a Friday night preview party with wine,goodiesandlivemusic. For$20atthedoor,you’llalso get a $5 coupon to use at the Saturdaysale.You’llbeableto browse,schmooze,drinkand setasidethreeplantstobuyat thesale.Itwasatonoffunlast year,andthisyearwillbeeven bigger and better.
We are incredibly thankful to Island Lumber for letting
us use their parking lot and for providing their tents and tables,againallfreeofcharge. Theirnurseryisholdingasale duringourPlantSale:20%off on amazing Beringer Farm fruit trees, colorful ceramic potteryaswellasbaggedsoil. Whenyouaredoneshopping theplantsale,pleasegoinside Island Lumber and support the store. We could not do it without their help.
TrudyRosemarinandMem Rippey are Vashon-Maury IslandGardenClubplantsale co-chairs.
2025 Garden Club Plant Sale
9 a.m.-12 p.m., Saturday April 26
Island Lumber Parking Lot (Sneak Peak: 5-6:30 p.m., Friday, April 24)
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Plant Sale shoppers enjoy the Garden Club event at a previous plant sale.
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Plants from the Matsuda greenhouse in 2025.
By Leslie Brown For The Beachcomber
On a gray day last month, a crew from Washington Conservation Corps worked the loamy soil at Jane Slade’s property on inner Quartermaster Harbor, carefully placing tall Oregon grape, native mock orange and tufted hairgrass into the fresh dirt.
Along the upper reaches of the beach, they had already installed several other native plants: Puget Sound gumweed, Douglas asters and coastal strawberry. Coconut-fiber logs now provide temporary erosion control. A path wends through this new native garden, replacing the rickety steps that used to lead to the beach.
Slade smiled as she watched the crew work.
“Isn’t it pretty?” she asked.
Slade’s property has undergone a transformation, thanks to a grant from Shore Friendly King County. Gone is a rough swath of non-native plants that acted as a kind of bulkhead, a carpet of turf grass that created what she called “a bowling alley” towards the beach, and construction debris left behind by a previous owner.
In their place is a native landscape that sweeps gently to the water, providing habitat for birds and small mammals and a shoreline ecosystem that supports surf smelt, sand lance, herring and other
forage fish. Those small fish feed salmon, which in turn support Puget Sound’s resident orca whales.
“We’ve created a smooth transition from the land to the beach,” said Amy Cirio, education and restoration specialist for the Mid Sound Fisheries Enhancement Group, pausing from her work filming the installation project. “A natural grade … breaks up the wave energy. Native plants have deep roots that limit erosion. They attract insects that fall into the water and feed fish.”
Already, Slade said, she’s seeing more birds on her small patch of waterfront. She and her husband, Max
Slade, have lived in a house across the street for 15 years but rarely spent time on their lot along the harbor. “Now, I feel drawn out here,” she said. “It’s become a destination.”
Shore Friendly is a program under the Puget Sound Nearshore Ecosystem Recovery Project, which is run by the state Department of Fish and Wildlife and the state’s Estuary and Salmon Recovery Program. Other Puget Sound counties have similar programs — in King County, the partnership includes the Mid Sound Fisheries Enhancement Group, the King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks and King Conservation District.
The goal is to work with individual landowners to address one of the most significant harms to the sound’s ecological health: armored shorelines that destroy spawning habitat for forage fish, the basis of the Puget Sound food chain.
More than a third of Puget Sound’s shoreline is hardened by impermeable bulkheads that disrupt a suite of important ecological processes, according to the Estuary and Salmon Restoration Program. Bulkheads are often made from logs covered in creosote, which leaches into the salt water, harming fish. The bulkheads themselves shorten the beach, interrupting the natural drifting of sand and sediments and causing high-energy waves that scour the beach.
If there’s enough sand with the right kinds of beach gravel, juvenile forage fish will spawn, said Antonia Jindrich, co-executive
director of Mid Sound Fisheries Enhancement Group. “If the bulkhead is cutting that beach off, there’s no place for them to spawn.”
