Category: Updates

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.

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.

Action Projects, Environmental Education, South Sound GREEN, Updates

Monthly Update – December 2025

Stephanie Bishop
Our Evergreen intern Tiana helping two students with planting.

We ushered in a chilly December with action projects and seed sorting!

Students from ORLA, Reeves Middle, and Marshall Middle joined us at a local farm and Squaxin Park to participate in habitat restoration. Students worked hard on helping support riparian zones by pulling invasive species and planting native shrubs. Students learned how to properly plant to ensure the best changes for these species and why it’s so important to fight against invasives. Some of these students have participated in water quality testing, leading to some great connections between riparian buffer zones and water quality. The cold was no problem for these conservationists!

This month TnT met at Haki Farmers Collective. Here we spent the rainy afternoon in the barn sorting sorghum seeds and beans as we learned how the plants are used. We even had some time to conduct some science experiments as we tried to pop the sorghum seeds like popcorn! If you have a teen interested in getting some outdoors working experience, contact Sam Nadell at snadell@thurstoncd.com.

We at South Sound GREEN are happy with the work we’ve been able to accomplish this year, and none of it would have been possible without the help of our teachers, volunteers, students, and community partners! We had over 8,000 student interactions this year and multiple new classes and schools participating in our programming for the first time. We have a lot of exciting education opportunities such as South Puget Sound Regional Envirothon and Student GREEN Congress coming up, so keep your eyes peeled for future updates. Here’s to another successful year in outdoor education!

Environmental Education, Salmon, South Sound GREEN, Updates

Monthly Update – November 2025

Stephanie Bishop
Emma, the Billy Frank Jr Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge AmeriCorps member, points out salmon spawning behavior to Rainier High School students at the McLane Creek Nature Trail.

November started with us finishing the last of our Fall water quality trips, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t still getting students outdoors! It’s salmon spawning field trip month for us at South Sound GREEN.

Chum salmon have been making their way back home from the sea to spawn. Students gathered at the McLane Creek Nature Trail to observe the very species they’ve been doing water quality testing for. From crossing over to making redds, students watched excitedly as the salmon exhibited their spawning behaviors. It was awesome to watch students make connections between salmon and water quality!

Stay tuned for some of our favorite events coming up, such as Student GREEN Congress and South Puget Sound Regional Envirothon! If you are interested in helping out in the future with either of these events, please contact Sam Nadell at snadell@thurstoncd.