Whale Scout Helping Out

On Saturday October 4th we had the pleasure of again hosting what is becoming the annual, "Whale Scout - Helpin' Out" work party along with Evergreen Karate and Jujitsu of Bothell.

Whale Scout was founded by Whitney Neugebauer in 2013 to coordinate shore side whale observations up and down the Salish Sea. Whitney with a Master’s degree in Marine and Environmental Affairs, is the nonprofit organizations director and, along with core work you see to the left, has inspired 4 community "helping out" events each year.

Bryan Alvarez is the head Jiu Jitsu instructor at Evergreen Karate and Jiu Jitsu in Bothell. He has been training for nearly a decade and is thrilled to see the school move to its new location on Main Street.  He loves teaching and getting the kids involved in outside-the-dojo activities, such as Whale Scout Helpin' Out!  This is the second time their organization has joined us as well.  Evergreen Karate and Jiujitsu is a family school teaching an assortment of martial arts classes to adults and children of all ages and experience levels. 

The trick to getting rid of invasive Morning Glory is flexibility and perseverance.

At our restoration site we have 4 invasive species we are eliminating: Himalayan blackberry, Reed Canary grass, Morning Glory and English holly. Here volunteers are dealing with three of the four at once.

It's a big job but 1.5 acres of weeds have now been converted to highly diverse wildlife habitat.  It take a community to do this. 

Toward the end of the event we went over to North Creek to see the returning Sockeye salmon.  The connection between the forest, the salmon and the whales was in full view.

Whitney is in the foreground.  It's pretty clear she is enjoying the event she created.

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Several people didn't make it into the group photo. All totaled we had 32 people working on the site. Nice work everyone. Thank you!

This grant old maple is safe because this part of the forest will not be logged. 22 acres are still at risk.  Please consider this when casting your ballot for Bothell's Proposition 1.

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.  We are grateful for your support.
FNCF