Marine scientists have studied the impact of bulkhead removal and found well-documented differences, she added. “Salmon usage is much greater around beaches without bulkheads.”
Slade, whose property is the first on Vashon to be restored by Shore Friendly King County, learned about the program six years ago when she went to a workshop for waterfront property owners interested in how to care for their land. There, she learned that she could have a couple of people come out to her property and draw up a landscaping plan using native plants. She was unhappy with the suburban look of her land, so she agreed. What she didn’t realize is that the program was also looking for something bigger — the opportunity, where appropriate, to offer a wholesale restoration program in order to improve the nearshore ecosystem. “They found such an opportunity on my property,” she said.
Negotiations began. Shore Friendly staff asked her what she wanted on her property. “I told them I wanted an easier way down to the beach,” she said. And they told her what
they wanted — regrading her land to remove the bulkhead-like bank above the beach and the installation of hundreds of native plants that she would need to keep in place for many years. They determined a cost-share — the program would pay for the bulk of the costs — and in 2019, she and her husband signed an agreement.
Slade assumed the work would begin quickly, but then the COVID pandemic hit, followed by staff changes at some of the partner agencies. On top of that were permitting challenges. Because the project entailed moving earth on waterfront property, a number of permits — issued by agencies at all levels of government — were required. Most were issued quickly, except the one she needed from King County.
“As we all know, permitting takes a long time around here, and this was no exception,” she said.
Infact,Sladesaid,itbegan to look like she wouldn’t make it: She had to get the project done by Feb. 15 of this year or she’d lose her funding. After a few strategic calls to people high up in King County, she finally got approved in January, and the crew jumped into action. “Everyone turned on a freaking dime,” she said. She hired her own landscape architect, David
Berleth, who used the plants chosen by the project to create a design Slade found attractive — lowgrowing wildflowers would be used to create a meadow in the middle, taller ones would be placed along the sides, providing some privacy. He also designed a gently curving path to the beach to replace her slippery steps. Other work — covered by the cost-share — included grading the land (done by Greentree Dozing, a Vashon company), removing invasive plants and construction debris, adding compost and woodchips and planting a total of 370 native shrubs, grasses and wildflowers. The results are significant, she said. “It’s gorgeous. I feel super grateful.” The process was a bit like childbirth, she said — a hard labor, “but now I’m holding my pretty baby.”
Those involved in the project are also pleased by the results. Jindrich, with Mid Sound Fisheries Enhancement Group, recently toured the property and was struck by what she saw as the obvious benefits. It’s a classic winwin, she said — great for the Slades but also for the environment.
“I’m excited to see how it looks in a couple of years,” she said.
Leslie Brown is a former editor of The Beachcomber.
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David Berleth, a landscape architect, places native grasses along the slope at the Slades’ property.
LESLIE BROWN PHOTO Jane Slade is pleased with her property’s transformation. Behind her, a Washington Conservation Corps crew installs native plants. All told, 370 native shrubs, grasses and wildflowers were planted.
By Jim Evans For the Washington Native Plant Society
Native plants are the foundations of our ecosystems, critical to all that we love about our region.
They’re intimately woven into a network of relationships — between plants and insects, insects and birds, forests and fish, and much more — playing key roles in food webs of complex interdependency. They’re at the heart of our region’s biodiversity, supporting processes criticaltohealthyecosystems and to our own health and well-being.
But these ecosystems and the biodiversity they support are in trouble.
Because of cumulative habitat loss, the spread of invasive species, climate change and other factors, both the numbers and diversity of insects, songbirds, amphibians, mammals and moreareexperiencingalarmingdeclineshereintheNorthwest and around the world.
It doesn’t have to be this way. We can help reverse these trends by promoting native plants in landscapes large and small. And to rise to this challenge, we must not only fully appreciate the foundational role that native plantsplayinourecosystems and how they can help heal damaged habitats, but also understand what a genuine native plant is. We need to understand that introduced species and cultivars are not the ecological equivalents of native plants.
