Roosevelt Elk Calves, Jumping Mice, and Townsend's Chipmunks Team Up for Service at Connelly Creek

The Roosevelt Elk Calves, Jumping Mice, and Townsend’s Chipmunks teamed up for a big day of service on a St. Patrick’s Day Saturday. Gathering together at our Connelly Creek Service Site in Happy Valley Park the Roosevelt Elk Calves started things off by helping to prep the site by moving the tools and doing a walk through with the mentors to learn what tasks we would be working on for the day. When the Jumping Mice showed up and started their tool use demonstration, some of the Roosevelt Elk Calves got excited to put on a “skit” to liven things up. After we reviewed safe tool use we teamed up and began working on our projects for the day; planting native species in two new caged areas, removing any remaining blackberries, and mulching, mulching, mulching. The Roosevelt Elk Calves and Jumping Mice were well on the way to getting the first plants in the ground when the Townsend’s Chipmunks showed up.

Getting some native plants in the ground!

Without hesitating that Townsend’s Chipmunks jumped right in to the work. Taking on planting the remainder of the native species in the Red Alder grove, the Townsend’s Chipmunks enjoyed some guidance from a few enthusiastic Roosevelt Elk Calve master-planters. With most of the native species in the ground it was time to transition to moving mulch. Sometimes there is just a desire to do simple work that takes some extra elbow grease. The three groups teamed up and put their noses to the grindstone and began moving mulch faster than all of Mickey’s broomsticks helpers in Fantasia. Before we knew it the mulch pile was almost gone. While the mentors were trying to figure out what else to do we had a surprise visitor; Monica from the Bellingham Parks Department!

Working hard to finish up the last of the planting

Moving mulch!

Taking a break to play some games

Taking part in the pilot Poop Patrol project with Bellingham Parks

Playing "Toss the Turd" !

Taking a break to eat lunch and play a few rounds of "Fire in the Forest” the three groups got a chance to relax and recuperate for a strong finish. Setting our eyes on the remaining mulch the Roosevelt Elk Calves broke from the rest of the group to participate in Monica’s pilot “Poop Patrol” program that will focus on educating Bellingham residents on proper care and disposal of pet waste. Participating in a few educational activities like the “Turd Toss” where the Explorers got to toss bags of fake poop in a trash bin for a prize and the “Poop Patrol” where the Explorers fanned out across the park to flag any piles of dog poop, we had a lot of fun and learned a bit at the same time. With over 20,000 dogs living in Bellingham producing over 15,000 lbs of pet waste a day, it is an ever growing concern that without proper care we could begin compromising the water quality of our local watersheds. Armed with fresh knowledge and feeling satisfied in accomplishing all our tasks for the day at the service site the Roosevelt Elk Calves, Jumping Mice, and Townsend’s Chipmunks went home with smiles on their faces and a solid day of work to hang their hats on. 

Make sure to check out the rest of the photos from our outing here!

Cave Dwellers, Alligator Lizards, and Sea Stars Team Up for Service at Connelly Creek

Starting off our Spring 2018 Service Season, the Cave Dwellers, Alligator Lizards, and Sea Stars joined forces at Happy Valley Park to continue work on our Connelly Creek Service Site. This site has been adopted by the Boys Explorers Club who has been working for over five years to restore the once blackberry infested junkyard to a promising stand of native plants and trees. As the eldest group, the Cave Dwellers had the most experience so they took some time to teach the younger Alligator Lizards how to safely use the tools. While our tool demo was wrapping up with Sea Stars showed up and we all grouped together to get started on our work for the day.

Circling up for a tool demonstration

To start things off for the season we had a very straight forward task; weeding of the wired cages, spot removal of blackberries, and plenty of spreading mulch. Getting to work everyone teamed up with their friends and found a project to work on. While some Explorers used Hori-Horis to dig up weeds and blackberry roots, others loaded up buckets of mulch, while even more ferried the mulch to be spread over the recently weeded areas. Others found patches of Reed Canary Grass to walk down and mulch over. Oftentimes mentors are required to be task-masters and micro manage the Explorers to ensure all the work gets done. Luckily, however, today was not one of those days. The three groups worked hard from start to finish, stayed on task, were safe and respectfully using the tools, and everyone even seemed to be enjoying themselves! This was wonderful for the mentors to see and made for a fun, laid back day of service for all involved.

Shoveling mulch!

Hauling mulch!

Dumping mulch!

With most of the mulch pile moved and our time running short we gathered together and played a big game of Fire in the Forest together to celebrate our hard work. Not only was it great to see all three groups working and playing so well together, but the beauty was in the greater context. We had older groups and younger groups. There were Boys Explorers Club and Girls Explorers Club groups. Our goal for the day was service and giving back working hard for something greater than ourselves. With all these variables mixing together it was inevitably a fantastic day and so much fun to be a part of. 

Make sure to check out the rest of the photos from our outing here!