Explorers Club Finishes Strong for Our Final Week at Connelly Creek

Connelly Creek Restoration Weekend Report: October 26th, 28th, 29th

Note: Since there are three days of outings in this report feel free to jump down to your Explorer's outing if you don't feel like reading the rest of the report.

Also, check out the photo album with all the photos from our service outings here!

Thursday, October 26th - Mountain Goats, Woodland Caribou, Stinging Nettles

 

Learning how to properly plant our native plants

Kicking things off early we had three groups come out on Thursday and get to work after a day at school; the Mountain Goats, Woodland Caribou, and Stinging Nettles. Although it was a change of pace for these groups, who were all on their second ever Explorers Club outings, all three groups took on the task in front of them and put in a solid day of work. With our first outings setting the tone of fun, playfulness, exploration, and plenty of games, our service outings proved to be different. Instead of romping around the forest, working on restoring our Connelly Creek service site in Happy Valley Park allows us to make up for some of the impact we create by exploring off trail, building shelters, and the other activities we value that inevitably leave some impact on the areas we visit. Additionally, this specific restoration area has been adopted by Explorers Club four years ago and ever since we are the only groups that have worked at this site. It was exciting to see new groups carry on this legacy and do so with energy and enthusiasm.

Everyone enthusiastically digging in the mulch pile

Our day started off by getting to the service site, learning how to safely use our tools, and getting a planting demo by a member of Bellingham Parks. The tasks for the day were to plant a variety of native plants (Salmonberry, Ninebark, Red-Osier Dogwood, Spruce), remove some invasive plants to prep for more native planting, and of course spread a huge pile of mulch! Each group worked together to motivate one another and get the jobs done just in time for the outing to end.

Taking a break to play a big game of Fire in the Forest!

With light fading, we held closing circles for each group and started our walk back to meet parents. The mentors were impressed to see all three new groups come together and, despite having been at school all day, they brought a strong focus and willingness to take on the tasks presented to them. It is exciting to see these new groups get their first service outing under their belt as they have a bright future of making a big impact in the future. One of our mottos is “many hands makes light work” and with everyone chipping in this saying came to fruition making this a fun and memorable day.

Finishing off the mulch pile as the sun sets

 

Saturday, October 28th - Cave Dwellers, Red Foxes, Roosevelt Elk Calves

On a sunny morning, three groups were slotted for working at our Connelly Creek restoration site; the Cave Dwellers, Roosevelt Elk Calves, and Red Foxes. This was the second day of outings where we had two Boys Explorers Club groups and a Girls Explorers Club group working together. Although Connelly Creek has historically been where the boys have done their service outings, it has been so much fun welcoming the Girls Explorers Club groups to this restoration site. Not only have the girls brought with them a strong work ethic and willingness to take on new tasks, but it has been a pleasant surprise to see how many of the GEC and the BEC know each other from school or other walks of life. It is always exciting to see how strong and diverse our community truly is and having these connections persist from school to Explorers Club and back again is something special for the mentors to see.

Working together to plant native species

Jumping into our work for the day, we toured the service site and determined what tasks needed to be accomplished that day. We still had some native plants to plant in our caged areas, some removal of Reed Canary Grass, plenty of digging up Himalayan Blackberry Roots, and of course a huge pile of mulch to spread. Each group split up into thirds to work at one of the three designated work stations. The first group was cleaning up a caged area and prepping it for natives to be planted. The second was scouring the area for blackberries to dig up before mulching, and the third was working on prepping the furthest back cage for planting (the cages are important to keep the abundant deer from eating our young native plants!). It was fun to see the three groups mixing and mingling as they worked and watching the different personalities interact with one another was a treat for the mentors.

Making a big dent in the mulch pile!

After a solid day of work; native plants planted, blackberries dug up, and the entire mulch pile spread across the service site, it was time to call it a day. Each group held a closing circle and shared what they were thankful for with one another (we call this our Attitude of Gratitude). Walking back to meet parents it always feels good to reflect on all the work that was accomplished. With all of our groups working together there was a lot to be thankful for; teamwork, helping Connelly Creek, building work ethic, interacting with peers outside of school, getting our hands in the dirt, and having fun throughout everything.

Victory! Removing blackberries is tough work.