Some in the gardening community have suggested that a definition of a native plant is a social construct, not a scientific one, and that gardeners can define for themselves what is native based on a loose set of criteria, including aesthetics and personalpreference.Butsuch interpretationsignoreagrowingbodyofscientificevidence regarding the co-evolved
The value of truly native plants
relationships of native plants with other organisms in our ecosystems and how that co-evolution has created the distinctivebiologicalcommunities we see in the Pacific Northwest today.
Gardeners can, of course, select whatever plants they want in their home gardens or landscapes. But there is ample evidence that those of us who care about biodiversity and ecosystem health — indeed, the health of the planet — should favor bona fide native species as much as possible in our home landscapes.
Thespeciesthatwerepresent in the Pacific Northwest before the arrival of Europeans evolved and developed complex,oftenhighlyspecialized ecological relationships withtherestoftheorganisms in their ecosystems.
Understood from this perspective, a species’ “nativeness” is a vital factor in ecological relationships that can make the difference between life and death, successful reproduction or the winking out of local populations. They are not interchangeable with species that have not formed these relationships.
Mounting scientific evidenceindicatesthatnative plants provide a far more complete set of vital services to our ecosystems than nonnative plants. This is partly because they provide critical pollinator resources to insects, which in turn pollinate our gardens and fruit trees, feed our wild birds, recycle nutrients and more. But native plants do more than that: They also are hosts for insects in their larval stages, essentially helping to birth our insects. Though not common here, Monarch butterflies, as many people know, would perish without themilkweedhostplantstheir caterpillarsrequire.Thesame is true for most of our local species of butterflies, moths, beetlesandotherherbivorous
insects—withoutthespecific native plants they require for their eggs and feeding larvae, theirpopulationswilldecline and disappear.
And our native insects are critical. As the great entomologist E.O. Wilson said, they’re “the little things that runtheworld”—vitalprocessors and conveyors of energy in complex food webs, the strands of which we barely fathom but which are fundamental to the health of our ecosystems and our own survival.
Because of insects’ irreplaceable roles in these food webs, the presence or absence of appropriate, co-evolved native host plants and their impacts on insect populations ramify throughouttherestoftheecosystems, most notably affecting populationsofsongbirdsandsmall mammals.
While the plights of salmon and orcas are well known to most Northwesterners, far fewer of us are aware that insects are exhibiting large-scale population declines. Leading entomologists consider habitat loss and alteration, including the
increasing dominance of non-native plant species in our landscapes, among the factors contributing to these declines.
In response, the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation and respected wildlife conservation organizations recommend increasingnativeplantspeciesinour gardens and managed landscapes as a key strategy for supportingthesepopulations. Non-nativeplantshavenot been around long enough
to have formed the kinds of specialized relationships that native plants have developed with their ecosystem neighbors over thousands of years. This can be true even for cultivars derived from native species, sometimes referredtoas“nativars.”Selective breeding for traits that are attractive to people can result in unintended genetic changes that make nativars unattractive, unpalatable, indigestible or otherwise inappropriatehostsfornative
insects and their larvae. If specialized insects can’t find the host plants and other resources they need, they’ll disappear from those portions of the landscape. If songbirds can’t find the large numbers of caterpillars and other insects they must have to feed their nestlings, that next generation will fail and local populations will wink out. And when similar problems are occurring across large areas, the chances of population replenishment fromnearbyhabitatsbecome less and less likely. There is no call to remove allnon-nativeplantsfromour gardens and managed landscapes (unless the species are invasive in natural areas). However,ourneighborhoods and urban parks are typically alreadysodominatedbynonnative plants and cultivars that it is vital for new plantingstobebonafide,wildtype natives.
