CLOUDED LEOPARD CUBS LEAVE FOR DENVER
Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium said goodbye to two of its four clouded leopard cubs this week. Cubs Taji and Lisu are moving to their permanent home at the Denver Zoo.
Taji is one of two clouded leopard cubs born at the Tacoma zoo this past June. He was paired with Lisu, a female cub from Nashville Zoo for future breeding four months after his birth.
“We’re excited to be able to send this pair to Denver,” said the zoo’s general curator Karen Goodrowe Beck. “More people will get the opportunity to see these beautiful cats, and the cubs will hopefully help grow the population of this endangered species.”
Point Defiance Zoo is one of only three zoos in the country breeding the endangered clouded leopards, along with Nashville Zoo and the Smithsonian Institution’s National Zoo. The secretive cats live mostly in the forests of Southeast Asia, but clear cutting to make way for palm oil plantations has threatened their existence.
The birth of the zoo’s two cubs brought the total number of clouded leopard cubs born in the United States this year to eight. Point Defiance Zoo staff hand-raised the cubs, who have been on display in the zoo’s “cub den.”
Though cubs Taji and Lisu will soon be gone, Taji’s sister Sumalee remains on exhibit in the cub den with her match, Sabah. Sabah is a male cub from Smithsonian's National Zoo. That duo will leave Tacoma later this year for their new digs at Central Florida Zoo & Botanical Garden.
Two adult clouded leopard pairs also inhabit the Cats of the Canopy exhibit. A third pair of clouded leopards lives at the zoo behind the scenes. And zoo staff hope there will be more clouded leopard cubs come spring.
GROUND BREAKS FOR NEW HEALTH SCIENCES FACILITY
Clover Park Technical College celebrated the groundbreaking Nov. 16 of its new health sciences facility located in the center of campus. Highlights of the ceremony includes remarks from college President John Walstrum; State Senator Derek Kilmer, chair of the Senate Capital Budget Committee; Veronica Marohn, aide to Governor Christine Gregoire; Charlie Earl, executive director of the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges; and Matt Lane, principal at McGranahan Architects.
Clover Park Technical College offers the largest number of healthcare related programs in Pierce County. The college’s 11 health-training programs have long since outgrown Building 14, built in 1981. Building 14 is approximately 22,000 square feet.
The new health sciences facility will be twice that size in order to accommodate the 2,166 full-time equivalent students whom the college currently educates in its healthcare training programs for occupations ranging from surgical technician to registered nurse. Students will have the opportunity to learn in a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design silver-certified, state-of-the-art facility, which includes laboratories that meet current healthcare industry standards.
CHENEY STADIUM NAMED RENOVATION OF THE YEAR
Ballpark Digest has named the renovation of Cheney Stadium as its 2011 Renovation of the Year. Ballpark Digest cited the project’s tight timeline and overall project success in naming it the Best Renovation ($20 million-plus) in its annual awards.
“The economics of pro baseball are much different than it was a decade ago, and fans expect a lot more when it comes to comfort and services. The old Cheney Stadium was unable to fulfill a lot of these expectations; the new one does so with style,” said Kevin Reichard, publisher of Ballpark Digest.
Mortenson Construction led the design-build team, which included Belay Architecture and Populous as design partners. As a fast-tracked project, the renovation was completed in seven months – from the final home game on Sept. 2, 2010, to substantial completion on March 30, 2011.
Cheney Stadium now includes 16 luxury suites, a 4,000-square-foot club and restaurant, new administrative team offices, a right field seating berm, a new entry through left field and upgraded dugouts. The new stadium has twice as many restrooms, increased concessions and handicapped seating, an improved public concourse, new press boxes and team clubhouse. Parts of the original stadium remain, including the seating bowl.
The National Design-Build Awards recognize outstanding projects that demonstrated successful application of design-build strategies, which resulted in a superior facility that exceeds the owner’s needs.
