Latest news with #PointDefianceZoo&Aquarium
Yahoo
01-04-2025
- Yahoo
Section of Five Mile Drive closing for construction at Point Defiance Park
Construction is about to begin on a paved trail at Point Defiance Park that will separate pedestrians and cyclists from cars. Parks Tacoma says the second phase of the Loop Trail project will begin in May. As a result, the entry to Five Mile Drive from the turn at Waterfront Drive up to Animal Loop Road will be closed to vehicles for one year. A non-paved detour will be provided for pedestrians and bicyclists. The project will create 1.6 miles of trail apart from the roadway to connect visitors to Wilson Way Bridge, the Pagoda, Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium, the Environmental Learning Center and Owen Beach. All park destinations will remain open. Parks Tacoma says drivers wanting to access the Lodge, Pagoda, gardens, and marina will use the Pearl Street entrance. Those wanting to visit Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium, Owen Beach, Fort Nisqually, and the Outer Loop of Five Mile Drive will need to use the Mildred Street entrance. 'We know the road detour is an inconvenience, but we're committed to providing multi-modal links to improve connectivity, safety, and accessibility between major destinations within Point Defiance Park,' said Park Board President Andrea Smith. 'The community has been wanting this for years, and we're excited to deliver on a long-held goal.' Point Defiance Park draws more than 3 million visitors every year. In 2016, the Washington State Recreation and Conservation Office awarded Parks Tacoma a $3.25 million grant to move forward with the Loop Trail. The first phase was completed in 2023 and included a new sidewalk and improvements to Park Avenue west of the Mildred Street entrance roundabout. It also paved the top of Trolley Lane trail leading north from the roundabout to the Japanese Garden, featuring a small plaza at the entry of Wilson Way Bridge and a safer pedestrian road crossing near the garden. There is no exact date in May for when this second phase will begin.
Yahoo
04-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
They look like whips and can grow up to a foot a day. Will Tacoma's bull kelp go legit?
If you've ever walked a beach in South Puget Sound, you've seem them — long, brown tendrils that look like they could do some damage if someone used them as a whip. They're called bull kelp, and they are vital to the marine life that inhabits our off shore environment, marine biologists say. And, yes, they are in danger. Bull kelp provides food and shelter for salmon, Southern Resident orcas, sunflower stars, pinto abalone, rockfish, harbor seals, sea otters and more, according to Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium (PDZA.) It can grow more than a foot a day. The specimens that wash up on beaches have detached from the ocean floor. Puget Sound has lost about two-thirds of its bull kelp forests, according to PDZA. Now, a bill before Washington state legislators could help preserve the underwater forests. House Bill 1631, introduced Jan. 24 by Rep. Greg Nance, D-Kitsap, and 24 co-sponsors would make the seaweed the official marine forest of Washington. The bill calls bull kelp 'critical to Washington's identity, culture, economy and ecology.' It will have a public hearing at 10 a.m. Tuesday in the House Committee on State Government & Tribal Relations. The pubic can voice support or opposition in person or online. PDZA is one of 38 entities that supports the bill. The proposed bill does not come with a financial request. 'Passing this bill deepens our commitment to the preservation of bull kelp forests and works toward ensuring they will thrive into the future,' PDZA conservation manager Marc Heinzman said in a news release. About 80 percent of bull kelp in Central and South Puget Sound has disappeared since the 1870s, according to a 2023 report from Washington's Kelp Forest Monitoring Alliance. It gets worse just south of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge where beds have decreased 90 percent. Warming ocean temperatures, urbanization and water pollution have contributed to its decline, PZDA said. In 2022, PDZA divers began conducting annual kelp surveys at Owen Beach, Titlow Beach and Foulweather Bluff. Divers look for more than 70 kelp, fish and invertebrate species. Also in 2022, the Legislature began funding priorities of the Puget Sound Kelp Conservation and Recovery Plan as established by the state Department of Natural Resources. The goal is to identify and preserve 10,000 acres of bull kelp. There are 27 designated state symbols ranging, from the official flower to the official dinosaur.
