Author: Stephanie Bishop

Environmental Education, Nearshore, South Sound GREEN, Updates

Monthly Update – May 2026

Stephanie Bishop
3rd graders at Burfoot playing CRAB-O while holding out a hairy shore crab

With Summer just around the corner, South Sound GREEN has been joining students in our Nearshore and Eye on Nature field experiences!

8th graders from the Olympia School District are traversing Meyer’s Point as they rotate through various stations run by some of our community partners. These students get to pull invasive blackberry, learn about forestry practices, dissect an oyster, and explore the mudflat with all its critters. Through mud, rain, and shine, these middle schoolers got a day full of exciting environmental experiences! A huge thank you to our community partners that make these trips possible.

May also means it’s time for our 3rd grade Nearshore field trips! 3rd graders from Olympia have been exploring the intertidal zone of Burfoot Park near Boston Harbor. All throughout the month they’ve been learning about different plant adaptations, participating in an intertidal scavenger hunt, and getting CRAB-O as they search for hairy shore crabs along the beach. It’s such a joy to help foster respect for the outdoors in students so early on in their education. Thanks to our volunteers for sharing their knowledge with the students!

We also had our very first Eye on Nature field trip this month. Students from Garfield Elementary school came to the Billy Frank Jr Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge to learn all about plants and animals. 5th graders in the morning started with either nature mapping or ethnobotany, either logging the animals they found on the trail or investigating plants and how humans interact with them. After lunch at the twin barns, the groups would swap and experience the other activity. Some students even got to spot the elusive white-faced Ibis!

We finished the last of our North Thurston Public School Nearshore trips at Squaxin Park this month. Thanks to Olympia Parks for their help to make these trips possible!

We also joined our Envirothon teams at the Washington State Envirothon, hosted by Okanogan Conservation District at Conconcully State Park! High school students from all over the state competed in aquatics, soils, forestry, wildlife, and an oral presentation to try and make it to the national competition. A huge hurrah! for all the teams that competed. Great job everyone!

South Sound GREEN, Updates

Monthly Update – April 2026

Stephanie Bishop
High school students competing at the Soils station at the South Puget Sound Regional Envirothon at the Billy Frank Jr Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge

April showers are no match for South Sound GREEN! This month we’ve gotten back into the groove with our North Thurston Public Schools Nearshore trips and Envirothon.

We started our NTPS Nearshore high school trips at Meyers Point. Rain or shine, students got to choose between two career paths – Water Quality Technician and Restoration Ecologist. The WQ Techs got to rotate between the water quality monitoring and plankton stations while the Restoration Ecologists rotated between nature mapping and doing riparian survey work. It’s great to see these students try out new things and figure out what kind of work post school appeals to them! Soon, we will be starting our NTPS Nearshore and 8th grade OSD trips at Squaxin Park. Stay tuned!

April 23rd was our South Puget Sound Regional Envirothon competition! Teams from 13 different high schools and 5 counties congregated at the Billy Frank Jr Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge to put their environmental knowledge to the test. The students participated in hands on environmental exams about aquatics, soils, forestry, and wildlife. On top of that, they had to prepare and present an oral presentation on this year’s current issue – Non-Point Source Pollution. At the end of the day, the competitors got to attend a career panel featuring local environmentalists and ask questions about their paths that lead them to this work. It was a great day filled with learning and friendly competition. A huge thank you to the students and advisors who participated, our volunteers, and the Refuge! If you or someone you know is interested in the competition and want to know more, reach out to Sam Nadell at snadell@thurstoncd.com.

Student GREEN Congress

Monthly Update – March 2026

Stephanie Bishop
Jeff Hogan from Killer Whale Tales doing a keynote for Student GREEN Congress in The Evergreen State College’s gym

The 33rd Annual Student GREEN Congress has officially concluded! This March, South Sound GREEN, the Nisqually River Education Project, and the Chehalis Basin Education Consortium once again joined forces to put together this event for our water quality testing students. We had over 460 student delegates gathered at The Evergreen State College for a day dedicated to scientific discussions and collaborative action. The morning began with a keynote from Jeff Hogan of Killer Whale Tales before students were off to their State of the Rivers sessions. Within these sessions, delegates presented their water quality data, analyzed their findings, and brainstormed impactful action projects with their peers.