Nomatterhowweperceive our gardens and home landscapes, they’re not static displays — they’re part of the surrounding ecosystem. As stewards of our ecosystems, we have compelling reasons to select wild type native plants for our gardens and landscapes as much as for our natural areas. Indeed, we have an opportunity to make ourhomelandscapesalliesin the effort to support complex food webs, biodiversity and ecological resilience in the decades ahead.
As Kristin Currin and Andrew Merritt write in The Pacific Northwest Native Plant Primer: “To cultivate a landscape that adds to the local ecology rather than diminishesit,nativeplantsare the way to grow the future.” JimEvansisanislandrestoration ecologist and educator who serves on the board of the Vashon Bird Alliance. A versionofthisarticleappeared in the spring 2024 issue of Douglasia, the Journal of the Washington Native Plant Society.
JIM EVANS PHOTO
A swallowtail nectars on an orange honeysuckle, a native plant.
JIM EVANS PHOTO
A woodland skipper nectars on pearly everlasting, a native plant.
Restoring native habitat is an island-wide effort
By Mari Kanagy For The Beachcomber
At Heron Meadow, islanders are pulling weeds, laying mulch, and planting native species.
Restoration of this twoacre wetland just east of the Vashon Center for the Arts is part of an island-wide push to restore native habitats, uprootingoneinvasiveplant at a time.
The meadow is stewarded by the Vashon Nature Center, whose restoration efforts are mirrored by groups such as the VashonMaury Island Land Trust, Vashon Park District and King County Conservation District. But it’s also a task any islander can take on in their own backyard.
High school senior Del Little-Lawing remembers when Heron Meadow was just a dense thicket of blackberries three years ago, when they first joined the restoration effort.
“It’s just really nice to see a meadow, and not just a forest of blackberries,” they said.
Little-Lawing volunteered at the March 21 work party, laying mulch and planting native Douglas’ spirea. Three years back, Little-Lawing cut down invasive blackberry bushes and covered the area with tarp to smother them and other stubborn invasive plants. (While
Himalayan blackberries are invasive and omnipresent in the Pacific Northwest, native and delicious trailing blackberries can also be found in the wild.)
Along with blackberries, the meadow was overrun with stretches of reed canary grass and five-foot sticky weed, strong enough to drag down young trees.
Adria Magrath, the
spot native and invasive species. Magrath says many attendees are homeowners looking for guidance on managing their property.
Heron Meadow steward for the Vashon Nature Center, leads much of this restoration work. She can be found at the meadow twice a week, often fielding questions about native plant restoration from curious passersby.
Heron Meadow is now a feature on the VCA’s annual garden tour, a stop where visitors learn to
One technique Magrath recommends for cutting back invasive plants is sheet mulching: laying down cardboard and topping it with wood chip mulch. This method keeps invasive plants from resurfacing while improving the health of the soil for planting native species.
“When you restore a place with native plants, sheet mulching is probably the best, easiest method,” Magrath said. “Otherwise it’s just too much labor to try to manage all of the vegetation, all of the weeds.”
Magrath says that sheet mulch laid down in August will decompose into a
healthy garden base by April.
To be classified as invasive, a plant must originate elsewhere, but also be capable of outcompeting against native species.
Lemon balm, for instance, might take over a cultivated garden but won’t overtake natural habitat — making it non-invasive in ecological terms. Himalayan blackberries, on the other hand, can overrun gardens and forests alike, making the species damaging for a thriving native plant population.
Cultivating Heron Meadow has made LittleLawing understand and appreciate native plants even more. Two of their favorites are the salmonberries and huckleberries they can forage on a walk.
For those new to
cultivating native plants, Magrath suggests first getting to know what’s already growing in the yard: identify what species are prevalent and how they change with the seasons. Washington state law requires landowners to eradicate some noxious weeds on their property to prevent them from spreading. King County’s Noxious Weed Control Program classifies the list of species by potential to spread and displace native plants. Though not on the Class A list, some common invasive species include green alkanet, Himalayan blackberries, bindweed, tansy and buttercup.
