Earth Share of Washington

White Center Youth Restore Lakewood Park

- By Steve Dubiel of Earth Share organization EarthCorps

While many young people spent their summer watching TV and relaxing at home, 12 teens joined Earth Share organization EarthCorps to spend their summer restoring White Center’s Lakewood Park. Led by two EarthCorps young adult interns, the teens removed an enormous stand of invasive Himalayan blackberry and created technical design plans for fall plantings and maintaining the area.

“This program has been the most awesome thing I have ever done! It was so cool to know there were other people who cared what happens to our environment too. I am proud every time I see the area we cleared out…All I got to say is you guys rocked my summer!” - Ifrah Ahmed, age 15

Parks Corps participants, aged 13-17, camped for their first time, earned the respect of neighbors using the park, and created strong bonds across different age groups, schools, and ethnic backgrounds. As they completed hands-on work and a complementary education program, participants learned about the importance of urban forests. Youths learned about watersheds, identified their neighborhood watershed and drinking water supply, and explored the role of urban forests in water quality.

“Working here made me a stronger person. It’s shown me that if I put my mind to something that I could accomplish my goals…One of my favorite memories would be going camping. I didn’t think I would make it out alive being the very un-nature person I am. It surprised me how much fun it was. I’m especially proud that I actually hiked up Sauk Mountain. This has definitely been one of the best summers I’ve ever had.” - Nicole Ngyuen, age 14

Parks Corps is modeled on EarthCorps’ young adult training program. Participants spend 80% of their time engaged in service to the community through habitat restoration work. The remaining 20% is dedicated to education that gives participants greater awareness of environmental issues pertinent to their community, as well as of the larger environmental and social context. SPC is founded on a positive youth development approach. The program fosters caring, supportive relationships between teenagers and leaders, as well as peer-to-peer relations. Participants are held to high standards and program leaders are committed to helping them succeed.

Lakewood Park is in White Center, an economically distressed community located in unincorporated King County. One-third of all people in White Center speak a language other than English. The park is known by several names, including White Center Ponds, Lake Garrett, Lake Hicks and Lakewood Park. Efforts are underway to control the flooding and pollution damage in and around the lake, in part through the restoration of plant communities surrounding the lake.

EarthCorps’ mission is to build global community through local environmental service. Each year, EarthCorps leads 10,000 volunteers in environmental education, service and skill building activities. EarthCorps provides environmental service opportunities for people of all ages throughout the year. To learn more, visit www.earthcorps.org

Posted in the November 2005 Earth Page

Watershed Gardens Connects Students to their Schools

- Submitted by Todd Burley from the Homewaters Projects

Last school year, the community at Shoreline School District’s Room Nine Journey School made a home for themselves in a new location. Their involvement in Homewaters Project’s Watershed Gardens program helped initiate deeper connections to their new site.

Watershed Gardens, now in its third year, focuses on water conservation and developing students’ awareness of the natural resources they use. Activities for 4th-6th graders integrate math, science, social studies, language arts, design and exercise. Homewaters’ Schools Coordinator, Linda Versage, trains teachers in the lessons and provides support and assistance throughout the year.

The immediate objectives are tangible. Students learn how water is used, how to measure it and how to conserve it. Then they design, plant and maintain a water-wise garden at their school and educate others.

But what are the long-term benefits of a year-long project like this for a school?

Teachers learn alongside their students. They commit to train, plan and do activities with their students that weave content together. When using project-based learning, teachers take a leap of faith to move forward with intention without knowing what the final outcome will be. This type of teaching opens the way for serendipitous learning experiences that could not be pre-planned.

Families become engaged. If students are enthusiastic about what they do at school, they talk about it at home. An extension to Watershed Gardens, with support from Seattle Public Utilities, allows families to measure their home water use. Parents may assist with the school garden, they see it when they visit school and families learn how to garden wisely at home.

School grounds are transformed by this project. Greening a schoolyard is something the entire school community appreciates and takes advantage of. Though modest in size, water-wise gardens can grow larger over time, acting as a catalyst for learning to expand beyond indoor spaces without leaving school.

Schools create their own sites for doing authentic field-based learning. Field trips are instrumental in connecting the real world to classroom leaning, yet they can be labor intensive for teachers and costly. Going on a field trip and connecting to place can be as simple as walking outside…no permission slips required!