In their State of the Rivers groups, student delegates discussed and then voted on different ideas for action projects within their communities. Our volunteers tallied the votes and found that the top three action projects were litter cleanup, planting trees to provide shade, and pet waste management. There were so many great ideas and the enthusiasm the students brought to the discussion was amazing! We hope the delegates will take this knowledge back to their communities to work on implementing their own projects.

The afternoon offered a myriad of workshops for the students to choose from. From hands-on salmon and dogfish dissections to flyfishing and art, delegates got the opportunity to connect with individuals from various environmental fields! This portion of the day was full of knowledge sharing and excitement over the natural world.

A huge thank you to our teachers, volunteers, community partners, and students for participating in this event! It was wonderful to see the passion for stewarding our environment in people of all ages. What a great note to start our Spring programs on!

Environmental Education, South Sound GREEN, Student GREEN Congress, Updates, Water Quality

Monthly Update – February 2026

Stephanie Bishop
Students from East Olympia conducting the dissolved oxygen test at their monitoring site.

With Spring right around the corner, South Sound GREEN has been getting back into the swing of water quality testing and prepping for our annual Student GREEN Congress!

This month, Thurston County students are returning to their monitoring sites to gather their Winter water quality data. These are the times of year that are the most important for local salmon. Rain, cold, or snow won’t stop these scientists!

TnT volunteers joined the Center for Natural Lands Management this past Valentine’s Day for their bonfire for prairie restoration! Volunteers got to collect various brush and limbs from trees cut down for safety and oak release and pile them into a bonfire. This bonfire helps restore our prairie habitats by spreading nutrient rich ash to support the ecosystem. And, of course, no bonfire is complete without s’mores! If you have a teen who is interested in getting some outdoor work experience, please contact Sam Nadell (snadell@thurstoncd.com).

Student GREEN Congress will be taking place on March 19th at The Evergreen State College and delegates are working hard in preparation! Students from elementary and middle schools all over the county will gather to share their water quality data from both Fall and Winter testing. Together they will work to identify hot spots, come up with action projects, and celebrate healthy water parameters. This event is done in collaboration with the Nisqually River Education Project and Chehalis Basin Education Consortium. If you’d like to know more about it, check out our Student GREEN Congress Webpage and this article from Thurston Talk!

South Sound GREEN, Updates

Monthly Update – January 2026

Stephanie Bishop
A student looking at benthics under a microscope.

Welcome back from winter break! Just because it’s still chilly outside doesn’t mean we aren’t going to get some outdoor education in. Our schedule was full of stream ‘bug’ lessons to complement our water quality education in the Fall and an MLK Day of Service with our Teens in Thurston volunteer group.

This month we visited classrooms of students who participated in our Fall water quality monitoring to show them another indicator of water health – benthic macroinvertebrates! We taught students about the importance of stream bugs, how they relate to salmon, and then grouped up around different bins full of water, stream sediment, and real-life bugs! They learned to use a dichotomous key and a pollution tolerance index to identify and group the different critters to determine the health of local waterways. It’s always a treat to show students the importance of water health and having fun while doing it.

Our January Teens in Thurston MLK Day of Service event took place at a local property owned by Dan Mazur, the founder of the Olympia Oyster Seed Planting Project. We were joined by Pacific Shellfish Institute and many volunteers to put together bags of Pacific oyster seed. Our volunteers managed to make 32 oyster bags with hundreds, if not thousands, of oyster seeds! These oysters will grow to provide food, habitat, and filtration services to the marine ecosystem to support the health of the water in Budd Inlet. A huge thank you to our volunteers and for the work that Dan and the Pacific Shellfish Institute put into making this even possible. If you or a high schooler you know is interested in outdoor and environmental volunteer work, please contact Sam Nadell at snadell@thurstoncd.com to join our email list.