Hello all, my name is Alice Tsoodle and I am just joining the Friends of North Creek Forest team as the Education Manager. Having just graduated from UW Seattle with a Master’s Degree in Education, I am excited to continuing growing in the same place that I started my outdoor education journey. Years ago, in 2012, I transferred to UW Bothell, from the University of Colorado, Boulder, and eventually graduated with a degree in environmental studies. I was directed to sign up for one of Dr. Amy Lambert’s classes and she promptly led us all into the North Creek Forest. It was here that I fell in love with the land and waters of this place and decided to pursue a career that would allow me to be outside as much as possible. I had a class with Robert Turner at UWB which required I spend some time planning a lesson and actually teaching it to real kids! I never imagined myself as a teacher, but with children of my own and coming from a family full of teachers, it came to me naturally.
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We were honored to receive a Proclamation from Mayor Rheaume and the Bothell City Council last week in support of our work to protect and steward North Creek Forest! A huge thanks to all of our friends, volunteers and supporters who helped make this possible!  CITY OF BOTHELL PROCLAMATION BRAVO Award presented to the City of Bothell and Friends of North Creek Forest WHEREAS Friends of North Creek Forest have played an integral part assisting the City of Bothell in preparing grant applications for acquiring land at North Creek Forest; and
WHEREAS Friends of North Creek Forest has invested substantial resources on behalf of the City to support successful grant applications amounting to nearly $2.8 million, which allowed the City to purchase the Forest property, including preparing and presenting three successful Land and Water Conservation Fund grants; and WHEREAS the Recreation and Conservation Office notified the City of Bothell that the most recent Land and Water Conservation Fund grant application for North Creek Forest scored #1 in the state out of sixteen applications in the Land and Water Conservation Fund; and WHEREAS the Director of the Recreation and Conservation Office presented the City of Bothell and Friends of North Creek Forest with a BRAVO Award on January 19, 2016 in recognition of receiving the #1 ranking in the state; and WHEREAS Friends of North Creek Forest has expended over $221,600 for forest stewardship, and supported and coordinated over 1200 volunteers contributing more than 10,900 volunteer hours since 2011 (including over 4,300 just in 2015). WHEREAS FNCF has purchased tools and funded staff capable of fielding over 60 volunteers at any given forest stewardship event, and developed educational programming in North Creek Forest; and NOW THEREFORE, I, Andy Rheaume, Mayor of the City of Bothell, do hereby recognize “FRIENDS OF NORTH CREEK FOREST” We encourage all citizens in the City of Bothell to support the continued efforts of Friends of North Creek Forest to preserve and enhance North Creek Forest. In witness whereof, I hereunto set my hand and official seal this 2ND day of February, 2016. Andy Rheaume Laura Hathaway Mayor City Clerk  Engineering Students with City and Community Partners at the final Project Presentation Every restoration site with new plantings requires three seasons of watering after to give the plants a strong start. Anyone who has helped with watering during the dry months knows how time consuming this important job can be. The cost of water is also significant. Last summer the City of Bothell made hydrant water available to us, which would be a significant cost savings, but the hydrant can only be operated by Friends staff members. With very limited staff time, and generous volunteers lined up to water at times convenient to their schedules, we were not able to make use of the hydrant for watering. We would like to install a water tank that staff could fill from the hydrant, and then volunteers could water from. Ideally this tank could feed into a drip irrigation system that would allow for easier and more efficient watering, but the design of a system like this was beyond our current capacity. So when the UW-B Office of Community Based Learning and Research (CBLR) asked us if we had any projects that a team of senior Mechanical Engineering students could work on, we jumped at the opportunity!
Over the past 6 months we have been ramping up our research program - formalizing a Research Committee, outlining projects, and investing in hardware and software that will enable us to collect, analyze and share data we collect in North Creek Forest. We also continue to partner with UW-Bothell and Cascadia College professors interested in using the Forest as an outdoor laboratory. Many of our UW-REN graduates are now helping out in various capacities in our research program, including Carolyn Stapp (UW-REN Capstone class of 2013-2014), who is serving as our Research Program intern. Carolyn is organizing data, coordinating the Research Committee, recruiting data collection volunteers, as well as serving on the Stewardship side of things as a Site Steward for her UW-REN project (Site 3). Thank you Carolyn - we appreciate your experience and perspective and all of your hard work!
 Whale Scout Executive Director, Whitney Neugebauer, knows how to get close to her work. Whale Scout knows where and how to track and report on changes in our endangered killer whale population. They are often the first to report a new birth (rare) and a new death (too often). Recently Whale Scout founder and director, Whitney Neugebauer interviewed killer whale biologist and FNCF Vice President Dr. David Bain and FNCF director Jim Freese. Here's a report from Whitney and, at about 20 minutes, you may begin to answer the question, "Why do killer whales start in the treetops?" Join us when Whale Scout returns for their 3rd restoration event on: January 31 10:00 AM - 2:00 PM Map Here A rumor has it that, weather permitting, we might actually see a big (really big) Killer Whale! Also Evergreen Karate and Jui Jitsu! Should be fun... Another Eagle Scout Project Underway  Ihlal's team prepares the ground for installation. Ihlal Mustafa designed, built and installed a neighborhood message board above our latest restoration project. This is Ihlal's Eagle Scout project. He is assisted by his father, grandfather and other Boy Scout Troop 420 members. Thanks Ihlal... this is going to be a wonderful addition for the community.
This work is supported by: Generous citizens and volunteers Scout Troop 420 The University of Washington Restoration Ecology Network The Peach Foundation The Rose Foundation Puget Sound Mitigation Fund a grantmaking fund created by: Puget Soundkeeper Alliance Thank you for your continued interest and support! FNCF |
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