Every year millions of salmon return to their place of birth in hundreds of rivers and streams throughout the Pacific Northwest to spawn future generations. It is well-known that salmon face an increasing number of human-driven obstacles to spawning due to pollution, dams, and construction leading to declining numbers of salmon in the Pacific Ocean.
One of the organizations at the forefront to clean up our local waterways is the Adopt-A-Stream Foundation AASF, a 501(c)-3 non-profit dedicated to providing healthy spawning grounds for not just salmon, but also steelhead, trout, and other wildlife. The mission of Adopt-A-Stream is “to teach people how to become stewards of their watersheds” and in 2018 they opened the Northwest Stream Center to help relay their message to a wider audience.
Located within McCollum Park in Everett, Washington, the Northwest Stream Center encompasses 25 acres leased from the Snohomish County Parks and Recreation. The location has two salmon streams that flow along a complex wetland system and pockets of forest. There are elevated walkways that weave throughout the area, allowing visitors to observe wildlife in it’s natural habitat, along with a trout stream exhibit and a native plant pollinator meadow.
Keeping with their commitment to the environment, Adopt-A-Stream chose to use Eco-Priora permeable pavers from Mutual Materials for their system of walkways adjacent to the salmon streams. Mutual Materials understands the importance of both community involvement and the need to protect our waterways, so we were thrilled to provide 1,340 square feet of Eco-Priora interlocking concrete permeable pavers for the pedestrian walkways in the trout stream exhibit, where visitors can view trout, crawfish, and freshwater mussels in their natural environment.
These pavers play a major role in keeping the environmentally sensitive area clean from pollutants that could be harmful to their ecosphere. They function through the use of voids between units that are larger than what one would typically find with standard concrete pavers. These voids direct stormwater into the soil where a layer of geotextile traps pollutants, like oil and heavy metals, preventing them from being carried by runoff into local waterways. For more information on how permeable interlocking concrete pavers function, check out our blog, Introduction to Permeable Concrete Paving.
If you’re interested in learning more about how permeable pavers can help address stormwater management issues you face, please contact us at 1-888-688-8250 to speak with an hardscape sales representative.
Citations:
- Adopt-A-Stream Foundation
- Snohomish County Parks & Recreation
- City of Everett
- McCollum Pioneer Park
- Mutual Materials
- Mutual Materials – Eco-Priora Permeable Pavers
Find locations for Mutual Materials branch stores here.