Watershed Gardens can initiate these benefits in the center of Seattle, a large urban environment. This year, Homewaters Project is working with six Seattle Public School District teachers and their students from Kimball Elementary, Bryant Elementary and Summit K-12 on this project.

If you want to learn more about Watershed Gardens or other Homewaters Project programs go to www.homewatersproject.org or call 206-526-0187.

Posted in the November 2005 Earth Page

What is an environmentalist?

- By Louise Alexander

Guest author Louise Alexander contributes regularly through Earth Share’s Journalism/Creative Writing Program. Check out her other stories on the spring water shortage and the life of an international EarthCorps volunteer.

Challenging the popular stereotype

Anger almost made me kill my brother. In the clean, whiteness of my mother’s kitchen, I wanted to strangle him. In the time honored tradition of sibling rivalry, my brother and I have faced off in the center of all domestic drama, the kitchen, slapping each other with insults many times before. We enjoy arguing, not only for the sake of it, but because arguing is a loving family pastime. But on this occasion, the fight had crossed the fine line of taunting into the territory of murderous intent. The name he called me hung in the air, shameless and shocking; he called me an environmentalist!

I would like to know when ‘environmentalist’ became such a dirty word. My brother uses the term as a synonym for someone laughably foolish, a tree-hugging hippie protesting productivity and the national economy. They also wear Birkenstocks, apparently. And the stigma this name carries is universal. While at a barbeque, a friend of mine, working for the Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust, told me that whenever asked what he did for a living, he always replied, “I work for a conservation organization”, and shied away from the term “environmentalist”. But what is an environmentalist? Are people who innocently commute to work via bike environmentalists in spandex clothing? After all, one of the number one contributions to air pollution is car exhaust. But maybe these cyclists just want to exercise more and don’t like sitting through morning traffic, or maybe they just can’t afford the gas. Maybe perhaps, there is some link between health and the environment.

I am left perplexed, aren’t most of us environmentally conscious when it comes to our health? I do not know anyone who doesn’t take for granted either the luxuries of clean drinking water or air. Most of my friends and family take pleasure in a healthy environment that offers them the opportunity to experience the great Northwest outdoors, or swim in a lake. Would any of these folks call themselves environmentalists? Not likely.

Dr. Phillip Dickey, staff scientist for the Washington Toxics Coalition believes that, “health and the environment are inextricably linked”. And while he does consider himself an environmentalist, he recognizes that the term has a side to it that is not effective in communicating to people. However in his organization, the relationship between environmentalism and health is interchangeable.

The Washington Toxics Coalition is mainly focused on protecting public health and the environment by eliminating toxic pollution, such as the widespread use of pesticides and herbicides. Although Washington Toxics Coalition is concerned about pesticide use in general, and would like to see it minimized, they admit that they can’t claim to know if people are misusing pesticides or not because no one is looking over the public’s shoulder when they use those chemicals.

To be honest, I am personally afraid of pesticides. I don’t know what they are. I don’t want to apply a chemical, whose ingredients I have never heard of, to a place I spend a lot of time (my yard) with the warning of don’t touch, ingest, inhale, or expose myself to this product. My brother, however, does not share my fear. He sprayed a section of his yard with a weed killer to make way for a garden. Of course, we argued about it, with my fear taking a backseat to his idea that it was the easiest and most effective solution. He had a brand name on his side and I had nothing but distrust and cynicism on mine. Dr. Dickey, says he sees this attitude all too frequently.

According to Dr. Dickey, my brother is par for the course when it comes to using pesticides and herbicides and he has even found recommendations online for using herbicides as a soil amendment. Yet in Dr. Dickey’s opinion, pesticide and herbicide use isn’t really warranted or effective, but because people think it is an easy way to achieve the desired results, there is a prevailing attitude of, “why not do it?”

“People should care about the misuse of pesticides because the purpose of these chemicals is to kill something,” asserts Dr. Dickey, “and they are usually non-specific and affects can occur in other species. These are serious chemicals and they are being used in large quantities. One of my biggest fears is of all the new chemicals being produced in this country every year, and we still don’t have a good system of understanding the impacts or are able to regulate them all. There are so many stories of how we have messed up; lead, mercury, and now there is a new concern with fire retardants. We don’t seem to be learning from our mistakes.”