Magrath emphasizes that managing most invasive species isn’t about eliminating them entirely. She leaves some green alkanet in her garden, as it adds to her garden’s diversity and attracts bees, she has noticed. Since it can easily take over, she weeds it back once a year or cuts it before it goes to seed, allowing it to have some space, but not take over.
“It’s about allowing other things space to thrive,” Magrath said. “I’m never going to eradicate the invasives. It would be unrealistic for me to think that I could do that entirely.”
MariKanagyisacontributing journalist to The Beachcomber.
MARI KANAGY PHOTO
Maverick Wilkes, 11, holds a patch from the Nature Center after helping at the March 21 Heron Meadow work party.
BIANCA PERLA PHOTO
Del Little-Lawing loads wood chip mulch.
Resources and tips for beautiful homes and gardens
By Alex Bruell editor@vashonbeachcomber. com
From septic systems to shorelines and gardens, islanders have lots of resources available to learn aboutandimprovetheirstewardship of their homes and properties — and many of thoseresourcesaretaxpayerfunded.Putyourlocalgovernment to good use, learn something new and connect withyourneighborsbytaking advantage of these classes, workshopsandtrainings.
Septic Workshops
Want to learn more about your septic system, how to maintain it or address other problems? Join Vashon Team Septic’s upcoming workshop from 5:30 - 7:30 p.m. on Zoom, April 1. The event is free. Register at vashonteamseptic.org.
Learn about regenerative food
“Regenerative” is the new buzzword in the farming world, but it’s an important concept that refers to feeding people without treating the Earth as just a
thing from which to extract resources. An eight-week online course, starting April 1, is available at foodsovereignty4everyone.org/ regen-continued.
Gardening mixer
Meet and learn from other gardeners and farmers at the King Conservation District’s Zoom Garden Mixer, from 7-8 p.m. on April 3. It’s an opportunity to share questions, challenges and ideas with other growers in the area. Visit kingcd.org/eventbrite-event/kcd-zoomgarden-mixer-april-3.
Plant sale at Village Green
Join island gardening experts Diane Emerson and Michael Laurie from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on April 5 for a plant sale at Village Green, where you’ll find native plants and medicinal and culinaryherbs.Watchforthe red and white signs that say “Plant Sale Today.”
Beginner beekeeping class
Learn about managing a bee colony with this
$65 class taught by Cornell UniversityMasterBeekeeper DawnBeck,from8a.m.to12 p.m. on both Saturday, April 5 and the following Sunday.
Garden Savvy classes
This series of six classes on gardening from April 12 to June 7 will be held over Zoom, covering topics like gardening with children and pollinators.
The classes, part of “Series 2” in the Garden Savvy program, run on specific Saturdays from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. If you can’t make a class, recordings are sent to participants afterward.
Registration is now open: Visit kingcounty.mastergardenerfoundation.org/ education/pnw-gardensavvy. The fee per class is $8, but you may be able to receive a tuition fee waiver.
Forest stewardship course
Owners of wooded property on Vashon can learn to better care for their trees by taking Washington State University Extension’s Forest Stewardship Coached Planning course.
It will be held Monday evenings from April 14 through June 16 at the Land Trust building. The course is open to property owners of all skill levels with properties of any size. Participants will learn how to identify and assess their trees, avoid insect and disease problems, help their forests be resilient to climate stressors, attract wildlife, reduce wildfire risk around homes improve aesthetics, and more. They’ll also learn to develop their own forest stewardship plans to qualify their properties for recognition as stewardship forests, which may help otherwise qualifying landowners enroll in conservation cost-share grant programs or property tax reductions. Each participant will receive a private consultation site visit to their property by a stewardship forester and/or wildlife
biologist. The all-inclusive course fee is $175. Pre-registration is required, and space is limited. The registration deadline is April 9. To register or learn more, visit forestry.wsu.edu/nps/ events/cpvashon or contact WSU Extension Forestry, 425-738-0103. Reasonable accommodations will be made for persons with disabilities and special needs, who should contact Sarah Stewart at 425-738-0103 or sarah.stewart1@wsu.edu prior to the event.
