Snoqualmie Blue Teams Cleaning Up Our Watershed
July Newsletter - Snoqualmie Watershed Forum
By Clay Heilman, Nature Vision 2009
Nothing like a little kid-power to get things done! And the Snoqualmie Valley had lots of it this school year. In fact, 10 classrooms, totaling 220 kids, took on ten separate watershed stewardship projects and completed them this year. Sponsored by a grant from the King Conservation District, the teachers signed up for a special program called “Blue Teams”, where groups of kids took on a watershed enhancement project. Here is what happened in the Snoqualmie Watershed this year:
- At Opstad Elementary in North Bend, Ms. O’Leary’s 5th grade class removed invasive plants, like Scott’s broom, English Ivy and Himalayan blackberry from the trailed natural area next door to their school.
- A home-school Boy Scout groups from the Valley removed Japanese Knot weed from a spot just off the River
- A Girl Scout group planted natives near Lake Marcel.
- Fall City Elementary registered 4 Blue Teams that planted natives on their own school site.
- Eagle Rock Elementary Kinders adopted their local retention pond, cleaning up litter and planting some natives nearby to help the pond clean water.
- Carnation Elementary had 2 Blue teams who decided to educate their community about the Tolt River restoration by producing a digital story for the school community web site.
We applaud these dedicated students and appreciate the work they have done to improve the health of our watershed for people and wildlife alike!