Category: Updates

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.

Delegates observe the external anatomy of a shark in the “Sharks in Puget Sound: A Look Inside Dogfish!” workshop at Student GREEN Congress. 

Every March marks the start of spring and the culmination of student water quality testing all around our watersheds- at Student GREEN Congress! This event was put together in partnership with South Sound GREEN, Nisqually River Education Project, and Chehalis Basin Education Consortium. 450 students gathered at the Evergreen State College to present their data and discuss results and action projects with peers. In these State of the River Sessions, student delegates got to meet with other students from their watershed to build a picture of water quality across the watershed area. 

Every group of student delegates brought ideas for action projects to improve water quality at their testing site. After discussing all of the ideas with other delegates, each session chose one idea together. The most popular action project idea was to reduce littering, followed by planting native plants and education. The day was filled to the brim with collaboration, stewardship, and enthusiasm for our shared environment. 

Student GREEN Congress offered 26 enriching workshops this year through many of our amazing community partners. Students dissected salmon, built birdhouses, made plankton batiks, performed banana salmon surgery, forest journaling, oyster shucking, and so much more! Our student delegates had a full day that ignited further excitement for taking care of salmon habitat and protecting healthy streams.  

We’d like to extend a big thank you to all of our community partners and volunteers. Everyone put their best foot forward and helped bring forth a day of stewardship, care, and excitement. 

Students test for pH in the field

We are planning for spring here at South Sound GREEN, with many exciting events on the horizon. This past month has been full of water quality testing and preparation for the upcoming Student GREEN Congress.

As the frost melts and the days get a little longer classes have ventured out to conduct their winter water quality testing. Students in the field and in the classroom are discussing the difference between the seasons and how those factors can affect the salmon in their different life stages. As classes get their testing results they are comparing these to the optimal values for salmon in the stream. 

Student GREEN Congress gives delegates from each class the chance to compare water quality data between seasons and from all over their watershed! This year congress will take place on March 20th at The Evergreen State College. This event is put together in partnership with the Nisqually River Education Project and Chehalis Basin Education Consortium. To learn more please visit the Student GREEN Congress page. 

February’s Teens in Thurston event was held by the Center for Natural Lands Management at the Glacial Heritage Preserve. Participants helped restore prairie land by burning christmas trees. This bonfire helps restore prairie by creating ash and spreading nutrients. It also makes for a good smores opportunity. If you or someone you know is a high school age student with an interest in environmental volunteer work please contact Sam Nadell at snadell@thurstoncd.com.

Thurgood Marshall Middle School students work to identify live bugs

It’s alive! Classrooms have moved from chemical tests to live animals! South Sound GREEN has been bringing benthic macroinvertebrates- or stream bugs- to local classrooms to illustrate how these creatures can help us test water quality. Not all of these creatures are actually bugs but all of them are small water dwelling critters. Some of them are quite sensitive to pollution, so their presence can indicate a low level of pollution in whatever body of water they are found. 

Students are having a blast with these creepy crawlies at their schools. We first taught them about benthic macroinvertebrates in the environment, their importance to salmon, how to read a dichotomous key, and how to use a pollution tolerance index. From there they are interacting with real bugs from their local waterways! Although they have many legs and tails, students are finding love in their hearts for stream bugs.

January’s Teens in Thurston event took place on M.L.K. Jr. Day of Service at the Lacey Regional Athletic Complex. Our volunteers picked up trash on the public access trails. Our clean-up pile was huge by the end of the day! If you or someone you know is a high school age student with an interest in environmental volunteer work please contact Sam Nadell at snadell@thurstoncd.com.