My name is Eleanor Smith, I am currently a senior majoring in Environmental Science in the Earth System Sciences pathway at UW Bothell. I grew up in Vancouver, Washington and have lived in the Seattle area since 2013. I have an Associates in Arts from Clark College, and an Associates in Science from North Seattle College. Prior to this year, I worked at REI as a footwear and fitness specialist, and became more in tune with the opportunities for getting outside that the region has to offer. Currently, I am working with the UW Bothell Geodatabase Group which is a team is built for undergraduate research, centered on mapping the ecological aspects of the UWB/CC wetlands. Through this project, I was introduced to Friends of North Creek Forest, as a student volunteer to help map the invasive species in North Creek Forest. These opportunities have allowed me to meet and work with excellent faculty, students, volunteers, and other outdoor enthusiasts, but also have strengthened my ability as a team member as well as team leader. As the research coordinator intern, I am able to put my best practices in communication and team work to use. My hobbies include running, yoga, hiking, and after graduating I plan on revisiting my old favorite, snowboarding.
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Thank you to everyone who volunteered at our first forest restoration event of 2017! This was also our groundbreaking event at the new 242nd St. Restoration Site on North Creek Forest's northwestern border.
In only a few hours, we cleared about 10 cubic yards of invasive Himalayan blackberry, putting most cuttings into yard waste bins generously provided by the neighbors on 242nd St., and created an in-field compost pile for the leftover cuttings. We also moved 10 cubic yards of mulch off of the street to within the restoration site's boundaries. Lastly, we removed numerous pieces of garbage from North Creek Forest, ranging from sign posts to an old propane tank! Removing the invasive plants made room for our future native plants, and the mulch will be spread at future forest restoration events to reduce erosion and provide nutrients to the site's soils. We'd also like to give a special thank-you to Bartlett Tree Expert's Kenmore office and Bothell's Boy Scout Troop 420 for donating the day's mulch from chipped up Christmas trees! They provided the same service last year, and we hope to continue the tradition in 2018! Interested in volunteering again? Please visit our Website, Facebook, or VolunteerMatch pages for future volunteer opportunities. You can find more event photos on our Flickr page! We are so excited to unveil Friends of North Creek Forest's new logo! At the same time, changing logos is never an easy process, and we do not want to present the new logo without some context for those who are fond of the original logo. Neither the decision to update the logo, nor the process we undertook, were taken lightly. The original logo, while being attractive to the eye for many, was a very complex image that was challenging to reproduce in a cost effective way in multiple formats and scales. Friends' Board of Directors voted in summer 2015 to update the logo, and we received an in-kind rebranding grant from graphic design company, Causality, to design a new logo at a reduced cost. The board and logo redesign subcommittee (made up of board and nonboard members) had numerous conversations about the elements of the original logo to keep. We wanted the logo to represent the role of the forest in the watershed and the interconnectedness between the forest, widlife, and nearby waterways. We also wanted to retain a salmon and a woodpecker from the original design. The board reviewed a number of design concepts, and the logo redesign subcommittee helped guide Causality to the end product. We hope you agree that it maintains the original values and priorities of the organization, while simplifying the design and color palette.
Thank you for another tremendous year of volunteering in North Creek Forest! Our final numbers include 3,243 volunteer hours contributed by 558 individual volunteers for 2016. During that time, we planted about 400 native plants, spread almost 110 cubic yards of mulch, and removed about 40 cubic yards of invasive plants.
