Please Consider a Year End Gift to Support North Creek Forest

As we approach the end of 2015, we would like to thank you for being a Friend of North Creek Forest. Through your support, the vision that began in the neighborhood bordering the forest has grown to one that has engaged our entire community as many have experienced the positive impact of having a piece of the wild right here in Bothell.
 
Since 2011, Friends of North Creek Forest has worked tirelessly with the City of Bothell to raise over $2.5 million dollars to acquire this land. Last year, North Creek Forest was the top scoring project in Washington for the highly competitive Land and Water Conservation Fund grant program. Our work on this $500,000 grant (including hundreds of volunteer hours) recently earned the City of Bothell a Bravo Award from the State Recreation and Conservation Office. With the acquisition funds now in hand, the City is working on the final purchase, and we hope to have an agreement in place in early 2016. 
 
We have come a long way in a short time. Thank you for all you have done to make this possible.

Today, we are asking for your tax-deductible, year-end gift to help carry this great momentum forward. Friends of North Creek Forest is dedicated to working with the City of Bothell to transform North Creek Forest from raw land into a cherished community park where education, stewardship and recreation can take place for years to come.

While the City of Bothell works on the final land purchase, Friends continues to develop our Stewardship, Research and Education programs.  Our school field trips include elements of service, learning and exploration. On a recent visit, a student named Alex expressed her connection to the forest in these words:
  
“This forest belongs to many humans and animals alike.
From the little mushroom to the great cedar.
The little creatures crawling and the big leaves falling
The whoosh of the traffic goes by.
But still the forest is to the naked eye
We cannot see the business go on.
Nurse logs like the one I sit upon
Giving life. …”

We work with school groups like Alex’s, as well as college classes from UW-Bothell and Cascadia. One Cascadia student couldn’t have said it better when he commented on the power of participating in the monitoring and restoration projects that Friends offers through our Stewardship and Research programs:
 
“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 and applied the new techniques heightened learning to an entirely new awareness and understanding.”

Spending time in the Forest has a deep impact on school children, college students, and neighbors, and we can’t wait for the day when it is more accessible, when many more school children can visit, when college students and citizen scientists can develop important research skills, and families can go for a walk in the woods without having to leave the area.    
 
This forest educates and inspires, and with your contribution, we can continue to take care of it, teach about it, and plan for a future with increased access for people that still supports important wildlife habitat needs.   
 
We are excited to launch a monthly giving program and hope that you will consider making a gift in this way. It is easy to sign up for automatic monthly giving on our website.
 
Thank you for your support,
 
Jeanie Robinson - President
Emily Sprong - Executive Director
 
P.S. Your tax-deductible gift will help secure a “piece of the wild” right here in Bothell -- 64 acres where families and individuals for generations to come will be able to experience a true forest setting right in their backyards.