 

Sunday, October 29th - Jumping Mice, Trilliums, Barnacles

With the clear and warm weather carrying on throughout the weekend our groups for Sunday were primed for a strong finish to our weekend of restoration at Happy Valley Park. The Jumping Mice, Trilliums, and Barnacles all showed up eager and ready to get some work done. Having a Boys Explorers Club group (Jumping Mice) and Girls Explorers Club group (Trilliums) out on the same day was fitting as the Barnacles are the first ever gender inclusive group! This was the Barnacles first ever service outing, so it was great to have BEC and GEC well represented to show them the ropes.

Showing off a trophy root from lots of hard work digging

Trekking over to Happy Valley Park, the Jumping Mice and Trilliums were hard at work while the Barnacles walked through the Connelly Creek service site to learn about what work had been done in the past, what our tasks for the day were, and to learn a bit about why we are doing this work. Not only are we trying to give back to the land that we have so much fun playing on during our exploration outings, but everyone is working hard to restore the riparian zone of Connelly Creek so one day we will see salmon return to this little creek in south Bellingham.

Pulling off Morning Glory from the Willow grove

Today was our final day of work at this site until we return in the spring, so it was important for us to have a strong finish. Our tasks for the day were moving mulch and cutting back the Himalayan Blackberry that was invading a grove of willows. From the very start it was clear these groups were interested in putting in a good day of work. This isn’t always the case, but when we paused to play a big game together halfway through our day, there were multiple Explorers who claimed they would prefer to keep working! Although we stopped to play our big group game anyway, this exemplified the hard work ethic that these groups brought to finish our fall service work at Connelly Creek. The one thing that really stood out, however, was the way these groups made work fun. A big reason why they didn’t want to play a game was because they were making their work a game! If these Explorers can remember how to do this later in their lives they will no doubt be happy and hard workers, capable at accomplishing whatever tasks they set their minds to.

Finishing off the last of the mulch pile!

The Explorers Kick Off Service at Connelly Creek on the Weekend of 10/20 -10/22/17

The beginning of the Boys Explorers Club’s fourth year of service at the Connelly Creek Restoration Site marks an exciting new change in the way we approach service programmatically. With some careful scheduling from the EC Coordinators the Explorers will now have the opportunity to serve at both the BEC’s Connelly Creek site and the GEC’s Woodstock Farm site throughout their 2017-18 EC year. This intentional blending of the BEC and GEC through gender inclusive service outings aims to bring about more culture sharing between programs and relationship building between our participants.

Our first week of service at Connelly Creek brought eight BEC groups and two GEC groups to the site and affirmed for our mentors that this change will be a meaningful one. We have planted the seed and can’t wait to see what grows from it!

Service is a wonderful time to talk with the Explorers about our layers of connection and why we serve. In our closing meetings of each service outing we ask the Explorers whom they are serving when they engage in this work. Here is a list of what the Explorers said in response to this question this weekend:
The community at large for making the park a wonderful place to be and creating clean water for all, the salmon and the rest of the animal community that travel through the site, the trees and plants through diversity and balance of invasive vs. natives, the dirt and bugs that live in the soil we mulch, and ourselves through exercise, togetherness, and the great feelings that comes from giving to others when our cup overflows.

Service is also a time for our Explorers to engage in tiered-mentoring. Our elder groups are often paired with younger ones, which creates an opportunity for the elders to model work ethic, safe tool usage, and engage with youth that they often do not interact with in a leadership role. These mentoring opportunities allow the elders to pass along EC culture and share the exciting skills and outings that they have been on and that younger participants will get to do if they stick with the program. Many elder Explorers have reflected that these opportunities remind them of where they began and how far they have come. 

We would like to thank Bellingham Parks and Rec and the Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association for their partnership and for providing EC with the tools, guidance, and support necessary to do this restoration work. Mentors are carful each outing to remind our Explorers that the tools we work with on service projects are borrowed on the contingency that we use them with integrity. It’s also a great time to remind the Explorers that we represent our organization when we work and our actions reflect on it as a whole, which has lead to some powerful discussions regarding the concepts of social capital and intentional community building.

Kicking off our first weekend of service at Connelly Creek our goals were: to orient the GEC to site and the work that had been accomplished over the last three and a half years, revisit and share our culture of tool usage and safety, stomp down the Reed-Canary Grass in our restoration area and then mulch over the top, continue to dig up the Himalayan Blackberry roots near the back of the site and around the perimeter, and weed and mulch the cages where we had planted natives species the year previous which had become overgrown with a noxious weed called Morning Glory.

