I got a great conversation here now with a couple of wonderful folks from the WSU Extension Office. You know, Tessa, we've talked over the last few months about different projects going on that they are spearheading, but I also want to bring in to today's conversation Kayla Wells-Yoakum. Kayla, how are you? Thank you for being on with me.

Hi, Jeff. I'm doing well. Thank you for having me.

So this is a cool thing that you have coming up here on June 5th at Sacred Waters Center for Restoration and Retreat in Union. And you may be saying, Jeff, where is that? Well, it's the former, it's the location of Harmony Hill. Harmony Hill has a new name there in that area.

It's the Sacred Waters Center for Restoration and Retreat. This program through the day on June 5th is Sound to Sea, working together to build resilient coastal communities. And it's put on in part by Ecology, Sea Grant Washington, Emergency Management for the State, and the Extension Office. 

And I think, Kayla, before we get too far into this, it's also sponsored by COHORT, which stands for the Coastal Hazards Organizational Resilience Team. And in my mind, when I think about this, for whatever reason, my mind goes right to the coast, like the Pacific Ocean and the coast and the communities there. But we have just as much need and potential impact here along Highway 106 in Union. 

So talk to me about how COHORT comes inland, I guess, in a sense. Yeah, thanks, Jeff. So the COHORT is an interagency team made up of Washington State Emergency Management, Washington Sea Grant, Washington State University, and the Washington Department of Ecology, funded through Ecology using dollars from the Climate Commitment Act, the CCA. 

And the act included all 15 coastal and Puget Sound counties. And so we all know, as residents of Washington, that our seawaters don't just stop at the coast. They come inland, they go into rivers. 

So any type of resiliency management that residents and homeowners can do adjacent to water will have a direct impact on the health of our coastal waters. And we've seen, too, in not only Washington, but across the coastal cities and communities across the nation, some of the impacts of climate change in increasing the levels there or allowing the swells to get up and into different parts of communities where 20, 30 years ago, you might not have seen any sort of water influx. Even, too, with some of the king tides and the major storms that we have, I've seen photos across from Tawano and Union and the Union, the Hood Canal Marina, things like that, where the water has really impacted certain aspects of the area already. 

So, Tessa, this looks like a way that folks can learn a little bit more about helping not only to improve water quality, but something you and I kind of talked about last time we were together, in a sense, was storm and rain gardens and how that helps to soak the water in in major rain events. And then also, if you're driving along 106, especially not on the water side, but on the land side, you see many slopes there, which the erosion from the water and the rain and those can make major impacts as well. So, talk to me a little bit about some of the workshopping that's going to happen during this.

Yeah. So, as a group, we really brainstormed that we wanted to have very hands-on, practical workshops for people. We want people to come and come away feeling like they learned new skills that they can implement in their yards. 

And so, we're focusing on a few different kind of general topics that are on the flyer. And so, yeah, some of those things we're going to have a couple of my wonderful master gardeners who have years of experience with native plants and restoration work do an activity on planting for slope health and resilience. We are going to have someone come and talk about biochar, which is a really cool way that people can help capture and retain more water in their soil and in their garden and retain more nutrients.

And then have some talks themed around improving water quality for homeowners so that they know some steps they can take similar like we talked about with the septic workshops. Yeah. Steps you can take to keep both your home environment and your extended environment safe.

So, overall, when we're trying to look ahead and kind of, I guess, future-proof some of the areas that people spend so much time not only living but recreating and visiting around the canal, especially. Explain to me a little bit, Kayla, how the cohort talks about this in future tents and what are some additional things that are on the radar that are going to be talked about during the Sound to Sea? Well, what we talk about is that making small changes now can lead to larger changes and very impactful changes in the future. So, the reality is like we can't just think in the now. 

Lives continue. We have generations to plan for. And if we don't start making some small changes, we'll have to make bigger changes down the road that will be a lot more difficult to make. 

And so, if we can start getting into better habits, we as human beings, right? If we can start getting into better habits that have an immediate small impact, then they will continue to have a longer term larger impact as the world turns and as generations come and go. I did not catch your second question. No, that's a great one. 

