Grow with the Flow!!! Traditional Cache

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Hidden : 11/28/2011
Difficulty:
2 out of 5
Terrain:
1.5 out of 5

Size: Size: micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:


Grow with the flow

I am a student at Edmonds Community College, in the horticulture program. My focus in the horticulture is in restoration. This cache is in the location of such a project. In the ever increasing urbanization more and more natural areas are covered in asphalt and buildings or turned into flat grass lawns. As we develop, we increase the amount of impervious surface area and decrease suitable habitat for animals. In our class about low impact design (L.I.D.) and ecology restoration (E.R.), we were learning about methods we can employ in urban areas to try to restore some of the natural functions to small areas. So with what we were learning we decided to take this parking strip and turn into a small little sanctuary of nature.

We do not need to stop developing, but we need to learn to live with nature. For this reason we named our project “Grow With The Flow”. We started out by studying the different “flows”, those being; water, wildlife, pedestrian, vehicles. First and foremost, we noticed both vehicle and pedestrian traffic disturbing the natural areas. We put in walkways for the pedestrian and asked people parking there to stay back from the curb. We also observed flooding and the flow of water, which is helped by the rain garden. We noticed a few birds and limited wildlife to this area. We hope to see more with the increase of habitat features in this area.
After looking at these things we decided on changes that were needed in each of the areas affected by flow, this includes three rain gardens, a bog garden, and a corridor of various habitat features. Our goal is to create a little patch of functioning nature that can live symbiotically with its human cohabitants.
The rain gardens are the L.I.D. portion of our project. The rain gardens are vital to cleaning the water that goes into the Puget Sound. The goal of our L.I.D. project is to mimic the natural hydrologic function of undisturbed predeveloped nature. Along with being functional the gardens are designed to be attractive landscapes as well. If you would like more info on L.I.D. and rain gardens please check out these sites; (visit link) & (visit link) .
The goal of our E.R. portion of the the project is creating and maintaining a healthy ecological relationship between wildlife and humans. We installed several habitat structures to offer our little critter friends a safe place to live. The habitat structures are the logs, stumps, rock piles, plants/trees, and even the soil itself. To find out more about E.R. Please check out this site (visit link) .
When you arrive please park back from the curb (you would not want to hurt the plants). Feel free to look around but be kind and stick to the pedestrian areas, the walk ways and hard tops. And I would love to see pictures throughout the year to show the beauty each season holds. Remember, If you like what you see perhaps there is something you can do in your little corner of the world.

This cache is located in this parking lot with permission. The cache container is a pill bottle and has no room for anything but the logbook. Bring your own pen to write with and please be mindful of the work going on in this area to protect this habitat. Be careful getting this cache as certain times there maybe a high amount of muggles in the area. This is a quick grab and go. No need to go into the planting area. Happy Hunting.

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Uvqqra va n qrivpr hfrq gb pbageby iruvpyr sybj.

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)


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