Volunteers came from local companies, neighborhoods, schools, and community based groups. For local companies, we'd like to thank Bothell Boeing, Starbucks, and Disney Store employees, as well as Bartlett Tree Experts, Northwest Arboriculture, and Go Natives! Nursery for donating plants, mulch, and employee time. Students from UW Bothell, Cascadia College, Edmonds Community College, Bellevue College, Soundview International Baccalaureate School, Woodinville High School, Bothell High School, Woodinville Montessori, and Inglemoor High School all volunteered to help protect North Creek Forest. Lastly, thank you to all of the community organizations including the Girl, Cub, and Boy Scouts, Whale Scout, and the Northshore YMCA for their volunteer time as well. We are pleased to announce that we have a paid internship opportunity available for a student interested in environmental education. The internship was designed with college students in mind, but we are willing to consider a disciplined high school senior, or anyone else who might be interested in supplementing a science or education background. Please read the following and pass this on to those who might qualify. Environmental Education Internship Winter/Spring Quarter 2017 Description: Looking for an energetic and reliable student to help with curriculum planning, design, implementation, and assessment. Friends of North Creek Forest is a non-profit organization committed to maintaining and improving the ecological function of North Creek Forest through stewardship, education and conservation in perpetuity. Our education program has ambitious goals which include providing environmental education programming that enhances nature relationships and provides classroom to field curriculum in support of NGSS standards. The environmental education program works with a variety of school and community partners and we anticipate building many new relationships as we grow. Intern will work with the Education Manager to design a detailed project outline and schedule for each quarter, as well as a plan for one or more teaching opportunities. In addition interns will assist in a variety of duties including curriculum design, program marketing, outreach, and preparation (reading and logistics) for committee meetings. The winter quarter will be the planning and design phase of community programming to be launched in the spring quarter. The spring quarter will provide more opportunities for instruction and outreach. We would prefer to hire one student for both the winter and spring quarters. Expectations:
Students will be able to:
In September of 2013, we welcomed our first group of students from Soundview International Baccalaureate. This year, 5th graders from that group are in 8th grade and recently visited us for their last school visit. It's been wonderful watching them grow, as they in turn watch the plants they've nurtured grow. Our relationship with this school is unique in that the students are able to come back once a month for at least a school year, this allows them to experience long lasting relationships with the space they've helped to restore. We were recently gifted with student authored essays written in reflection of their times with us. Please take a moment to read Derek's thoughts on his service learning experience:
The final numbers are in and we planted 161 native trees and shrubs and spread 20 cubic yards of mulch during our Fall Planting Event on Nov. 19th! The work was completed by a total of 62 volunteers who were neighbors, Soundview students, members of local Girl Scout troops, college students, or from Whale Scout. Thank you to everyone who volunteered and helped reinforce the access trails and increased the amount of native plants within North Creek Forest! We'd also like to thank Bartlett Tree Experts in Kemore and Go Natives! Nursery who between them, donated all of the plants with an estimated retail value of $650. Upcoming Work Party The beginning of a new year also means the beginning work for a new restoration site! As part of your new year's resolution, or just for fun, join us on Saturday, January 7th for our opening of the 242nd St. Restoration Site from 10:00am - 1:00pm. If interested, please sign-up via our website's volunteer page. Thanks!
By Marin Kaetzel
The forest always felt like an extension of my home. My family was once “adopted” by a family of raccoons who visited us every night and dined on our cats’ food. My dad found endless joy watching Steller’s jays gather and hide peanuts he’d faithfully throw on the back deck each day. Even when tragedy struck in the loss of the family cat to a coyote, we knew that too was just part of living in harmony with the forest. I’ll never forget when they first started bulldozing our beloved woods...
With the final purchase under contract, the City of Bothell is wasting no time and we are thrilled to announce that the master plan for North Creek Forest will start in early 2017! The City has posted the RFQ for a landscape architect to facilitate this exciting project.
The UW Restoration Ecology Network (UW-REN) is a tremendously valuable partner. Each year, since 2011, a team of UW students has planned and executed a restoration project in North Creek Forest. This year's team brings multiple ecological capabilities ranging from invasive removal, plant identification, technical skills including video editing and GIS mapping, as well as multiple accounts of project management experience. Read on to learn more about this year's team, and join us for their first work party on January 7, 2017 to meet them in person.
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