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.
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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!
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Working hard to finish up the last of the planting |
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Moving mulch! |
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Taking a break to play some games |
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Taking part in the pilot Poop Patrol project with Bellingham Parks |
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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!
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