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
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| Finishing off the last of the mulch pile! |