Perhaps the public image of the environmentalist is ready to evolve. It is no longer a personal virtue to practice conservation or sustainability, it is a community imperative. The more I spoke with Dr. Dickey, the more I realized that most of the people that contact Washington Toxics Coalition are generally concerned about their health and quality of life. Protecting our clean drinking water, limiting pesticide use, and keeping persistent toxins out of our bodies are health issues, but they are environmental issues as well.

Posted in the October 2005 Earth Page

In Full Bloom: The Garden Connection Program

- Submitted by Holly Unger from ESW organization Community Coalition for Environmental Justice

The Garden Connection (GC) youth interns are hard at work gardening, reaching out to the community and donating fresh vegetables to low income families in Seattle’s Central District. The mission of Garden Connection, a new Community Coalition for Environmental Justice project, is to support the Central District’s low income community through inter-generational relationships and sustainable organic gardening.

Garden Connection provides free, organic produce to low income families, connects youth from local high schools to senior citizens and adults through the medium of organic gardening and provides employment opportunities to local youth. Garden Connection collaborates with many partners, including Cultivating Communities, Madison Market and other community garden projects. The bountiful GC garden sites are the Hawkins P-Patch, Judkins P-Patch and NOVA High School.

The Crew
If you happen to be in the Central District and see a group of young women strolling down Cherry Street with large garden tools; don’t be alarmed, it’s just the GC Crew! The first-ever group of interns for the Garden Connection is proving to be a force to be reckoned with, in and outside of the garden.

The Works
The GC crew has been hard at work watering, weeding, presenting and planning for a productive summer full of good food and community building activities. Most recently the GC crew gave an environmental justice presentation to a group of 7th and 8th graders at the local non-profit Powerful Voices.

Throughout the rest of the summer the GC Crew will be presenting to a variety of youth oriented organizations including Seattle Youth Garden Works and Garden Raised Bounty in Olympia.

Veggie Donations
The GC has donated over 25 pounds of lettuce and kale to the CAMP food bank (Central Area Motivation Program) and directly to families at Yesler Terrace. Community Coaltion for Environmental Justice hopes to expand the program next season by opening a new garden plot directly behind their offices.

Calling All Volunteers!
Are you dying to put your green thumb to good use? Consider volunteering! Please contact Nate or Charhyse for more information or to volunteer at (206) 720-0285!

Posted in the September 2005 Earth Page

Washington Wilderness Coalition Teams Up With School Kids to Support Wild Sky Wilderness

- By Tom Uniack of ESW organization Washington Wilderness Coalition

In May, the Washington Wilderness Coalition worked with the Seattle Meridian Elementary School and the Index Elementary School to give students and opportunity to weigh in on the importance of protecting our wild forests and then go out and get their boots dirty on the trail. The result was a picture/essay/poetry contest focused on the importance of protecting special wild places like the proposed Wild Sky Wilderness. More than 100 entries by students from kindergarten to seventh grade were submitted

The partnership underscores perhaps the biggest selling point of the Wild Sky Wilderness proposal, which is now moving through Congress. The historic proposal would protect 106,000 acres of lowland forest and salmon habitat less than 2 miles from the small rural community of Index in the Skykomish River Valley as well as preserving a prime recreational destination for millions of families in Seattle and throughout the Puget Sound who live less than 90 minutes away.

Student entries were judged by a panel of noteworthy local judges including Seattle Times columnist Nicole Brodeur, Snohomish County Executive Aaron Reardon, Everett Herald reporter Jim Haley, Monroe Mayor Donnetta Walser, Monroe Monitor Columnist Steve Higgins, local Index artist Patrick Woods and Rick McGuire, author of 55 Hikes around Stevens Pass, Wild Sky Country.

The contest culminated in a group hike and trailhead awards ceremony to Barclay Lake, which sits at the foot of Mt. Baring, surrounded by the proposed Wild Sky Wilderness. Representative Rick Larsen (D-WA02), the House sponsor of the Wild Sky Wilderness Act, was on hand to present the winners in each grade with prizes generously donated by REI, Alpine Lakes Protection Society, Index Elementary School and Rick McGuire.

