Category: Updates

The school year has started again, and we know what that means… water quality testing! We’ve been getting ready in anticipation for our field trips this Fall and are excited to share all the learning (and fun) we have planned!

This month we’ve been meeting with teachers, taking inventory, delivering supplies, and doing water quality training with our community. Nine teachers gathered at the Nisqually Indian Tribe’s Kalama Creek Hatchery with South Sound GREEN and the Nisqually River Education Project. There they got to get some water quality practice in, observe the creek, and get a tour of this amazing facility as they learned about the connections between us, salmon, and the water. Whether you’re new or returning, we want to make sure everyone is feeling prepared and confident! A big thank you to everyone who was able to join us.

This month we also have our new AmeriCorps member joining us! Elijah Orr was an intern in the Fall of 2024 and has come back to continue educating students about water quality.

Photo collage from each month of the past school year

While students rest and refresh during a summer break, South Sound GREEN is resetting for the year to come! Behind the scenes may not be as exciting as our field programs and classroom lessons. However, this time really helps us to prepare for engaging students all school year long. We are grateful to have the time to clean up and reorganize.

South Sound GREEN takes a lot of time, energy, and enthusiastic people. If you or someone you know is interested in volunteering with us over the next school year, please reach out! Experience in education, water quality, intertidal biology, salmon, and other environmental education topics is very useful. If you are interested in joining our amazing group of volunteers and partners, please reach out to Sam at snadell@thurstoncd.com with the subject line “SSG Volunteer Interest – YOUR NAME.” We can’t wait to meet old and new faces when programming returns!

Teachers and staff gathered on the Pierce County Ferry. Photo by Tristan Olson. 

South Sound GREEN has just wrapped up the 2024-2025 school year with plenty of good memories and lots of proud moments. We had over 4600+ student interactions! From fall to winter to spring, we had programming throughout every month of the school year. 

Each year we love to support our teachers by inviting them to the Summer Institute for Teachers. This three-day professional development event is hosted at the Billy Frank Jr Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge and put together by South Sound GREEN, Nisqually River Education Project, and Chehalis Basin Education Consortium. Teachers attended workshops and lectures all about this year’s theme: Climate Resilience: Ecology & Community in South Puget Sound. They even went on their own field trip- to Anderson Island! On the island, we got to see all kinds of habitats, including prairies, forests, and intertidal. There was hiking, wrack line surveys, pigeon guillemot spotting, and a recycling relay race. Thank you to all of our partners, speakers, and breakout session hosts! We were excited to have so many experts available to our teachers. 

As always, we’d like to thank our community partners and volunteers. All of this is made possible by you and your enthusiasm for environmental education! Our watersheds are better stewarded by your efforts. We’d also like to give our well wishes to Kelly and Rachael, our Evergreen State College interns who finished their terms with us this month.  

We are looking forward to the next school year to come! 

NTPS Students pull invasive Ivy at Squaxin Park

May was full of new experiences as students explored nearshore environments and saw things they never had before! Our schedule is packed to the gills with exciting spring programs.

North Thurston Public School high school students continued to consider different environmental careers through stations at Squaxin Park. Thanks again to our partners at City of Olympia Parks and the Pacific Shellfish Institute!

Third Grade Nearshore with the Olympia School District kicked off this month. Students descended upon the beach at Burfoot County Park like crabs scattering from a lifted rock. There at the shore, third graders observed adaptations exhibited by the vast intertidal life available. Many CRAB-O’s (bingo’s about crab observations) were completed in a quest to find hairy shore crabs. 

Olympia School District’s 8th graders have been soaking up the sun (and rain) at Meyer’s Point Environmental Field Station. There is plenty of excitement to go around, from sticky mud to oyster dissection. The mud left on the boots and trails left in the grass at the end of each day tells a story of engaging outdoor education. 

Eye On Nature also returned this month. These trips happen in partnership with Chehalis Basin Education Consortium, Nisqually Reach Nature Center, Nisqually River Education Project, and the Billy Frank Jr Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge. Students visit the refuge and practice wildlife observation and ethnobotany studies through Nature Mapping walk and an Ethnobotany walk! Kids always boast new and exciting experiences by the end of each field trip.  

We loved reuniting with our south Puget Sound regional teams at the Washington State Envirothon! High school students competed with their knowledge in forestry, soils, aquatics, and wildlife. Camp Kirby served as wonderful grounds for the competition and left everyone in good spirits. Thanks to all of our participants this year!

A group of students hit the trail at Meyer’s Point Environmental Field Station.

This month was full to the brim with outdoor learning experiences! The sun has been shining down on our high school biology field trips with North Thurston Public Schools. These trips are a collaboration between North Thurston Public Schools, South Sound GREEN, Pacific Shellfish Institute, and City of Olympia Parks. At Meyer’s Point Environmental Field Station and at Squaxin Park students engaged with research measures used by real water quality technicians and restoration ecologists! They have done water quality testing, looking at plankton, nature mapping, and a riparian buffer survey. 

South Puget Sound Regional Envirothon was on April 24th. A total of 13 high school teams from 4 counties travelled to Squaxin Park for the competition. Students completed hands-on exams about forestry, soils, aquatics, wildlife, and did an oral presentation. They also got the opportunity to meet and speak with environmental professionals during a career panel. Congratulations to all of our teams for making it out and giving it their all! 

We welcomed two interns to our team for the spring academic quarter. Thank you to Rachael and Kelly for being a part of South Sound GREEN! Rachael and Kelly are both students at The Evergreen State College and we are glad to have them with us as educators this spring.