With the 2012 London Olympics drawn to a close, so starts the task of breaking down parts of the 500-acre Olympic Park that housed the world’s finest athletes for the past two weeks. But, the London 2012 Organizing Committee and the Olympic Delivery Authority are already two steps ahead. In their effort to keep this year’s games both water and energy efficient, these groups designed and built Olympic park with sustainability in mind.  

Check out this video on the removal of the Elwha River dams and the ecosystem restoration to follow.  Learn about what scientists are doing to better understand how the river functions now and how it will change in the future.  You can watch the nine-minute video here!   

After years of legal wrangling, the Colville Tribe will face Teck Resources, one of the river’s major polluters, in federal court in September. The trial is a bid to hold the Canadian company responsible for dumping pollution into the upper Columbia River.  Read more about this here. 

The UW’s Biology Department has a botany greenhouse, full of plants for teaching and research.  They even have a specimen of the infamous corpse flower – read more about the greenhouse and what they do here! 

Rebuilt in recent summers after a severe 2006 flood, Mount Rainier National Park’s family-friendly Glacier Basin Trail is wide and offers easy hiking to memorable views.  Read more about this hike here!