June is Orca Action Month, and the Puget Soundkeeper are asking everyone to join in a month of educational and celebratory events to raise awareness of the threats facing the Southern Resident orca population.
Today, Puget Soundkeeper recommend taking action by learning about, or even building, a rain garden. The roughly 40” of rain that falls in the Puget Sound region every year hits our roofs, driveways and runs into the streets. Along the way, the water picks up pollutants and toxic chemicals that end up in our local streams and Puget Sound, unfiltered.
The rain that falls in our yards and parks can be cleaned and filtered, naturally. A rain garden can help capture some of that rain, and even the runoff from parking lots, sidewalks, and plazas. A rain garden can collect this runoff, and filter it on its way into the ground, before it joins the water table.
Puget Soundkeeper recommend watching the Rain Garden webinar by Mountaineers Books on YouTube (click here,) to learn about how these garden features can clean water, naturally, and how to build one of your own. Help protect the cherished orca species with small steps and easy actions. Join the effort at PugetSoundkeeper.org (click here,) and visit the Orca Month Facebook page (click here,) for daily posts.