Union Bay Natural Area Traditional Cache
grossi: Thanks to the 230+ people who found this cache over the past three years.
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Union Bay Natural Area is an outdoor classroom, field research laboratory, urban oasis, and home to over 200 kinds of birds. The University of Washington owns and manages this area, hosting classes, research, and volunteer projects in restoration ecology. Short trails provide access to this large site. The ¾-mile loop trail travels through the woods and meadows to the wetlands at the lake’s edge.
Active restoration of this landscape is underway. The 74-acre Union Bay Natural Area was an urban landfill for over 35 years. UW researchers, students, and community volunteers are turning that former landfill into critical wildlife habitat with native plants and animals. In 1971, the landfill was capped but neglected, and invasive plants soon took over. Restoration began in the 1990s. The combination of meadow, woods, wetlands, and lakeshore makes this one of the best urban habitats in the Pacific Northwest.
The University of Washington asks that you please follow these simple rules while using the area:
- Keep dogs on-leash: you’re helping to keep nesting birds and mammals safe.
- Walk and bike on pathways: this protects fragile plants and ground-nesting bird eggs.
- Leave plants and animals here: it helps keep the place wild.
All of the information on the cache page up to this point was taken from various informational signs in the Union Bay Natural Area. The cache is a black decon container, and there is even a nearby bench to use while signing the log and enjoying the view.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
[spoiler]: onfr bs gerr gung fynagf bire genvy haqre vil
Treasures
You'll collect a digital Treasure from one of these collections when you find and log this geocache:
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