VIGA Farmers Market
The island’s Farmers Market runs from 10 a.m.
to 3 p.m. on Saturdays from May 3 to September 27 this year at the Village Green, located at 17519 Vashon Highway SW. Visit for fresh produce, starts and seeds, and conversation with other island growers.
ADU Workshop
Own property and interested in building or converting a space for family or visiting guests, or for bringing in renters? Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) are a great option to maintain the rural character of your property while doing your part to put a dent in Vashon’s housing crisis.
ENERGY EFFICIENCY TIPS
Improve your home, save some cash and protect the environment with these home energy efficiency ideas from Puget Sound Energy.
• Grab the low hanging fruit: Keep windows locked and check for cracks in the window frames where caulking could keep cold air from seeping in. Lower your thermostat from your comfortable temperature when you’re asleep or out of the house. Change the filter in your furnace frequently. Wash clothes in cold water — heating water can account for 12% of an energy bill.
• Improving home insulation by sealing leaks and seams means you’ll spend less money on heating and cooling. PSE offers a bonus rebate up to $500 for those who combine multiple weatherization rebates in one project.
• You can earn a rebate on various efficient home heating technology from PSE by visiting pse.com/ rebates. They include a $75 (or more) rebate for an Energy Star frontloading clothes washer and $200 (or more) for a heat pump clothes dryer. PSE also offers a $500 discount on select electric hybrid heat pump water heaters.
• PSE’s new “Multi-Occupant Solar” program incentivizes property owners to install solar arrays that help multiple occupants. Learn more at pse. com/en/green-options/multi-occupant-solar.
• PSE offers other options for improving energy usage and lowering bills at pse.com/lower.
COURTESY PHOTO
The Vashon Septic Sisters, from left to right: Anne Atwell, Stephanie Begley, Jane Slade and Dione Mazzolini.
The Affordable Housing Committee of the Vashon-Maury Community Council will hold an ADU workshop from 1-4 p.m. on Saturday, May 3 at the Vashon High School cafeteria.
The workshop will cover the basics of ADUs and connect participants to planners and permit specialists from King County, financial institution representatives, ADU contractors, and information on septic regulations and water districts / wells.
Marine property class
The King Conservation District will host a free classes for property owners along the marine shorelinesofKingCounty, discussing the ecological,geologicalandvegetation management issues associated with owning property “where the water begins.” The class will address concerns like erosion and maintaining vegetation to stabilizing slopes without sacrificing a nice view.
The class is from 9 a.m. to3p.m.onSaturday,May 17 at Camp Sealth (14500 SW Camp Sealth Road.)
Meet Ciscoe Morris
Oh, La La! The Vashon Maury Garden Club is bringing Ciscoe Morris to Vashon Theater this August. Ciscoe is a well known personality in the PacificNorthwest,featured regularly on King5 and New Day Northwest. On average, he gives more than 50 garden presentations every year. Stay tuned for more details.
Soil testing program
Maury islanders who live in the shadow of the ASARCOsmelterplume,in particular,willbenefitfrom taking King Conservation
District’s free soil testing program, available at
kingcd.org/programs/ better-soils/healthy-soil
Equipment loans
Reserve a piece of King Conservation District equipment by visiting kingcd.org/programs/ better-food/equipmentshare-program.
Shore consultation
If you own shoreline property, you can reach out to Shore Friendly King County for a consultation on managing erosion on your property without the need for ecological disruptive bulkhead armoring. Learn more at shorefriendlykingcounty. org.
Helpful organizations
These island (and a few non-island) organizations can connect you to other localswhoareinterestedin buildingandgrowingbeautifulhomesandgardens.
• Vashon-Maury Island GardenClub:vmigc.org
•VashonIslandGrowers Association: vigavashon. org • King Conservation District:kingcd.org
• Vashon Team Septic / SepticSisters:vashonteamseptic.org
