![]() Here come the UWREN 2012-13 Team. Lets give them a hand as they kick off this year with two events. Student announcement: Please add these events to your calendars and help make this year's environmental restoration project a WILD success! This year's student-run UWREN team in partnership with the Friends of North Creek Forest are jumping the gun and tackling the invasive blackberry ASAP before it gets to chilly! Where: We will meet on 112th St near the end of the street, at the mulch pile, ample parking is available on the right side of the road. When: November 10th from 11-3 and November 17th from 11-3. Who: Everyone and bring a friend! Teachers, please consider offering your students extra credit for attendance, we would all appreciate the added incentive to get involved in this wonderful project. What to bring: Please wear warm clothes and be prepared to work in wet/muddy conditions. We will provide gloves, tools, and water. Light snacks will be available, but bring a lunch if you expect to work hard and get hungry! If you have any new/used tools that you would like to use and/or donate to this year's project, please bring those as well, The Friends of North Creek Forest are accepting donations and promise to cherish any donated tools and responsibly use them to save this great forest! What Activities are on the Agenda? We are going to rip out a TON of blackberry using loppers and rakes, dig out the root-balls using shovels and hand-tillers, and spread mulch using shovels, buckets, wheelbarrows, and rakes. We also have a few herbaceous species to plant in the existing restoration areas, and light weeding to keep the blackberries at bay around last year's restoration site. This year's UWREN students and the Friends of North Creek Forest are excited to see you all for more fun events to meet new people, make friends, and work hard towards a common goal of restoring the forest edge! We will see everyone this and next Saturday, have a wonderful week! Get a map and driving directions HERE For more information, just ask Sarah Witte at [email protected] or Kent Parkinson at [email protected]
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![]() I was planted with care. I may grow for 1000 years. Our fundraising goal for 2013 is $48,000. In the last two months generous and caring people have contributed $26,800 toward our programs. With two extraordinary exceptions, contributions range from $10 to $500. People living in North Creek Watershed understand it takes a modest budget and three elements to save North Creek Forest. 1. Land purchase: We believe grants, not individuals, are the best source of funds for this. Our small budget covers operations. Part of our operations is to help the city get larger grants for land purchase. 2. We restore and protect this rich habitat through direct stewardship actions. That takes volunteer recruitment, coordination with the city, tools and substantial planning. For example: The tree at the left must be watered 1 to 3 times a week during the summer for up to three years. This summer we watered over 400 new plants. Next summer there will be 800 and 1200 plants (or more) in 2014. 3. We support education so each generation inherits not only a rich forested habitat, but a desire to protect and improve it. Some students will likely go on to work with landowners and jurisdictions, protecting and improving key parts of the whole watershed and bringing Puget Sound back to health. It starts with planting a tree. THE EXTRAORDINARY EXCEPTIONS We know we are doing important work and doing it well. However when people offer a check for $10,000 it deeply affirms our choices. Steve and Tricia Trainer Last month we received a $10,000 gift from Steve and Tricia Trainer. They have been involved in giving to many organizations. Tricia said, "We think you are doing something wonderful". There are spiritual undercurrents in the Trainer's philanthropy. Included is the Chief Seattle Club: "Providing a sacred space to nurture, affirm and renew the spirit of urban Native peoples." For all of it's biological significance North Creek Forest is foremost a place for renewal. Thank you Steve and Tricia. ![]() Ready for work. The city is letting us use this 20' container for our tools. The Rose Foundation Yesterday we received a Grassroots Grant from the Rose Foundation for $10,000, the maximum amount under this program. We spoke with Tim Little, co-founder and Executive Director. He told us, "Of all the applications received, ours was one of the easiest to decide." We got a 100% yes vote from the trustees. The grant will be used to secure a part time Volunteer Recruiter/Coordinator and pay for supporting tools and materials. We want to increase volunteer hours by 400% this academic year. It's a big forest. ![]() Click on the Rose Foundation's logo and see why we are grateful to be a small part of their their great work. WHAT WE NEED AT THIS TIME Tools: What we don't have to buy will save money for other needs. If you have extra tools in good shape please contact us (see Contact Page). Someone will pick them up and transport them to our storage container. Click HERE to see our current inventory. Anything on this list is helpful. Our tool stock will need to be about double what it currently is. Money: If you are in a position to give money please consider including us in your gifts. We need to raise an additional $21,000 for our 2013 budget. $10 dollars buys 2 pair of double leather gloves. $20 dollars buys a sturdy pair of loppers. $100 will feed an army of volunteers blazing through blackberries. Method of Payment: You can just use the PAYPAL button on the top right of this page. Or you can mail a check to: Friends of North Creek Forest PO Box 2053 Bothell, WA 98041-2053 Thank you all for joining us in leaving a legacy for future generations and for providing a special place for education, recreation and renewal. ![]() CCC Interns perform extensive botanical survey in North Creek Forest OUR LAST ARTICLE outlined our stewardship, education