The Alevin, Townsend's Chipmunks and Jumping Mice transform Connelly Creek!

Sunday dawned cloudy, breezy and cool - more typical May weather than we’ve seen this spring. In short, perfect service project weather!

This is how it's done

The Boys Explorers Club has been working at the Connelly Creek site for a few years now. In that time, we’ve stomped down enough Reed Canary Grass to blanket more than a few soccer fields, removed a shameful quantity of trash, cut back scores of Himalayan Blackberry bushes and dug out their roots and, yes, climbed a few trees and rolled fellow explorers in the trash cans we use to haul bark mulch. It’s difficult work (if you don’t consider the tree climbing and trash can rolling), a challenge to our spirits due to the persistence of the tall, invasive grasses as much as to our muscles as we dig, shovel, carry and disentangle from thorny blackberry canes.

It is also important work. For some time, the site was used as a trash dump by some and was taken over by non-native, invasive plants; in short, it was a mess. Through our work in collaboration with Bellingham Parks and Recreation and the Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association (NSEA), we’ve spent one outing each Fall and Spring season over the last 3-4 years working to restore the area to ecological health. When we’ve succeeded in replacing the blackberries and Canary Grass with the Alder trees and Ninebark and other shrubs we planted, and will continue to plant, the resulting biodiversity will cool the creek water to the delight of migrating salmon and the trees and shrubs will offer food and shelter to rodents to the delight of hungry owls and other predators. Perhaps deer will find enough tasty foliage to decide to spend less time in your garden!?! We’re looking forward to the virtuous cycle that will ensue for the land and for the boys as their time connecting with the land leads to an ethic of protecting it (see Mottos). 

Ornery blackberry root!

Persistence will be required for this to happen as we plan. When we’ve returned to the site each of the last few times, the grasses we had beat down and covered with mulch the previous season had returned to full height. Discouraging almost isn’t a strong enough word to describe the feeling. However, on closer examination, we noticed that the slower-growing blackberries would, if we had a time release video, seem to be disappearing before our eyes! And many of the new plantings have taken root and are beginning to take their place in the habitat. I don’t need to tell you how important this lesson is for your boys. To have a lasting, meaningful impact on the important things in life often takes time and relentless focus. Through this work, we’re balancing some of the disruption we cause when we scramble off trail on our explorations and traverses, and we’re putting our values (for example, “Walk Your Talk” - see Mottos) into action.

Three explorers club groups - the Alevin, the Townsend’s Chipmunks & the Jumping Mice - reported for work this service day. At an average of 12 years, the Alevin are one of our senior groups. We scheduled them first so they could show the younger Townsend’s Chipmunks (11 years, give or take) and Jumping Mice (about 9) how it’s done. The Alevin have done the work several times so they understand proper tool use, they often initiate tasks and, importantly, they sometimes coach the younger boys on efficient effort. The mentors work for multiple layers of benefit by scheduling it this way. The younger boys learn the work while the older groups practice leadership.

To be recycled/composted

As this was our last service outing of the Spring, we not only stomped down Canary Grass, spread bark mulch and cut back and uprooted blackberries, we also “buttoned up” the site for the season. This involves raking up all pieces of blackberry canes from the ground, re-staking around our plantings and accounting for all the tools we borrow from NSEA. 

The focus, sustained effort, teamwork, peer coaching, creative problem-solving and ingenuity we strive for was evident at times and nowhere to be found at other times. The older boys needed some direct coaching on their dual role of workers and leaders while the younger boys had the usual challenge sustaining the work. Of course, the need for persistent effort applies to parents and mentors as well as to the boys!

Lookin' better!

Our service efforts are finished for Spring, 2016. Thanks to all Explorers for their exceptional effort. We’ll return in the Fall to continue our slow, steady effort. For now:

• Alevin - Click here to see where and when you meet next,
• Townsend’s Chipmunks - Your schedule is here, and
• Jumping Mice - Check your next outing here. 

All three groups, click here for photos from Sunday’s outing. 

BEC: Serving Connelly Creek with the Vespula Veterans

The Vespula Veterans arrived at the Connelly Creek service site ready to continue their relationship with the landscape. The Explorers roamed the creek comparing and contrasting it from last season. The group found a piece of metal that would bridge the creek gap and placing it down sent one Explorer to test its stability. As soon as he got to the center, the bridge bent sending him waste deep into the creek. I commend him for having fast enough reflexes to catch a tree branch on his way down; as it kept him dry from the torso up.  That was certainly one effective way of testing out the bridge. Finnegan, our volunteer Mentor for the day, graciously offered an extra pair of wool socks to the Explorer saving him from the agony of a cold and wet service day. Circling up Adrian presented an unidentified skull to the group. The group looked in bewilderment trying to decipher what it was. After each of us took our best guess, Adrian told us that it was the skull of a Sea Turtle. The group marveled at the large eye sockets and nasal cavity, it was apparent that these were the turtle’s dominant senses. There are endless mysteries in our wildlands and following them keeps our sense of wonder and exploration alive. This joy and exuberance for life keeps us young and can rejuvenate our spirits all the years of our lives.

