Tomorrow, Saturday, May 23, 1 p.m. at the Alki Bathhouse, National Wildlife Federation (NWF) Senior Regional Education Coordinator Courtney Sullivan will certify Alki as NWF Community Wildlife Habitat area.

Alki will be the first community in the Seattle metropolitan area to become a certified wildlife habitat area, the fifth community in Washington State and the 31st in the nation.

The community party, with sponsorship by the Alki Community Council (ACC) and The Boeing Company, will be at the Alki Bathhouse from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Featured are educational displays and community resources with attendance of local dignitaries, nature enthusiasts, tourists, bikers, skaters and joggers. Live music will be featured as well as light refreshments. Children are welcome at the event.

Elected representatives are scheduled to attend, including King County Council member Dow Constantine, City Council member Tom Rassmussen, Seattle Parks Senior Gardener Phil Renfro and "Queen Bee" of the Alki project Dolly Vinal will speak briefly. Vinal will discuss the history of the project and the future expansion to the West Seattle Peninsula.

"My license plate says 'RQB' so I call myself the 'Royal Queen Bee,'" said Vinal playfully, who has been working six years with the Alki Community Council to get Alki officially certified.

"Now that Alki is certified our intention is to get the entire West Seattle peninsula certified," added the Morgan Junction resident. "I spoke with (Delridge Neighborhood District Coordinator) Ron Angeles and he seems very interested in expanding the official habitat."

One of the criteria to become recognized as a community habitat by the NWF is to to have your project, in this case the Alki Wildlife Habitat Project, appear in a newspaper article. The West Seattle Herald featured Vinal and the project in the Sept. 15, 2008 issue. Read it here.

"That article was critical, as were those appearing in the Alki News Beacon," said Vinal. "Also, when the Log House Museum became locally certified with its native habitat that was an important link in our project because the museum represents our heritage on Alki. As a beneficiary the project was enabled early on with initial funding of the West Seattle Garden Tour."

Vinal said the Garden Tour, which blossomed out of ArtsWest, will hold its garden tour July 19.

"The sense of community makes us all feel stronger in these fractionalizing times." said Vinal. "There was something in that 'all hold hands' in the circle games of yore that many of us are missing today. The press helps familiarize and connect in forming that circle today."