What will it take to save the rest of the forest? Money and labor. First the money... We need to raise well over $1M. The only source for that much money: grants, voters or the legislature. We are involved in all three. In the last three weeks FNCF and Bothell staff have been in Olympia twice to offer presentations to judges, once for $1M and once for $500,000. FNCF volunteers have worked hundreds of hours to create the best applications/presentations possible. We will know the results soon. (Voters and the Legislature will be covered in the next article.) Labor... (remaining photos by Darryl Bush) Bothell cannot take ownership of North Creek Forest without a community willing to shoulder much of the "care and feeding" of this new park land. We have developed a model that offers short classes in exchange for community service in the forest. Over the last 10 months we have done more than 3000 hours of volunteer work with hundreds of volunteers. Safety before each event. "Why we don't walk around with our loppers open." Volunteers pay attention to this part. The YMCA Summer camp (above) brought an average of 30 kids into the forest each week this summer. They did a ton of restoration work and learned something new about the forest each time. (Like us on Facebook for a lot more pictures: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Friends-of-North-Creek-Forest/200452686657291) Hydrology: FNCF Volunteer Theresa Marshall (left) and Volunteer Katy Tiernen (teaching and gesturing) go over some basic principles of hydrology, the science of movement of water in relation to land. Here they are comparing compacted soil, soil never compacted and stream sediment. Theresa has a year with us as an Amphibian Research Intern and Volunteer. Katy began teaching with us recently and has attended many restoration events. (Our teachers are actually called docents... skilled volunteer guides. Some are also certified teachers) About 1.5 acres of invasive species have been removed, erosion controlled, hundreds of yards of mulch spread and thousands of native plants, trees and shrubs planted, weeded and watered. Rangers Carolyn Freese and Jeanie Robinson show YMCA kids how much work they did this summer. These events totaled more that 600 hours of work. Every YMCA Summer Camper received a Gratitude Certificate. You guys are great! Fall Events Soundview International Baccalaureate School is back, this time for 9 events. Whale Scout and Evergreen Karate and Jiu-Jitsu return this fall. The public is invited. (See Events Schedule to the right) University of Washington Restoration Ecology Network returns mid winter with a whole new project. We will host a Boy Scout Eagle Project and many other events for the public. Funding We have been awarded several grants to help us carry out this mission. These include:
Stewardship: We are grateful for grants from the Tulalip Tribes and the Rose Foundation, Puget Sound Mitigation Fund, a grantmaking fund created by the Puget Soundkeeper Alliance. Education: Our education programs are expanding in quality and quantity thanks to a generous grant from the Peach Foundation. YOU: Half of the funds we need to serve our mission come from you... a member of our community. September is our fundraising month. Please help us by sending a donation. See this page on the top right for ways to do this. Thank You! FNCF
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IT IS EXTREMELY RARE for us to publish anything not directly tied to North Creek Forest. This may or not be an exception, depending on how you see things.
The Citizen Action Training School is a deep and broad immersion into the whole scope of Puget Sound recovery. You will learn about the functions of forage fish habitat, sand transport, estuaries, rivers, streams and watersheds. This is not theory. You will go there and see it. You will be taught by experts in a wide array of fields, all focused in on Puget Sound recovery. This is not a class that shows how how bad things are. It's a class to show you how to fix it and it offers you the knowledge to make it all deeply meaningful. Two members of FNCF took this course because we wanted to understand the context of our own volunteer work. We are saving a forest that is is significant watershed feature and an active element in the water quality of a salmon stream, North Creek. But we wanted to see the big picture. Boy did we! The field trips alone opened up a new world. Do you realize how engaged and effective tribes have been in protecting and restoring Puget Sound? Do you realize how energized and well thought out the whole recovery of Puget Sound has become under the guidance of Puget Sound Partnership? There is something gigantic going on. We are part of it. Check it out. Enrollment is going on right now. It's free. It's a fascinating 50 hour experience. The pay back is for you to spend 50 hours designing and implementing your own project in your community. Sound hard? Our view was that everyone was so charged up with knowledge and good intentions they could hardly wait to start their projects. We graduated last night. Everyone gave a 5 minute presentation about their project. It was so great we decided to make this RARE EXCEPTION and tell you about it. Applications are due by September 5th and our class was full early so don't wait. contact Kelley Govan at Sound Salmon Solutions soon to get application - [email protected] or 425-252-6686. Our Sound ~ Our Community ~ Our Chance want more info? HERE Tell us about your experience if you take the class. We would love to publish your story FNCF PS The forest is doing fine with the last half of summer coming on. Our YMCA team is three weeks away from finishing up their own project inspired by the CATS. More on that next time! |
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