Holding the circle, the Mentors took a moment to discuss what had been accomplished at this service site since we were last here. Not only had seven other groups served at the site during this season, but another project taking place nearby. The Padden Creek Alliance was formed in 1997. This alliance includes: the Nooksack Salmon Enhancement, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Bellingham Parks Department, and local citizen groups.  The Padden Creek Alliance is currently working on restoration at Padden Creek. Their goals include  improving flood control and creating space for more salmon to move more freely through the creek. In 1997, a tunnel running about 2,300 feet from 17th to 22nd street (underneath Old Fairhaven Parkway) was identified as a major roadblock for salmon. In the past, fish have been stacked at the end of the narrow tunnel while attempting to return to their spawning grounds. This summer the city began the Padden Creek Daylight Project, to remove the tunnel and build a bridge under old Fairhaven Parkway in order to restore the natural flow of Padden Creek. For more information on the project, please see the link at the bottom of the blog.

Mentors informed the group that locals in the neighborhood had seen salmon running in the creek just a few weeks ago. It is important to let the boys know that they have allies who support and join with them in this work. This brought us to a great conversation about tools. The Mentors informed the group that we were borrowing tools from both Bellingham Parks Department and the NSEA and that we need to use them correctly and with care. We went around the circle and each Explorer identified a tool that they love to use and one they would like to become more proficient at using. This was great feedback for the Mentors to collect and will aid in planning the Vespula’s spring season.

At this point, the group was saturated with talking and was eager to get to work.  Therefore, we picked up our tools and lugged them over to the service site. The group was delighted to find that Bellingham Parks Department left us a huge pile of mulch to spread. As a group, we brainstormed the best possible use of the resource. This season, groups of Explorers devoted time to digging out Himalayan Blackberry roots in preparation for spreading mulch over a portion of the site. Last Season we took out the blackberries but did not get the roots. This season we learned Slow Is Fast And Fast Is Slow when it comes to these invasives.  The group decided to use a portion of the mulch to mound some young willows and the remainder to patch up a little of the old section from last season and a good piece of the new section from this season. It was excellent to see the boys working together: scooping, carrying and spreading, as a one cohesive unit. The best part about spreading mulch is that it gives the worker a sense of instant gratification; like tending a giant Japanese Sand Garden. After the mulch was spread, the boys focused on the next section of land that needed to be freed from Blackberries. Using shears, loppers, machetes, hatchets, and rakes the Explorers cleared another large section of Blackberries while minding the park boundary sign. Next to our service sight resides a neighbor who would like us to keep a section of Blackberry that grows  on her property.  The Vespula Veterans seemed frustrated by the fact that we could not remove all of them. However, this was a great talking point about what it means to be in a community with others who have needs that differ from ours. As members of the community, our group’s role includes both the work we had planned and also greeting this individual with open arms. If we respect her point of view and recognize her requests, we earn a hearing with this member of our community.  This increases the chance that, by observing our work and attitudes, she may eventually understand what we are doing and the reasons for it. This can eventually lead to both of us working for the same goals in caring for the land.

Watching the Explorers use machetes is always an edge for Mentors. This tool takes skill to use properly and demands responsibility. After great modeling of machete form and skill from Marcus, our EMA volunteer, the boys were ready. As a group we talked about the intention we were bringing into our use of machetes. If we swing with intention and focus with the care, we respect our community’s well-being while restoring balance to the landscape. If we swing with anger and intention to kill, we create violence and compromise our community’s safety as well as our own. The boys modeled some excellent behavior really cultivating their technique and increasing their efficiency. As the boys clipped away the brambles, they continued to find more garbage. The boys removed: a kiddy pool, car door, chicken wire, three purses, a bicycle, tons of bottles, plastic and countless other items. It felt like a burden was being lifted off our shoulders as we freed the soil once again.