The Explorers put in a huge effort this weekend and should be proud of their work and collaboration. You will find a short recap from each group’s day below with links to photos of their work at the bottom of each section. Enjoy!

Friday, October 20^th - Townsend’s Chipmunks, Moon Snails, and the Pacific Chorus Frogs:

The Townsend’s Chipmunks (5^th-6^th Grade) arrived at the drop off location to find the Moon Snails (3^rd Grade) also being dropped off. With a look of confusion on both the groups’ faces the mentors gathered them all up and the Explorers introduced themselves by playing a silly game called All My Friends.

After the groups made the walk over to the site and unloaded the tools we circled up for an opening meeting. This was the perfect opportunity for TC to model leadership by explaining to the MS how to use the tools safely and sharing the history of their experience serving at the site. Once the group was oriented they gloved up and got to work on the cage in the middle of the site.

Carefully they worked together to unwind the Morning Glory covering the Red Osier Dogwood, Ninebark, and Red Alders that had been planted in years previous. Their work required a carful eye and persistence, and the Explorers did a great job of modeling our motto slow is fast and fast is slow. One major opportunity in the Explorers’ work at Connelly Creek is that their tasks are not always straightforward and require critical thought. The TC commented on how they had previously cleared the same area they were working on of blackberry and that had given the Morning Glory the opportunity to spread. As they worked together they found the specific tools that worked well for digging the Morning Glory roots and others that helped them unravel the bound vines around the plantings.

The groups paused from their work to greet to Pacific Chorus Frogs (4^th Grade) who they had heard coming from a ways away. Given these youngsters energy the mentors decided that it would be best if they stomped down the Reed Canary grass and shoveled mulch over the top, but not before going over tool safety first!

This proved to be a very useful discussion because after putting in a solid effort moving mulch the boys began to use the sharp Hori-Horis irresponsibly. It was an important moment to group up and talk about staying on task, using the right tool for the job, and respecting the parks tools.

Circling up at the end of the day the groups shared apples, words of the day, and thanks together. Our mentors would like to commend the Townsend’s Chipmunks for the leadership and care the showed the Moon Snails and to all three groups for kicking off service at Connelly Creek with a solid start!

For more pictures from the day please visit this photo album.

Saturday October 21^st – The Banana Slugs, Gray Wolves, Black-Tailed Deer, & Sculpins

The Gray Wolves (7^th Grade) and Banana Slugs (8^th-9^th Grade) arrived at the drop-off location curious as to why the BEC and GEC were at the same location. Circling up the mentors explained the a new change to service outings and front loaded that they were some of the eldest groups in the program and it would be important for them to engage as leaders when the Black-tailed Deer (4^th Grade) and Sculpins (3^rd Grade) groups arrived. It was their role to help the younger groups understand the plan for the day, help them stay on task as they worked, and connect with them as mentors.

It was fascinating watching the elder Explorers interact. The usually outgoing Gray Wolves were a bit introverted as they learned the names of the Banana Slugs and what school they attended. After walking over to the site the Gray Wolves gave the Banana Slugs a tour and the mentors oriented them to the plan for the day.

The Gray Wolves were slated to work with the Black-tailed Deer in the back of the site digging up blackberries and spreading mulch while the Banana Slugs would work with the Sculpins in the cages to continue where Friday’s groups had left off digging up the Morning Glory roots.

The two groups got to work and it wasn’t long after that the Black-Tailed Deer and Sculpins joined. These groups had also brought with them four Explorer Mentor Apprentice from the Red-Tailed Hawks group (7^th-8^th Grade). We were very happy to have them along because the leadership from the elders groups was lacking at times.

The mentors encouraged the Banana Slugs to reach out to the Sculpins through conversation and critiquing of their work. The Sculpins were shy around the elder girls and although they worked alongside each other most of them were hesitant to engage. The Banana Slugs did however do a much better job modeling safe tool usage, staying on task, and putting in effort then some of the Gray Wolves who needed to be reminded that that the Black-Tailed Deer were constantly watching what they did and mimicking their actions.

By the end of our day together five yards of mulch had been spread, many Blackberries had been dug up, the Morning Glory in the middle cage had been completely eradicated, and the Explorers were working harmoniously side by side.  Waving goodbye to the elder groups the younger groups finished their day in a frenzy of mulch moving directed by a few of our EMAs. Way to go crew!