The Wild Sky Wilderness bill has garnered strong local and bipartisan support from more than 120 local elected officials, including more than 60 mayors and 20 Republicans, as well as strong support from hunting and fishing groups, businesses and religious leaders. The bill has passed a key Senate committee in March and is awaiting a vote by the full Senate.

More than 50 parents and students from Seattle and Index showed up for a wet but enjoyable hike through the Wild Sky proposed wilderness. As Nicole Brodeur put it in her June 5 column in the Seattle Times, “we all headed onto the trail, chattering for a while, then falling silent as the trees surrounded us like a cool green comforter. It was contemplative. It was wet. And it was special.”

To read more about the contest and hike and to view all of the student submissions visit http://www.wawild.org/admin/wild_sky_hike.html.

Posted in the July 2005 Earth Page

State Legislature Supports Audubon Center with Capital Budget Funding

- Submitted by Hilary Hilscher from Earth Share organization Audubon Washington

The children and families of Southeast Seattle in particular, and the Puget Sound region in general, are a giant step closer to connecting with nature through an environmental education center in Seward Park, thanks to bi-partisan support in the 2005 Legislature’s budget signed today by Gov. Christine Gregoire.

Legislators from the 11th, 37th, and 41st districts joined forces to secure a significant state investment in the Audubon Center at Seward Park: the historic Tudor-style Annex building on Lake Washington will receive $400,000 from the state toward the renovation costs.

“This project allows all people to understand the importance and the impact the environment has in our daily lives,” said Rep. Eric Pettigrew, who represents Southeast Seattle.

“Enthusiasm and hard work carried the Seward Park vision forward,” said Nina Carter, executive director of Audubon Washington. “Well-deserved applause goes to Rep. Bob Hasegawa, Rep. Eric Pettigrew, Rep. Fred Jarrett, Rep. Judy Clibborn, Rep. Sharon Tomiko Santos, Rep. Zach Hudgins, Sen. Adam Kline, Sen. Brian Weinstein, Sen. Margarita Prentice, and Rep. Hans Dunshee.”

This funding adds to the City of Seattle’s contribution of $618,000 from the Pro-Parks Levy of 2000, and will help attract federal and private support, according to Carter.

The 3,200-square-foot, 1927 Annex building at the park entrance carries a total renovation price tag of $2 million. Together with the former fish hatchery, the buildings will house the program’s classrooms, citizen-science laboratory, nature library, natural history exhibits, and welcome center.

The Audubon Center will provide a safe place for at-risk youth and their families with after-school programs and school field trips to help children learn about issues relevant to their lives including environmental health, sustainability of local resources, and how individual actions can build healthy communities.

Seward Park is a 277-acre forested peninsula on the shores of Lake Washington, where natural diversity meets human diversity. Southeast Seattle is the city’s most ethnically diverse neighborhood - it’s home to 73 different ethnic groups - and is the only neighborhood in Seattle without an environmental education facility.

At full capacity, Audubon will serve approximately 58,000 children and adults annually through 850 programs including after-school projects, school field trips, summer camps, teacher trainings, senior classes, and adult and family courses. Audubon programs will offer opportunities for hands-on, inquiry-based learning in a variety of disciplines including arts, humanities, and sciences, utilizing the natural resources of Seward Park as an outdoor classroom.

Numerous community groups such as SouthEast Effective Development, Woodland Park Zoo, Community Coalition for Environmental Justice, and Seattle Audubon have asked to create partnership programs at the Audubon Center at Seward Park.

Posted in the June 2005 Earth Page

Environmental Education Aids Student Test Scores

- submitted by Hilary Hilscher from Earth Share of Washington organization Audubon Washington

Students involved in environmental education score higher on standardized tests than students with more conventional schooling, according to a report released October 13 by the Environmental Education Association of Washington (EEAW).

"Not only do kids in environmental education frequently do better on standardized tests, they also tend to have higher overall grade averages, stay in school longer, and behave better in their classes," said Tom Moore, president of EEAW and director of Spokane's West Valley Outdoor Learning Center. "We're seeing such results in both Washington State and across the country."

Environmental education, an approach that uses nature to teach the three "Rs," is offered both in schools and in non-formal settings such as zoos, parks, aquariums, and nature centers.