And we can kind of just talk a little bit about that. When I think about what you're saying there, it reminds me a lot of kind of the initial thoughts and pushes towards people starting to recycle, right? So, when it first started, it was a new concept for many, and the benefits would not be seen for a while. But now we're generations into this idea of recycling. 

And for the younger generations, the second, third, fourth generations, it's now become part of the process. It's just part of, well, I got my garbage can, I got my recycling can, and I got my glass bin or whatever. And so, when you, as this current generation is stewarding the future, I would say, showing and having these small changes, and maybe you can provide just a couple for me here on what's one thing to, before you do A, think about doing B, and that can lead us to a better, kind of a different path, choose your own adventure kind of style. 

Well, so let's think about the water quality workshop that will be happening at the event. And the reality is that for homeowners, what we put down the drain or what we leave out in our yards that can be collect rainwater, all of that has to be flushed someplace, right? It goes someplace, and that someplace affects the streams, then affects rivers, then affects our ocean water, which also affects the animals, the marine life that live in the waters. And for those of us who consume, who eat seafood, there can be an effect there for our health and safety as well. 

So, I mean, I just went really small picture of what's in our wastewater, what's in our drain water to big picture of what do we eat. And I think that everybody could jump on the train of healthy food and healthy bodies. So, you know, just thinking twice about what goes down the drain can have a long-term impact on the health of our marine life. 

And it's kind of, Tessa, a way too, as you think of downstream changes, generational changes, I'm having flashbacks of conversations I've had with the Master Gardeners and with the Salmon Center on their efforts up tributaries and upstreams, talking with farmers about how they work to mitigate where their livestock graze and pasture and spend time because their impacts upstream eventually, you know, make it all the way downstream and impact a lot of the different positive things that we do in our community, including, you know, shellfishing and swimming and recreating and things like that. Yeah. And I think a big part of that is being aware and educated of not just how you're your animals, but also like Kayla was saying, those small applications are, she said, what goes down the drain, but also what are you putting on your lawn? What just being aware that the fertilizers, the pesticides, any other additives that you put to care for your garden, to care for your lawn, to care for your animals, anything like that.

They don't necessarily just stop in your yard. That's not where they're ending up. And so being conscious of not just what you're using, but how much you're applying, when you're applying and making sure you're doing it in a way that does protect all of our other resources as much as possible. 

This is going to be a big day of workshopping and communicating on things that are ways to help build our area and the outlying communities as well for generations to come. Pre-registration is encouraged by the 28th of May, and I'll put the links to where you can go to do this. You can also find more information as well. 

We'll put the links to that. Sound to Sea, working together to build resilient coastal communities, sponsored by Cohort, which we talked about a little bit as the Coastal Hazards Organizational Resilience Team. It's a bunch of state agencies that are getting together to talk about this. 

Some of the topics, gardening and planting for slopes, which will in turn help with erosion, healthy, and resilience when it comes to native plants. And the other thing is, as I've talked with the gardeners over the years, is how native plants are native. They're built for this. 

They're built for our environment, and they're built for the environment that is changing. Whereas a lot of times, you know, 10, 15 years ago, the conversations were, well, let's import all these beautiful plants from across the country or across the world. And, you know, they don't take or they become invasive, but you really can get beautiful yards if that's what you're going for when it comes to this with native plants. 

And that helps build up a strong soil base and helps with the erosion there. Water quality, which is something Tessa and I have talked about a few times, and there are more septic workshops coming throughout the rest of the summer that we'll get involved in. But the event itself is June 5th from 9 to 3. It's at the old Harmony Hill, but it's called now the Sacred Waters Center for Restoration and Retreat. 

It's on 106 in Union. We'll put again the links to all this, but very exciting to see how more work is done to help not only protect what we have now, but really thinking multi-generational down the line. Tessa, it's always good to talk with you.

Kayla, it was nice to talk with you. Nice to meet you, and look forward to this and further conversations when it comes to this. Thank you so much. 

Thank you, Jeff.