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.

The Red Tailed Eyas and Black Tailed Deer join the GEC Dragonflies and Salish Seals

Today two BEC groups met two GEC groups at our Connelly Creek Service site for a day of mulching, digging, and cribbing! Of course, there was lots of laughing and story sharing as well. Doing manual labor occupies your hands and in a way seems to free up your mind leading to interesting and inspiring conversations between explores and mentors. The mentors are consistently impressed with how much your children think about and consider sustainability, which is a difficult topic to understand because it is where science meets policy.

Lots of mulching happened today

We were excited to build on the momentum that four groups made yesterday at our service site. They were able to put down lots of mulch and even begin the installation of cribbing on the stream bank.

Girls installing some cribbing

Today we continued the effort of removing the last few patches of blackberries and their roots. It was fun to see who could dig up the biggest blackberry root, and some of the boys dug up possibly the largest root in Connelly Creek Service Site history. Unfortunately, the picture of the root was lost but it was a cylinder about two feel long with a diameter of about six inches.

We added an additional four or five feet of cleared stream bank on the downstream side of our site. Once we had all of those blackberry roots removed, we installed cribbing to make sure the bank wouldn't erode into the stream and mulched over the whole area.

After installing our cribbing, we mulched all the way up the the edge of the creek.

Almost every service outing includes moving a whole pile of mulch. Today, we followed suit and utilized most of that mulch down on the stream bank where we installed cribbing. One of the girls groups stayed at the site late enough into the day to get to see Bellingham Parks deliver a new pile of mulch for the groups who would be doing service the next day.

A couple of explorers strike a balance of work and play

The truck drops off more mulch!

With so many hands today (four groups total!) we were able to make lots of progress at the site.  To see the rest of the pictures from our outing, click here!

GEC (Fiddleheads and Spotted Owls and BEC (Townsend Chipmunks, Pacific Chorus Frogs) Team Up at Connelly Creek

Lots of explorers today!

Today the Townsend Chipmunks and Pacific Chorus frogs met two Girls Explorers Club groups, the Fiddleheads and Spotted Owls, at our BEC service site at Connelly Creek in Happy Valley Park. This was an afternoon outing after a half day of school for most of us. We showed up with lots of energy that would be put to good use moving mulch and digging up blackberries! We even got a chance to use some of our Art of Carving skills to help install some cribbing down at the creek bank.

Checking out some cribbing

After three and a half years of service outings at Connelly Creek, our site is really starting to come together. We have eliminated the loins share of the blackberries and put down many yards of mulch in an attempt to choke out the invasive reed canary grass. Some of our native plants are in their second year of life and it is encouraging to see the fresh buds and leaves growing from their young branches. This season, most of our focus is on finishing up the removal of the last blackberries and continuing to mulch over reed canary grass.

Getting those blackberry roots out!

We have also been keeping a close eye on our native plants that we have planted in our cages (to protect them from deer and rabbits). With careful weeding in these, we continue to provide these plants their best shot at growing tall and helping to reestablish a patch of native forest along the bank of the stream.

One of our native plant cages. Installed by Explorers a couple of seasons ago.

A new task for us this season is installing cribbing on the creek bank. We have finally removed the last blackberries from the bank of the stream. This also means that these stream banks are mostly bare with few roots to hold them in place. In order to prevent erosion, we set up cribbing to hold the bank in place in the absence of plant roots. Eventually, our trees will be established enough to hold the bank up on their own, but until then we will use cribbing to our advantage!

Installing some cribbing

In addition to all of this work, the two boys groups and two girls groups moved a whole truck load of mulch! This is important as we try to get a jump on the rapid spring growth of reed canary grass.

Moving that mulch

At closing circle, as always, we had an opportunity to share what we were grateful for during our practice of our Attitude of Gratitude. The mentors were pleased and excited to hear a few boys express specific gratitude for getting to work with the girls groups. In the end, with four groups doing service, we got lots done today and provided a good foundation of work for the rest of the groups to build on during their service outings this season.