The Report Card on Environmental Education in Washington, compiled by EEAW written and produced by Audubon Washington and Washington Department of Natural Resources, gives top marks to EE's ability to improve students' standardized test scores, Washington's strong legal and academic foundations for EE, and the innovative EE approaches around the state. However, general public awareness of EE and its benefits rated only a 'C' grade, while state support for EE scored a 'D'.

Despite the 1991 state mandate that EE be available in all schools, many still offer little or none. A statewide survey in 2001 by the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction showed that 87 percent of teachers want more information on how to improve student learning using EE as a context for learning. The same percentage want EE lesson plans, training, and technical support.

Overall, the Report Card recommends that the state develop a strategic plan to ensure uniform quality, quantity, and delivery of environmental education to students across Washington.

"Aside from its academic advantages, environmental education also saves taxpayers money by getting schools and communities involved in natural resource research to collect useful data," said Jeff Koenings, director of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

The report also cites recent research showing popular support in Washington for environmental education: 96 percent of respondents said EE helps maintain a healthy environment for humans, 95 percent said it helps achieve sustainable use of natural resources, and 92 percent said it helps prevent expensive environmental problems.

Teachers using environmental education said it helps students develop critical-thinking skills and become more involved with their communities.

The report card also contains profiles of several EE programs in Washington: the Wild Wise Program developed by Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo that goes to schools statewide, Project Bluebird in Olympia, Project CAT in Cle Elum, Vancouver's Watershed Monitoring Network, and the West Valley Outdoor Learning Center in Spokane. A citizen's action guide offers recommendations for parents and students, educators, business people, and elected officials.

For more information, and to read the complete Report Card, please visit Audubon Washington's website - http://wa.audubon.org.

Posted in the November 2004 Earth Page

Neighbors Helping Each Other and Puget Sound

- by Daoud Miller, ShoreWatch Coordinator, People For Puget Sound

Pat Collier shared her beautiful waterfront property on Maury Island with four-dozen 4th-graders in May; and she received some very helpful weeding and watering in exchange. Georgia Hartness' and Mary Heath's classes from Chautauqua Elementary School on Vashon Island visited Pat's place twice in July. The children heard how Pat is removing fields of invasive blackberry and ivy and restoring native plants to her upland property, creating habitat essential for a healthy nearshore environments.

The theme for the class was "Bugs are an important part of the food web." Through several activities and games, the 4th-graders learned that replacing a monoculture of non-native plants like blackberries with a diversity of native plants creates habitat for a variety of terrestrial insects. Pat pointed out the bird box in the middle of her newly restored field of native plants and the pair of violet-green swallows catching insects to feed their baby birds in the box. ShoreWatch program coordinators Mary Beth Dols and Daoud Miller told the classes, "Terrestrial insects are food for a complex web of animals, including as much as 50% of the diet of juvenile salmon foraging in nearshore waters."

Georgia's class was able to explore marine life on the beach during a low tide; and Mary's class played a game demonstrating how insects are an essential part of the food web supporting the lives of salmon and orca whales. The 4th-graders then assisted Pat with the ongoing care of her restoration area by weeding and watering the new plants.

The educational work parties were funded by a "Splash" grant from King County and were in alignment with Chautauqua School's mission "to foster a partnership between students, staff, parents, and the larger community and to teach and practice the principles of respect and responsibility." Teacher Mary Heath exclaimed, "Thank you for a very fun learning day at Pat Collier's. I love everything we've done with People For Puget Sound; you are so organized and professional and good with kids!"

Pat said that she would love to have more educational and involvement programs at her place on Maury Island. "The more children and adults learn about the restoration and care of native habitats in the nearshore environment, the better it is for salmon and animals in Puget Sound."

