Annual Report

September 22, 2008

Mission:

Friends of the Hidden River (FOTHR)is a 501 (c)(3) non profit educational organization dedicated to developing and enhancing citizen understanding and action of sustainability issues in the Puget Sound region. Our specific vision is to unite the community with the environment by developing viable answers to the following question, How do we create sustainable solutions to strike a balance between the wants of our citizens and our need to maintain a healthy environment?  Our specific areas of emphasis and expertise are, but not limited to, inspiring change through education in the themes of Water & Wastewater; Energy, Environment and Ecology; Sustainability, Conservation and Stewardship, and Technology.

Organizational Overview:

The Friends of the Hidden River entered their fourth year of operations in their quest to bring sustainable education to the dual county area on a large scale.  Our efforts are mainly focused on creation of a 72 acre environmental park and securing funding, construction and subsequent delivery of programs of a Regional Community Environmental Education Center located on the grounds of the Brightwater Water Treatment Facility.  

Three of our teams members, Brian Healy, Marie Hartford, and John Schmied are also engaged in exciting sustainability and service learning pilot projects along with curriculum testing and development that will ultimately be used in the Centers programs.

Major Highlights:

New Endorsements:

At the end of the year both Woodinville Rotary and the City of Kirkland agreed to endorse us.  Woodinville Rotary agreed to make us a beneficiary of their fundraising efforts this year.  We are very thankful for their decision.  It couldnt have come at a better time.

Also, the Snohomish County Council voted to draft a letter endorsing FOTHRs efforts.  The Council also agreed to lend a hand with our next Federal appropriation effort to secure funds for the build out of the Laboratory Suite, along with other considerations.

Grant Acquisition:

FOTHR personnel secured a $270K CTED grant via the legislature this spring.  This grant will be used to complete the final design of the Energy Demonstration Test Facilitys electrical interconnection and also to complete final construction of the Outreach Facility at Brightwater Operations Center.   

Our team also sought grants from other organizations.  Regretfully, we were turned down by two, are in final competition for a capacity building grant at the Seattle Foundation, and have another grant request in the works.

Multi Organization decision making:

Presently we are engaging in an exciting process as part of the joint University of Washington, Cascadia Community College, King County and Friends of the Hidden River task force to forge an inter-organizational agreement concerning the joint use, research and education at the Regional Community Environmental Education Center labs, grounds, and other facilities.  The Task Force final report was received with enthusiasm by both UWB Chancellor Kenyon Chang, and CCC President Bill Christopher at our final presentation on Sept 22, 2008 at Cascadia/UWB campus

Contract oversight:

FOTHR team members performed oversight and participated in some of the design work using the $675K CTED grant we secured in the 2007 legislative session.  This contract, which is nearing completion, was used to:

7        complete the final design of the Center,

7        create an exhibit standard for the exhibits and signage throughout the site,

7        design an Outreach Facility to be built in the Brightwater Operations Center,

7        design the structural engineering plan for the Energy Demonstration Test Facility

7        create graphics of the Laboratories, Exhibit Hall and Test Bed (ETDF).

All elements of this contract are being done on time and at or under budget with all but the final graphics yet to complete.  We give thanks to our contractors, including Mithun, CH2MHill, and Lehrman Cameron & Associates for performing at a high standard.  Regretfully, WA State CTED regulations prohibit FOTHR personnel from receiving project management fees on either of our large grant projects.

Test Bed (ETDF):

A key effort in this area involves the design, construction and use of an Energy Demonstration Test Facility (ETDF) at the Treatment Plant site.  Once in operation, the ETDF will be a platform for research, parallel testing & to demonstrate different types of clean energy technologies such as:

7                          Biogas reformers, digester gas processing

7                          Electrical and thermal generation devices

7                          Electrical & thermal storage systems. 

7                          Electrical & thermal monitoring systems

FOTHR personnel have put together a consortium of parties that are potentially interested in funding the final construction and others that are interested in doing research on the ETDF.  Although we fell short of developing a joint grant proposal, we feel confident that the consortium will move this project forward more in the following year.

Donations: 

Although FOTHR personnel have primarily focused on grant writing we slowly improved our private fundraising expertise and effort throughout the year.  Approximately $2500 was raised via private donations with the largest coming from FOTHR personnel this year.  FOTHR personnel work mostly via in kind donations of their services.  At this time we have enough funds to continue, but we will need more funding as FOTHRs operation moves forward into the next two year.

Financial and Legal representation:

Aaron Feik secured the services of Bart Wilson, the Director of Accounting and Audit Services at Bader Martin in Seattle to take care of our accounting needs. Together with Steve Ellis, our counsel, of Davis, Wright, Tremaine, we feel that we are covered in both the financial and legal arenas.

Respectfully submitted and approved by the Board 9/22/08

Aaron Feik

President

Friends of the Hidden River 

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