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

Alevin, Barred Owls and Roosevelt Elk Calves Kick Off Spring Service

This invasive reed canary grass would be mulched by the end of today

The Alevin, Barred Owls, and Roosevelt Elk Calves met at our Connelly Creek Service Site for the first service outing of the spring 2017 season. As Explorers, we utilize, learn from, play in, and rely on the greater Whatcom County ecosystem for growth, fun, and health. We appreciate this opportunity to give back to the environment from which we receive so much. Service outings also give older groups a chance to help mentor younger groups. We would see today, however, that these roles were reversed!

On the hunt for the biggest blackberry root

After taking a look around our site, we formed a clear idea of what kind of tasks we would be doing today. Reed Canary grass (in keeping with its 'invasive' designation) will continue to sprout vigorously until the trees that we have planted are big enough to completely shade out the understory of our service site. Until then, we will continue to walk the grass down and mulch right on top of it. Many of us helped move mulch today.

Finishing off the mulch pile

While lots of work certainly got done today, some of us individually were challenged with staying motivated and on task. For some reason, these individuals tended to be boys from older groups. The mentors were not the only ones who noticed this; boys from both older and younger groups addressed this in their respective groups' closing circles. The older boys did some reflection and admitted that they were less on task than they could have been and appreciated the younger boys work ethic and resolve. The younger boys remarked at their closing circle that they felt that even though they were the younger group, they still had an opportunity to lead by example and remind the older boys what perseverance and focus look like.

In addition to spreading mulch, we continued to clear blackberries and dig up their huge roots. We were especially excited today because, after 3 and ½ years of service at this site, we finally beat the blackberries all the way back to the stream bank! Today we worked on clearing the last blackberries from the bank in preparation for some cribbing and mulching by other groups this spring. Cribbing is a way of reinforcing the stream bank so that until larger trees and native shrubs are established, the bank of the creek will not erode and fall into the stream.

Getting work done on the stream bank

By days end, we had successfully removed lots of blackberry roots from the stream bank and spread a whole pile of mulch over lots of reed canary grass near the back of our service site. Certainly good work that will be built upon by the rest of the BEC groups this season on their service outings!

To see the rest of the photos from the day, click here!

Branch Hoppers, Cave Dwellers and Short tailed Weasels encounter Connelly Creek!

A riparian zone is the interface between land and a river or stream.

"Riparian zones are significant in ecology, environmental management, and civil engineering because of their role in soil conservation, their habitat biodiversity, and the influence they have on fauna and aquatic ecosystems, including grassland, woodland, wetland or sub-surface features such as water tables." (Wikipedia)

Connelly Creek runs along Happy Valley Park as it ambles to join Padden Creek. The section of the park that borders the creek had been treated as a dump and allowed to degrade as Himalayan Blackberry bushes and Reed Canary Grass diminished the biodiversity of the area to almost nil. The result? The human impacts signified by these changes have diminished the creek’s ability to support migrating salmon.

Undaunted by the probability of getting seriously scratched, these Explorers have taken the motto Challenge by Choice to heart as they wrangle blackberry canes into a trash can. 

Enter Boys (and now, hurrah!, Girls) Explorers Club. Beginning several years ago, Explorers began removing trash and blackberries (ouch!) and stomping down canary grass and covering it with bark mulch. We’ve also planted native species, including Alders that will, in time, shade out the Canary Grass. It was sometimes discouraging work as the grass is very resilient and tended to return between our fall and spring (and spring and fall) work parties. The blackberries….well, I expect you know what it’s like dealing with Himalayan Blackberries!

Our Explorers connect with the land in a very real sense, which reinforces the importance of protecting all that nature provides us. (Motto: Connect and Protect)

But the Explorers persisted. And now the progress if readily apparent. The grass appears to be losing its grip and the boys who’ve done this for a few years point out the clear fence that

a few years ago we couldn’t even see amidst the blackberries.