Posted in the September 2004 Earth Page

In Brief: Native Plant Appreciation, Trout Unlimited Events, Toxic Body Burden, & Wildlife Volunteers Needed

Native Plant Appreciation
The results are in from the Native Plant Appreciation Week that we mentioned in the May Edition of The Earth Page. Over 70 activities in 19 counties were organized by Washington Native Plant Society Chapters and others throughout the state. People could participate in cleaning up a native prairie in Port Townsend, visit a Native Plant Stewardship project, learn about beach plants, tour a native plant garden, take a lichen walk, identify native plants in one of our state parks, visit a prairie on a military base, or listen to some great talks on shrub-steppe, ethnobotany and pollination ecology. At least thirty-eight cities and three counties declared May 24-30 Native Plant Appreciation Week, along with Governor Locke and the State of Washington. It may have been mostly symbolic, but it's nice to know that cities and counties throughout the state took the time during a council meeting to proclaim: native plant species are an important part of Washington's heritage ... our state enjoys an amazing diversity of over 3,000 native plant species ... preserving native plant ecosystems is critical to the long-term health and use of our natural resources ... over 360 of our native plant species are listed as rare ... invasive plant species present a threat to sustaining Washington's native ecosystems ... and urge all our citizens to learn more about our native plants, their habitats, and how to protect them.

Trout Unlimited Activities Around the State
The Des Moines Salmon Chapter of Trout Unlimited is actively working on stream restoration, including projects intended to improve in-stream habitat and produce high-quality riparian zones along these severely impacted urban salmon streams. To date, nearly a half-acre of invasive plants have been removed and more than 400 native plants have been planted near Sea-Tac Airport.

The Tacoma Chapter of Trout Unlimited has sponsored and assisted eight kids' fishing events this year, along with their fish-ins for disabled veterans at the American Lake Veterans' Hospital. Recently, the Army National Guard joined Trout Unlimited in their effort to restore Murray Creek, joining the battle against invasive plant species. Work continues and, thanks in large part to Trout Unlimited, the creek will continue to be an angling destination.

The Rainshadow Chapter of Trout Unlimited, in cooperation with the Greywolf Fly Fishing Club and Jefferson County Parks & Recreation, sponsored its fourth annual kids' fishing day at Lake Leland in June. Rainbow trout at the derby ranged from frying pan size to more than five pounds. The Rainshadow Chapter also supervised another year of the Salmon in the Classroom program at Grant Street Elementary School in Port Townsend.

Toxic Body Burden
Many U.S. residents carry toxic pesticides in their bodies above government assessed "acceptable" levels, according to a report released today in May by Earth Share of Washington organizations Pesticide Action Network North America (PAN) and Washington Toxics Coalition. Chemical Trespass: Pesticides in Our Bodies and Corporate Accountability, presents a first-time analysis of information on pesticides in the bodies of more than 2,000 people, collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The Washington State Department of Ecology has a program to eliminate persistent toxic chemicals, but the 2004 legislature exempted pesticides from the program. The Toxic Free Legacy Coalition, which includes the Washington Toxics Coalition, is using the study results to urge the Department of Ecology to include pesticides in its program to eliminate persistent toxic chemicals.

PAWS Wildlife Seeks Volunteers
Every summer the PAWS Wildlife Center receives hundreds of sick, injured and orphaned baby songbirds. Their goal with each of these animals is to restore them to full health, raise them until they are old enough to fend for themselves, and return them to suitable habitat in the wild. Reaching this goal is extremely challenging and labor intensive. During the months of May, June, and July they may have 100 or more young birds in the center at once. The majority of these birds require hand feeding once every half hour for 12 hours per day. 100 birds X 2 feedings per hour X 12 hours = 2,400 feedings per day! This quickly adds up to hundreds of hours of care given to ensure that these young birds have the best possible chance for survival when they are released. If you would like to receive training and firsthand experience in the field of Wildlife Rehabilitation, volunteering is an excellent way to do so. More information on volunteering with PAWS can be found at this link: www.paws.org/help/vol/

Posted in the August 2004 Earth Page

Sierra Club Campaign to Save Our Wild Heritage; In the Footsteps of Lewis & Clark

- submitted by Lisa Dekker from ESW member Sierra Club Foundation

Much has changed since the days of Lewis and Clark 200 years ago. The Columbia River is no longer, in Meriwether Lewis' words, "crouded [sic] with salmon." To recognize what's lost and celebrate what's left, the Sierra Club has launched a five-year campaign commemorating the Lewis and Clark bicentennial by conserving and restoring our wild heritage.

