Summer Tabling with SHADOW
Hello SHADOW Volunteers, Starting this month, SHADOW Lake Nature Preserve will be appearing at local festivals and farmers' markets. We need volunteers to go to these events and spread the word about SHADOW- our location, features, and why you love nature. Don't...
A Parable for Wetlands
The Useless Tree Lao Tzu was traveling with his disciples and they came to a forest where hundreds of woodcutters were cutting the trees. The whole forest had been cut except for one big tree with thousands of branches. It was so big that 10,000 persons could sit in...
Native Animal of the Month: Bobcat
Bobcat: Lynx rufus There are more Bobcats living in King County than you might think! If you ever find yourself at SHADOW Lake Nature Preserve at night, you may be lucky enough to see one. Generally, Bobcats are nocturnal and hide during the daylight in rock crevices...
Native Plant of the Month: Oregon Grape
Oregon Grape: Mahonia Nervosa Oregon Grape is a species of flowering shrub, native to western North America and commonly found throughout the Puget Sound Region. It is an evergreen with holly-like leaves often found growing in the understory of Douglas fir forests....
Its All Connected: 2018 Green-Duwamish Watershed Symposium
Did you know that SHADOW Lake Nature Preserve also protects the headwaters of Jenkin's Creek? This creek, that starts in the Upland Forests of the Nature Preserve, is a tributary of salmon-bearing Soos Creek which flows into the Green River. Although we are situated...
Native Plant of the Month: Red Alder
Red alder, Alnus rubra Many of us enjoy the musical sounds of nature. To builders of electric guitars and electric bass guitars Red Alder is treasured for its tonality. A perfect pairing of nature and man. Red Alder is a deciduous, broadleaf tree native to the...
Amphibian Monitoring with Woodland Park Zoo
SHADOW and the Woodland Park Zoo are excited to invite you to participate in the 2018 Amphibian Monitoring season! Amphibian Monitoring participants will join teams to monitor two ponds at SHADOW. Teams will upload findings of amphibian egg masses, juveniles and...
AJCE Carbon Tax
"As a self-identified environmentalist, I'm always on this rollercoaster of emotions around climate impacts, and especially over last summer and fall. It usually feels like nothing I could do is ever enough. Luckily, such moments of despair and resignation are...
Animals in Winter: The Long-toed Salamander
The Long-toed Salamander or Ambystoma macrodactylum, is one of the most ecologically versatile amphibians in the Pacific Northwest. It occurs in wetlands, like ours, as well as temperate conifer forests, plains, and meadows. Long-toed salamanders are one of the...
SHADOW’s Alder Grove
From the first arrival of humans in Western Washington to modern times, Pacific North-westerners have relied on forest production. Along with this dependence, has grown a cultural attachment to the beautiful forests that make up our landscape. This love for the...
Conservation Pledge
At the end of last year SHADOW Lake Nature Preserve asked our community to pledge to conserving green spaces in 2018 and you did! Thank you to everyone who participated in the Nature Preserves Conservation Pledge! Together we raised over $2,000! 100% of your gifts...
Welcome Ali!
SHADOW Lake Nature Preserve is happy to welcome Ali Yeates to our team in the position of Restoration & Education Manager. Ali hails from Louisiana but has spent the past eight years calling the west home. She is a Candidate for Master’s in Environmental...
Animals in Winter: The Mountain Beaver
Did you know there are living fossils at SHADOW Lake Nature Preserve? For more than 40,000 years Mountain Beavers, Aplodontia rufa, have lived in the Pacific Northwest and have outlived any related species. Mountain Beavers are certainly misnamed as they do not live...
Native Plant of the Month: Salal -Gaultheria shallon
Student drawing from a Wilderness Adventure at SHADOW. On a wintery walk around the preserve, now that all the deciduous leaves have dropped, it's almost impossible to miss the shiny, jewel-green leaves of Salal or Gaultheria shallon. Salal often grows as a shrub but...
Native Plant of the Month: Western Hemlock
We are fortunate to live in an area abundant with evergreens. Winter especially highlights the western hemlock, as its broadleaved companions shed their leaves. When mentioning hemlock, most people think of the poisonous variety, but the western hemlock is not...
SHADOW Lake Nature Preserve’s Conservation Pledge
Act now to commit to conserving green spaces in 2018! This holiday season, SHADOW Lake Nature Preserve is calling on you to make the Conservation Pledge! Now is the time to show your appreciation- for family, for blessings, and for our amazing surroundings. You can do...
Winter Solstice
As PNW residents, we are no strangers to lack of sun. Especially with the approach of the winter solstice, which falls on Thursday, December 21st. The solstice marks the shortest daylight hours of the year. Though the shortest day of the year, the solstice...
Animals in Winter: Northern Red-Legged Frog
By: Guest Writer Katie Morris Similar to many of us in the Pacific Northwest, but unique to most amphibians, the red-legged frog prefers cool weather. The red-legged frog, or Rana aurora “dawn frog” in Latin, gets its name because of the distinctive...
Halloween in the Haunted Peat Bog Wrap Up
By: Guest Writer Katie Morris Our third annual Halloween at the Haunted Bog has come and gone with our best turnout yet! We had over 75 visitors coloring, creating spider hats, and learning about their local wetland. Spooky Halloween animals such as spiders, bats,...
Animals in Fall: The Pileated Woodpecker
By: Guest Writer Michael Teton Photo by: Ray Owens Have you ever seen small mounds of wood chips at the base of trees? If you live in the Pacific Northwest, during the fall season that tree is probably the new home of a Pileated Woodpecker! This species of woodpecker...
Native Plant of the Month: Snowberry
Snowberry - Symphoricarpos albus By: Guest Writer Michael Teton During the fall and winter seasons at Shadow Lake Bog you may have noticed that all the berries have disappeared except for one very distinctive white berry. This berry, known as the snowberry,...