For more pictures from the day please visit the photo album from the day.

Sunday October 22^nd – Branch Hoppers, Storm Wolves, & Pine Martens

The Storm Wolves and Branch Hoppers arrived at the service site impressed with the amount of work that had been done the following day. Circling up with the two groups we went over tool safety and talked about how to best support the younger Pine Martens who were slated to arrive in a half hour. It was these elder groups job for the day not only to work hard and serve the site to the best of their ability, but to also serve the younger group to the best of their ability.

With that the elder groups got to work and the Pine Martens joined in when they arrived. After a half hour or so the middle cage was mulched and sealed and the group split up with most getting to work on the blackberries in the back of the site. The rest opened up the front cage to repair the damage the deer had done and weed out the Reed-Canary Grass around the natives plantings.

This project turned out to be a lot of fun and called for some critical thought and problem solving as the boys tried to rewire the broken sections of fence, drive in repurposed posts, and dig a trench to level it out.

About halfway through our day our group had become quite spread out over the site, allowing those who were self-motivated to connect and engage in their own specific projects and the rest to squirrel out and disappear into the fringes of the site. Calling the group into a big circle the mentors explained what they had been witnessing and called for some refocusing for a strong finish to our day.

We reminded Explorers that with seven explorations per year and only two service outings our work at Connelly Creek was a chance to give back to the land that we have so much impact on. With that the groups refocused and the made a strong finish to the first weekend of service at the site.

Looking around the whole front half of the site had been mulched with the Reed Canary Grass stomped down and covered up, our front two cages were reinforced, weeded, and our native plantings were as best prepared as they could be to weather the coming winter, and a considerable amount of blackberries had been dug in the back of the site.

In our closing meeting we talked with the groups about our motto, our cup overflows, and what service meant personally to each of the Explorers. It was a very fruitful conversation and helped the Explorers recognize that we were able to give because we already had so much that filled our cups.

For more pictures from the day please visit this photo album.

Gray Wolf Pups and Sculpins Restore Salmon Habitat at Connelly Creek

The Gray Wolf Pups met the Sculpins for a service outing at Connelly Creek. We were blessed with glorious sunny and warm weather on this last day in April. After gathering at the park and ride, we made the five minute walk down to our service site in Happy Valley Park.

Enjoying sunshine at our service site

By the time we got there, lots of work had already been done at the site. So far this spring, other groups were able to finally rid most of the stream bank of blackberries. Also, there has been lots of walking down of the reed canary grass and mulching on top. Today, we would further these efforts by doing additional blackberry removal, reed canary grass flattening and mulching as well.

Leave with full buckets...

...come back and fill them up again

Historically, salmon have used this creek to spawn in. The salmon have stopped using Connelly Creek because the quality of the stream has been severely degraded due to human development. By doing restoration around the creek (in the riparian zone) we can help make sure that this stream is once again clean, cold and clear so that salmon can utilize it as a spawning ground.

The stream is looking healthier already!

Today we knocked down reed canary grass, covered it with mulch and dug up plenty of blackberries. Covering grass with mulch may not seem like something that would help salmon spawn in a creek, but it does! By covering up this grass, we are disallowing it to grow to heights that would shade out the native trees that we have planted at our site. Once our trees get tall enough, they will do the shading out of the reed canary grass and we won't have to mulch anymore! The blackberries will also shade out our native tree and shrub species that we have planted so it is important that we remove them as well.

Attacking blackberries

In BEC, when we are out exploring, we attempt to Leave No Trace. However, we know that this is impossible. During the course of our explorations, despite our best efforts, we will snap an Oregon grape plant or cause erosion on a hillside as we scamper up it. In an attempt to seek balance in our give and take relationship with nature, we come to Connelly Creek to do habitat restoration. This work benefits all of the plants and animals that live near or in the stream (including salmon!), as well as all of the people that live nearby.

A mountain ash enjoys the freedom of no longer being choked by blackberries

The youngest explorers out today were the Sculpins. This season their earth skill focus is the Art of Harvest. At the end of the day, one of the mentors connected harvest to the service that we are doing at Connelly Creek. In protecting and rehabilitating salmon habitat, he told us, we are ensuring that there will be salmon for people to harvest in the future. It was a good reminder that, due to the sheer number of us and our impact, we as humans are responsible for taking care of the only earth that we have. If we don't, who will?

To see the rest of the pictures from our day, click here.