After a few hours of work, the group was ready for some lunch and a Sit Spot. Greg encouraged the Explorers to spread out and find a spot where they could sit and listen to the land. The more we know about Connelly Creek, the better we are at discerning how to serve it. Our service here is not only about restoring balance to this area, but also involves engaging in an active relationship with the landscape that grows and strengthens over time. Once we define our connection to it, and realize that our health is tied directly to its health, we then begin to develop an ethic for its preservation. A man by the name of Aldo Leopold summed up this relationship quite eloquently in his book,A Sand County Almanac. In the book he writes, “Health is the capacity of the land for self-renewal. Conservation is our effort to understand and preserve this capacity.”

After our Sit Spot, we came back together for the last closing meeting of our fall season. We revisited and gave thanks for all the outing and memories we had shared this season: a blustery Fire By Friction skills outing at Fairhaven Park, being Earth Keepers on our traverse up Whatcom Creek, meeting for a showdown with the Daredevil’s Club and countless volunteer mentors at Galby Lane and a chance to get to serve and connect with a community much larger than ourselves at Connelly Creek. The Mentors are very humbled and grateful for the opportunity to explore with the Vespula Veterans this season and for all of the wildlife we have seen and heard moving through this patch of land. These boys are growing into mature adults with a growing sense of their role and responsibilities to this community.  This summer they will be going through a transformation on theExplorers Mentor Apprenticeship training backpack. They are the eldest group in the Explorers Club and will soon pass their culture, care and skills down to the next generation of Explorers. The mentors would like to thank all the parents, volunteers, Explorers, and staff for all their support this season.

Please check out more pictures from the outing at the photo gallery. We look forward to seeing you at theWinter Solstice Gathering on December 14th and at the winter outings we are offering for the first time ever!

Click here for more information from the City of Bellingham. Once you have clicked the link and are on the COB webpage
, click on Presentation of 60% design for a presentation and slideshow about the Padden Creek Daylight Project.

Gray Wolf Pups serve the land with the Vespula Veterans at Connelly Creek!

With ominous clouds sailing about, Matt and Greg greeted the arriving Gray Wolf Pups.  Explorers slipped and tripped along the banks of Connelly Creek until eventually everyone had gathered.  Our service outings this season have paired younger groups with older groups of explorers.  This has lead to many exciting opportunities for mentoring within the groups as well as a new game that takes Hide! to the next level of challenge.

Our opening meeting was short and Greg and Matt took the opportunity to discuss the service outing with the boys.  We recalled how the Explorers had spent their last outing traveling the length of Connelly creek from the beach at Marine Park all the way to the service site we were about to walk to.  The mentors explained that before we were off to do service we would have a challenge in the form of a new game.  The Gray Wolf Pups were informed that along the trail to the service site the other group, the Vespula Veterans had taken a sit spot with the goal of being close to the trail, but remaining hidden from the Gray Wolf Pups.  Our challenge was twofold: first we had to locate the hidden members of the Vespula Veterans and second each member of the Gray Wolf Pups had to try and do this as an individualchallenge.  The hard part is always not telling the other members of the group where folks are hiding!  By the time both groups had gathered for an opening circle all the explorers had learned a bit more about stealth and observation!

The combined group of boys and mentors gathered in a large meeting to eat lunch, hear about tool safety and usage from the Vespula Vetrans, and come together in community to serve the land.  A quick round of names revealed a volunteer mentor named Adnan, a visitor from Pakistan who is studying at Whatcom Community College, had joined us to learn more about Explores Club and help us serve the land.  It’s always a privilege to have volunteers join us in our work.  The motivation to get to work was strong and after the comedic skits of service tools do’s and don’ts we were more or less prepared to get started. 

Over the course of the next few hours the boys did a tremendous about of work.  The wall of Himalayan Blackberry has been pushed back nearly to the property line of the park.  Bucket after bucket of canes were clipped, raked, and hauled out to the trail.  Another group worked on digging up the blackberry roots.  Each root presented its own challenge as it twisted and wound through the thick clay soil.  Another group was focused on planting willow and dogwood cuttings.  These explorers removed the mats of canary grass and then mounded mulch around the cuttings to protect the new plants.  Finally a small team of boys cut back the reed canary grass freeing some of last year’s plantings from the threat of shade!

After three hours of combined work, the Vespula Veterans said fair well and left for their closing meeting leaving the Gray Wolf Pups on their own at the service site.  Matt and Greg decided it was the perfect time for a break and solicited the explorers to play the new game, which we are still in the process of naming (it’s a lot like camouflage gauntlet but with people instead of pipe cleaners).  The group split in half and we each took turns hiding and seeking.