Sierra Club's hope is to use the bicentennial of Lewis and Clark to help America rediscover these incredible lands and urge Americans to advocate the protection and restoration of our remaining wild places. Its goal is to permanently protect millions of acres of remaining wildlands in Lewis and Clark country, preserve and restore key wildlife habitat and protect threatened and endangered species like bison, wolves, grizzly bears and salmon. The Club proposes: wilderness designation, hands-on conservation, lands acquisition, smart growth and ending commercial logging on our National Forests and public lands.

Here in Washington, thirty miles north of the Columbia River and nestled between Mount. St. Helen and Mount Adams, lies the Dark Divide Roadless Area. With approximately 57,000 acres of intact roadless land, it represents a unique topographic region unduplicated by any other protected roadless area in Washington's southern Cascades. The southern portion of the area drains into the Lewis River, named for Meriwether Lewis.

Despite recent logging, the area provides prime terrain for horseback riding, hunting, hiking and backpacking. Sierra Club organizers have worked to focus public attention on the benefits of Dark Divide by tabling at farmer's markets, home and garden shows and on college campuses.

For more information about the Sierra Club's Lewis & Clark Wild America campaign or to find out how you can help, go to www.sierraclub.org/lewisandclark/ or email lewisandclark@sierraclub.org.

Posted in the February 2004 Earth Page

Warning: Dangerous Art Ahead

Local photographer, activist wins National Sierra Club Award

Bellevue resident and former Boeing engineer, Subhankar (pronounced "shoe-BANK-ar") Banerjee, recently received the National Sierra Club's Special Achievement Award, which recognizes a single act of particular importance dedicated to conservation. He left his job and overcame immense obstacles, in order to spend 14 months taking photos in one of the most remote and beautiful areas of Alaska. The result was Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Seasons of Life and Land. The book was the product of his field research documenting life in this harsh but fragile arctic ecosystem and contains stunning images of wildlife and daunting landscapes. Along with the photos are essays by people like President Jimmy Carter, Peter Matthiesen, and David Sibley, which further illuminate us as to the hidden values and timeless qualities of this "sacred place where life begins" according to the Gwich'in people who live there.

Banerjee was catapulted into the national prominence this spring when an exhibition of his Arctic Refuge photos at the Smithsonian Institution's Museum of Natural History was mysteriously moved from a prominent place in the rotunda to the basement. That happened right after Senator Barbara Boxer held up an advance copy of the book during a debate on opening the Refuge to oil drilling. She urged her peers to read the book before making any decision on the drilling. There was speculation that political pressure caused the Smithsonian to move the exhibit. A flurry of articles in the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Newsweek, and on National Public Radio told the tale to the nation and kept the Refuge and its threatened status in the public eye.

In addition to writing the book, Subhankar tirelessly tours the country to educate people about the beauty, vitality and hidden life dramas that abound in this wilderness. It has to be part of the reason the public continues to tell Congress that the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge should remain undrilled, unspoiled, and magnificent.

For information on protecting the Refuge, contact Kathleen Casey at Kathleen.casey@sierraclub.org. The book was published in both hard and soft-cover editions by Mountaineers Books. To purchase a copy go to www.mountaineersbooks.org.

Posted in the December 2003 Earth Page

Adventures in Environmental Justice!

This summer, Earth Share of Washington member EarthCorps launched Adventures in Environmental Justice (AEJ): a new outreach and community development program for urban youth. The program was designed by EarthCorps ORCA - Outreach, Restoration, Community Action - Apprentices. Two week-long, summer leadership camps brought together teens age 13-18. Week one focused on the Delridge/White Center area and week two brought together youth from the SE Seattle area.

"We wanted to do the program because we found that the concept of environmental justice resonates for urban youth. It connects them to the environment and it relates to their lives," says Kale Rose, EarthCorps ORCA Apprentice.

The Adventures in Environmental Justice program included hands-on work and overnight camping, as well as educational sessions about environmental and social justice issues. A project development workshop helped participants, and the EarthCorps ORCAs, think about next steps. Their goal for AEJ is for it to be a stepping-stone to greater youth involvement in community environmental issues. Challenges this summer included working with first-time campers who were very upset to discover that there wasn't any shower, and working with youth who had never thought about getting involved in a community project.

Developing the program was a great opportunity for ORCA. They look forward to developing exciting new relationships with partner agencies like Community Alliance for Youth and the White Center Community Development Association. AEJ intends to create a lasting legacy of youth-driven community building.