Blackberries are delicious, but the plant is a non-native, invasive character that can change the habitat in unhealthy ways. And, they're tough to eradicate, thanks in part to their robust root structure. Here, Mentor Jedidiah "plays" a large Himalayan Blackberry root.

Amazingly, we’ve made it to the creek. On Sunday, we learned about “cribbing”. The word has a few very different meanings: for us, the focus is the creation of a barrier to prevent erosion into the creek. 

Split logs provided by Bellingham Parks to be used to create a barrier to
hold back the bark we spread to contain the Reed Canary Grass. Note the
engagement!

You can see the creek in this shot. Without the cribbing, the bank,
along with the bark we were about to spread, would wash into the
water, restricting oxygen need by migrating salmon.

Just about finished. This project makes it blindingly
obvious that all things are connected (motto). Disregard
for the encroaching berry and grass robbed this patch of
necessary biodiversity with associated harm to
salmon migration.

The boys were inconsistent in their focus on our task on Sunday, as if often the case. You can usually fire their interest, however, by reminding them what this place was like a few years ago. Like the rest of us, they are gratified by the positive impact they’re having through this important work.

Could it be that Jedidiah's "guitar" wasn't the biggest blackberry
root unearthed this day?

Notice the hard work on many different tasks in the photo gallery. 

The Short Tailed Weasels next meet on May 21 - Locust Beach.
The Cave Dwellers meet again this very soon; April 30 - Fragrance Lake
The Branch Hoppers will have to wait until June 3 - Yew St. Woods

Enjoy! See you on the trail.

Boys Program Summer Camps and Trips registration is open.

The Barred Owls, Branch Hoppers and Short-tailed Weasels Wrap-up Service at Connelly Creek

Our oldest cage with our most established plants

This was the last service outing of the fall season for the BEC and as such we arrived at the service site this morning with a clear but varied set of tasks.  Our wide focus was to have the site cleaned up and put away so that we could confidently leave it alone until we have our next set of service outings in the spring season. 

Covering the ground with canvas and then mulch around plants

One of our most important missions was to make sure that we had done all we could to give the native plants their best chance of surviving the winter.  Boys on previous service outings this season put in some really great work erecting deer-proof cages, planting native plants in them and then mulching the inside of the cages to prevent other vegetation from growing.  We took some special care today paying attention to each individual plant and making sure that it had a good, thick ring of mulch around its base.  We had to do this carefully to prevent mulching right up the the stem. We learned that mulch or cardboard touching the stem could rub the bark off of the plant and subject it to disease and lessen its chance of survival.

Mulch rings in place

We also took some time to set up smaller stick barriers around some plants that we had planted outside of the cages to try to protect them from being inadvertently stepped on while they are still small.

Mulch ring with stick barrier

We found some large, dead pieces of a willow tree and got to work sawing it into manageable sized pieces that we placed on the stream bank. We did this to help prevent erosion from the anticipated rains and heaver stream flows of the winter months.

Cutting up a large willow branch

We used the spare time that we had after tucking the plants in for winter to liberate a partially fallen willow from reed canary grass and blackberry vines.

Removing blackberry vines from the top of the partially fallen willow

With new room to breathe, we hope this willow can thrive again

After a final sweep of the site for gloves, loppers, clippers, shovels or rakes left behind, we were satisfied that we did enough to feel good about leaving the site until spring.  We had our closing circle as we always do on BEC outings and gave thanks that we had the opportunity to give back to the land that affords us wonderful spaces to play and learn together.

As explorers, what we lack in physical size and strength, we make up for with cooperation and the size of our collective heart.  It was powerful to see how much great restoration work we were able to get done as the BEC this fall season at Connelly Creek.

Some explorers showing us what cooperation looks like

Be sure to check out the rest of the pictures from the day here!