After everyone had gotten a chance to hone both their steal and observation skills, Greg and Matt took the boys to the other side of the park where similar service work had been done 10 years ago.  This restored site had no blackberry, very little canary grass and lots of dense shrubs and small trees.  After a brief discussion of what our service site might look like in 10 years, Matt felt inspired to become a opossum and disappeared on hands and knees into the dense shrubs.  Without protest the Gray Wolf Pups followed.  We wound around clumps of Pacific Ninebark and Hardhack.  We scrunched under prickly spruce boughs, and climbed over fallen Alder trees and through willow roots.  We finally emerged onto the banks of Connelly Creek to have our closing meeting.  We gave thanks for the land and the chance to play.  With a final stalk out of the willow thicket we returned to haul the tools from the service site and meet the awaiting parents, muddy and wet, but happy!

Explorers thank you for your hard work and spirited play!  The land is looking better!  Parents thank you for your continued support of the work that we do with your sons.  We couldn’t do it with out you.  Be sure to check out photos from the day!

Serving Connelly Creek with the Vespula Veterans

The Vesupla Veterans came to Connelly Creek on the heels of the Daredevil’s Club who came out the day before. The mission: to follow directions and plans from the oldest boys and to pick up where the DDC left off. The outcome: build a stewardship ethic, heal the land, and bring salmon back to Connelly Creek!

Under sunny skies and a celebration of Gus’s birthday, four hours of service was enjoyable and exciting. Blackberry thickets were removed, the roots were exposed and uprooted, and boys morphed into treasure hunters while sifting through the trinkets buried by years of invasive plant growth. We cleaned up trash and learned of the salmon offering made the day before; Connelly Creek welcomes our service.

We want to thank two EMAs from the Firestalkers who volunteered their afternoon to assist in making sure that the plans were being carried-out properly. Kyle and Marcus, thank you so much for being good mentors and showing these Vespula Veterans how to have fun while being good stewards. Be proud of how your planning has come to fruition! Moreover you have inspired more boys to become future members of the Four Shields program.

Another thank you goes to Jake who recently offered to volunteer with the Boys Explorers Club program. We appreciate your interest in mentoring and thank you for a job very well done. Boys certainly learned a lot from you this outing.

The group was excited to learn about and use all the tools that our partners loaned us. Big thank you’s go to Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association (NSEA) and the City of Bellingham for partnering with us on this project. With their encouragement and resources, Boys Explorers Club has a chance to heal a part of the Connelly Creek watershed. We deeply appreciate everything you have given us for this project!

Explorers used loppers, shears/clippers, hori-hori’s, and shovels. Mentors even worked one-on-one with Explorers to learn the art of machete-wielding. As a result of responsible tool usage, we accurately and effectively followed the Firestalker’s plan in the first step which was removal of blackberry from the up-creek side of our service site. Please ask your Explorer(s) which tools he used during the outing… and feel free to put them to work in your yard too :)

Explorers dutifully followed the mottos: A Tool is an Extension of the Body andThe Difference between a Tool and a Weapon is You. It is inspiring to know that Mentors’ constant reminders of these mottos have finally sunk in because the boys knew exactly how to practice these sayings during the outing.

Hopefully through the course of this blog and the pictures here and in the photo gallery you can see the progress we made at Connelly Creek. Please ask your Explorer to show you the site sometime. We mentors are truly inspired and impressed by the work of these dedicated Explorers club members.

You should also be proud of your boys for the work they did, do, and are capable of doing. It is exciting to know that we have years of work to do and that we’ll make a huge impact. Maybe we’ll see the salmon swimming up-creek in the next couple of years. Here is a video that shows the fun we had and the work we did!

We also should remember the motto, Many Hands, Light Work. As there were fifteen people serving the land, we made quite a bit of progress. This gets even more impressive when we consider that fourteen people did work the day before and another group (of twelve) will work on the site later this season. As many as eleven Explorers Club groups will serve this land in the fall. Indeed our efforts are important and part of a much bigger project than boys may even realize. As such, please head out there from time to time and see how the land is healing!

Boys ended the day with a rendition of “Happy Birthday,” played Tree Tag, and took a hike through the site to appreciate the area. We had a circle of thanks, embracing our motto, Attitude of Gratitude, and stalked back to the cars. Nat’s dad said that we were always so loud that he knew where we’d be. We accepted the challenge and tried to sneak up on the parents, but they were all hiding in their cars :)

Thank you Explorers for the great stewardship that you exemplified! Parents, thank you for your support and encouragement of these boys and this program.

I made a small error about the next outing. We’ll still meet at Sehome Haggen at 11am but on June 15th (not May 19th) as we get aboard Stubbs and drive out to Racehorse Falls. It’s not too late to sign up for summer camp and backpacking trips so check out the summer page and get the information you need!