Cascadia College Labs in the Forest

Nighttime forest vegetation sampling – a new extreme sport?

In October we were happy to welcome Sadie Rosenthal’s class of Cascadia College students to North Creek Forest to participate in a forest vegetation sampling lab. Armed with flashlights and undeterred by a 5:45 – 7:45 class time and the enveloping darkness, these stalwart scholars collected important monitoring data on our REN restoration sites and sampled the vegetation community in a mature patch of North Creek Forest to analyze.

The class is part of a new degree at Cascadia College – Bachelor of Applied Sciences in Sustainable Practices. We’re certain these students are headed for great things! Some of the students related to us that it was great to see a former Cascadia and UW Bothell student working for the Friends of North Creek Forest and leading the lab. One student wrote: “It was enjoyable to see a project so young and applicable being led by a former UW student- Elliott is literally one of us, post-graduation. That alone was eye opening!” It warms our hearts when we hear feedback like this.

We’re glad that you had a good experience- and thanks for your contribution to our understanding of the forest!

More Feedback from participants:
“Our group appreciated the opportunity to apply ourselves with hands on work and contribute to the restoration efforts. It was challenging and fun to test our knowledge of the plants we’ve been learning in class, and work on our ability to cooperate effectively as a team. It was also interesting to see the potential opportunities of careers that can developed after getting a 4 year degree”
 
“It’s one thing to read and talk about conducting different sampling methods but the fact that we physically went out into  North Creek forest (which in itself was an interesting/ informative restoration site) and then applied the new techniques heightened learning to an entirely new awareness and understanding.

“Our group’s experience at North Creek was invaluable and unforgettable."

"Working within  North Creek Forest gave us a good sense of how diverse and sensitive our ecosystem is, but it also shed light on what can be done to benefit our ecosystem.”

---