We have funding from King Conservation District to have maintenance days at Kincaid Ravine through 2018. This CSF budget amendment would allow us to ramp up work and put the entire 3.6 acres of the ravine into restoration by the end of the 2016/2017 school year. After this we will utilize the King Conversation District grant. After 2018 the goal is that the need for active management in the ravine will be greatly reduced. We have discussed long term stewardship through occasional SER-UW run work parties and a more active partnership with UW Campus Grounds. We will be presenting the work at Kincaid to the Campus Ground gardeners in the spring of 2016. At that time we will discuss ways for grounds to have an active role at the ravine after funding is gone.
Year:
Amount Awarded:
$35,000
Potential Funding Reductions:
I will break this up based on components of the budget amendment request.
The North Slope Invasive Removal would be hard pressed to be completed with any reduction in funding. We have scoped out the work and completing this task in 6 crew days might already be a bit advantageous. We will consider using volunteer work parties to help plant the north slope and possibly help with invasive removal in the areas around the north slope that are slightly more accessible.
Conifer Planting funding reductions will mean we will have to plant less than the 500 large conifers planned for this amendment. A 5-10% reduction would probably be fine, but much more than that means we will not be able to plant conifers at the desired density for restoration and conifer canopy cover goals.
Surface Water Drainage Improvements will definitely require the two crew days to conduct the work. There is not much flexibility for a reduction here since you cannot fund half a crew day unless it takes away from half a crew day of other work proposed in this amendment.
Site Maintenance is a bit more flexible. We have proposed 4 days which really is not that much in the grand scheme of things, but maintenance work in the accessible areas of the ravine can be carried out by volunteers. A 20% reduction in maintenance funding would still allow us to have 3 maintenance days.
Student stipends are also flexible but fair compensation will more likely ensure quality work in the ravine during the course of the funding for this budget amendment. A 20% reduction would be manageable, but would lower the bar from previous compensation provided to student project managers.
Parking near the ravine on campus is pretty essential for access to tools and the work trucks for EarthCorps. Parking is only $240 of the entire ask, but if this really does not seem appropriate we can find someway around it or work with campus to get fees waived. That has been attempted in the past, but generally people working at the Gate Houses selling permits for parking have no clue of any parking arrangements made with the University and crews end up just paying the $15 for the day.
Project Longevity:
Project status:
Completed