To get involved in the program, please contact Allison Riese at EarthCorps, (206) 322-9296.

Posted in the September 2003 Earth Page

Environmental Education in Washington State

- by Liz Banse from ESW member Washington Foundation for the Environment

Summer is here and high school graduates have tossed their hats high in the air. While there is much to celebrate, debates over education funding point to a crisis in education. One part of every public school student's education that must be protected is environmental education curricula.

Washington's environmental education programs are nationally renowned for their quality. Our schools have practiced "environmental education" since the 1950's. Back then, "environmental education" meant an annual field trip to a park or outdoor residential center. In 1985, the state legislature requested the appointment of a task force to assess the needs and status of environmental education in the state. This led to passage of legislation requiring schools to provide environmental education. In 1990 the State Board of Education expanded the law to require environmental education at all grade levels in an interdisciplinary format. This act catapulted our state to the national forefront in environmental education.

One nationally award-winning environmental education curriculum developed in this state more than ten years ago, and now involving more than 600 schools, is called "Salmon in the Classroom." This program teaches students about water quality and habitat issues. Students raise salmon in their classrooms and learn about relationships between species and explore conditions within a given watershed.

The benefits of environmental education go beyond raising environmental awareness. Students in environmental education programs "earn higher grades and score better [on standardized tests] in reading, writing and math," according to a study conducted in 1998 by the State Education and Environment Roundtable (SEER). The SEER study also revealed that these students had fewer attendance, attitude and discipline problems than their peers in traditional classrooms.

It has not always been smooth sailing for environmental education in this state. Public funding for environmental education has been criticized. Several years ago, an Arizona-based anti-environmental education activist, Michael Sanera, backed by the Competitive Enterprise Institute, began working locally with the Evergreen Freedom Foundation to undermine our state-funded environmental education programs. In response, a coalition of civic organizations, the education and environmental communities, parents and public officials formed a group called Citizens for Environmental Education to protect the laws requiring environmental education in the public schools.

As our region goes through cycles of water shortages, species loss and other environmental dilemmas, it is even more crucial that our populace has the ability to understand complex environmental issues. Strong environmental education programs will deliver this skill to the next generation of environmental stewards.

Historical information on environmental education in Washington State provided by Audubon Washington.

The Washington Foundation for the Environment supports environmental education and innovative projects focused on environmental awareness. (www.wffe.org)

Posted in the July 2003 Earth Page

A Keithley Middle School Group L.E.A.P.S. into Environmental Education

- submitted by Stephanie Raymond from ESW member People For Puget Sound

Estuaries are wet. Really, really wet! That was one lesson Spanaway's Keithley Middle School students learned at the Nisqually Wildlife Refuge as they completed their journey through the Nisqually River watershed with People For Puget Sound's LEAPS (Learning, Experiencing and Adventuring in Puget Sound) program.

The student's previous visit to Mount Rainier to see the Nisqually headwaters took place on a beautiful October day. On a rainy January day, the same students saw what the Nisqually looks like as it enters Puget Sound. Rain didn't dampen their enthusiasm for spotting wildlife in the estuary, including black tail deer, salmon, frogs, and many types of migratory waterfowl.

One student's particular mission was to see a chickadee and hear its distinctive song. An obliging chickadee landed in a tree near the trail and answered when she called. Other students, taking shelter on the visitor center's covered deck, watched the freshwater marsh in complete silence and sketched the ducks and song birds they spotted. A tiny frog's loud calls gave away its hiding place for another group, while still others lined up to view a red-tailed hawk and pintail ducks through a spotting scope.

Students had the opportunity to dry off a bit in the refuge's environmental center, where they took turns creating estuary food webs, examining wildlife specimens, studying species adaptations and getting a bird's-eye view of the entire watershed with the help of a three dimensional mountain-to-sound model of the river.

LEAPS encourages middle school students to draw personal connections between their lives, their local watersheds, and Puget Sound with an integrated curriculum and field trips. Next semester a new group of Keithley students will travel the Nisqually watershed from one end to the other. If you'd like to join them, call education coordinator Stephanie Raymond at (206) 382-7007 ext. 218 or email sraymond@pugetsound.org.

Posted in the May 2003 Earth Page