NATIVE QUEST CAFÉ OPENS FOR BUSINESS
Tacoma’s new Native American bookstore and cultural center, Native Quest, received approval from Tacoma/Pierce County Health Department last week to open its café and eatery. A grand opening took place Nov. 11 and hungry people stopped by to check out the menu that includes buffalo stew and other unique options. Stop by and meet the center’s host Deborah Lightfoot, order something tasty and browse through the many shelves of books along with the jewelry, music and gift items for sale. Visit http://nativequest.net/calendar.php for the current listing of events being held at Native Quest. More events are added daily, so bookmark it or add it to your favorites.
SFC LUIS JIMENEZ RECOGNIZED AS MILITARY CITIZEN OF THE YEAR
Tacoma/Pierce County Chamber of Commerce presented the 33rd annual John H. Anderson Military Citizen of the Year Award to Sergeant First Class Luis Jimenez on Nov. 10. Jimenez is currently the non-commissioned officer in charge of the 593rd Sustainment Brigade’s Supply and Services Section at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.
Jimenez has consistently been active in the communities where he has been stationed, including Taegu, Korea and Fort Campbell, Ky. Since being transferred to Fort Lewis in 2006, Jimenez continued his full commitment to volunteering his free time.
Motivated by having two children in the Steilacoom School District, Jimenez became involved, first by attending every school board meeting, and then running for office. This year Jimenez was a candidate for Steilacoom Historical School District School Board.
Jimenez is a DuPont resident and is well known to the city government, having attended every DuPont City Council meeting to keep abreast of the city’s issues and activities. Impressed by Jimenez’s commitment, the mayor appointed him to the Parks and Recreation Committee. In this capacity, he has devoted more than 100 hours of his time to DuPont in the past year for their Fourth of July picnic, Safety Week, salmon bakes and Easter egg hunt. Jimenez has also volunteered with DuPont’s citizens police academy.
Jimenez, a member of the Lions Club, Kiwanis Club and Knights of Columbus, networked his services through his membership and assisted in raising $20,000 above the amount forecasted in the budget for the DuPont Parks and Recreation Department. Thanks his encouragement, the organizations solicited goods and services from local businesses to be auctioned off, helping fund the DuPont Youth Basketball Program in 2011. The extra funds meant 238 DuPont children were able participate in the program (as compared to the city’s expectation of only funding 75 children). Due to Jimenez’s hard work and dedication, the city did not experience any resourcing issues with helping more children from the community.
HISTORIC TACOMA LAUNCHES PRESERVATION RESOURCE GUIDE
Historic Tacoma has announced the publication of a new resource guide. This 10-chapter guide, with more than 150 pages, addresses basic preservation questions and answers, covering everything from the economic benefits of historic preservation, to how the Landmarks Preservation Commission and local districts work, biographies of local architects, a resource list for do-it-yourself projects and a chapter listing tax benefits and grant opportunities for historic properties. Each chapter is written as a stand-alone unit and can be downloaded individually.
Visit historictacoma.org to read the chapters.
GRAVEL PIT FINED
The owner of a gravel pit operation on Waller Road above Swan Creek has been fined $24,000 by Washington State Department of Ecology for discharging sediment-laden water into a storm drain that empties into the salmon-bearing creek. Richard Dickson of the William Dickson Co. was fined for violating the terms of the company’s state sand and gravel general permit. The permit limits the amount of turbidity (muddiness) that the gravel operation can discharge and prohibits any discharge that violates the state’s water quality standards for turbidity.
In September Pierce County Public Works and Utilities reported to Ecology that county biologists observed muddy discharge in Swan Creek and traced it to a storm drain outfall. Water quality specialists from the county found fine gray sediment covering the bottom of Swan Creek. The outfall pipe began discharging again while they were there and they took turbidity measurements. The source was a hole in the bottom of a pit where a pump was used to dewater the pit excavation over a bank into the creek. When Dickson was notified, he instructed a worker to turn off the pump that was discharging the turbid water. Dickson told Ecology he intends to update his site management plans so that his facility will not discharge turbid water to Swan Creek. If he objects to the penalty, he can appeal the fine to the state’s Pollution Control Hearings Board.