and fundraising goals. We are increasing our internship activity, reaching deeper into the Bothell community for volunteers and engaging them in higher levels of stewardship and education. INTERNSHIPS AVAILABLE! DR. David Bain, FNCF Vice President, is offering internships under his guidance. LOOK HERE to discover these exciting opportunities. ![]() INTERNS NEED TOOLS. The photo on the right is a lucky shot of fledgling Barred Owls on the edge of NCF. Students have expressed a fascination with the wildlife in this forest. But crashing through the forest hoping to get a good photo is more than folly. It disturbs wildlife and they usually hide long before any photo op. Motion sensitive cameras are the answer. ![]() LOOK CLOSELY to see this at dusk. That is a Red-tail Hawk after sunset on the forest floor. Very unusual and impossible to photograph in the usual way. The photo was taken in NCF winter, 2011, with a camera that is motion sensitive and shoots night or day. This one retails at $500 so we borrowed it. Students can catalog wildlife night or day with a few of these cameras. Other items for interns: GPS devices capable of working accurately through tree canopy. Used for botanical, surface water and geologic mapping and finding your camera after leaving it in the brush for a month. These and other tools are expensive but high value for real student/intern field education. ![]() FNCF President, Jeanie Robinson, plants ferns with 2011-12 UW-REN Team. FUNDING: Last weekend we raised over $5600 with a modest event in the back yard of FNCF President, Jeanie Robinson's home. We also received a $10,000 gift. It is in the form of a Challenge Match, which means every dollar we raise will be matched by a dollar from this gift. $5600 + $5600 = $11,200. We still have $4400 waiting to be matched! The simplest solution? Click on the DONATE button up on the right of this page. By missing one latte and croissant your $5 gift becomes $10.... $25 becomes $50. YOUR GIFT will make North Creek Forest education and stewardship come alive in in 2013. We have been grateful for this forest and all who help to save it. CONSERVATION TAKES A COMMUNITY
Friends of North Creek Forest ![]() North Creek Forest - Bothell, Washington CONSERVATION DEPENDS UPON A COMMITMENT FROM THE COMMUNITY. Bothell, like all jurisdictions hit with declining income, does not have money to take care of more park land without community help. OUR VISION is to provide the support the city needs by building a core of volunteers for countless projects like the one last week (see below). In short we support strong stewardship. OUR VISION ALSO includes the active support for UW Bothell, Cascadia CC and K-12 so interns, students, volunteers and educators have the tools and coordination with the city and community for excellent forest education. ![]() Author and Professor John Marzluff talks about the biological significance of NCF. OUR FIRST FUNDRAISER was held last Sunday. Author John Marzluff offered the keynote to about 50 people invited to FNCF President Jeanie Robinson's home. Gifts of the Crow is UW Professor Marzluff's latest book, co-authored by renowned artist-naturalist Tony Angell. It is a fascinating account of birds with shocking intelligence. John spent most of his time helping us understand the depth and rich complexity found right in North Creek Forest, a place that discourages crows because of it's biological health. Thank you John! THE FUNDRAISER? We raised over $3000 on Sunday, $2600 more came in the mail, and an additional $10,000 pledge it the form of a challenge grant brings our first effort to $11,200 with $4400 remaining to be matched! ![]() Adam Hess, Maddie Fisher, Darryl Nevels and Sarah Witte leading a tour. OUR BUDGET for all of 2013 is under $50,000. With the 2012-13 academic year underway we want to hire a part time Volunteer Coordinator. Then, starting now with an Administrative Intern, we will add a paid Director in 2013. We are all about thrift, but tools, materials, office supplies, outreach and coordination adds up to thousands of hours of volunteer time and considerable personal donations from Board Members. THE NEXT LEVEL is to create a sustainable organization with modest funding. We do this by utilizing interns and volunteers along with staffing and modest community giving. It works. ![]() Board Member Jeri Malloy shares our work with supporter Marilyn Cass. Over 100 members of our community and students worked with us on the last UWREN site. (see earlier articles) So far 6 interns have worked with us to identify and map plants, provide landscape architectural conceptual designs and build data bases. Internships offer students real world learning experience and provide FNCF with services that would consume significant funding. By weaving education and stewardship together we are improving the ecological function of the forest AND boosting education. Expanding this model benefits our salmon and Puget Sound. ![]() State Representative Derek Stanford (right) located a grant dedicated to projects like this one (not out of school funding or any other vital state functions). That funding, added to grants already obtained, gave the city enough to purchase the first 35 acres! Every one in the room has contributed in some way to the conservation of North Creek Forest. Thank you for sharing your hopes, your hard work and your gifts.
Friends of North Creek Forest ![]() Early today: UW Bothell students are about to spend their first day of their first Friday of their fall quarter in North Creek Forest. We are ready. A 20 foot container, on loan to us from the City of Bothell, holds tools necessary for our day's work and many more to come. Since the work is partly on city property Steve Dahl, Bothell Parks and Recreation, brought us an extra load of "loppers" and gloves. His delivery made a huge difference in the number of volunteers we could field this morning. ![]() Students from Husky Hollow adopted FNCF for their "Community Service Day". Amy Lambert's class on Introduction to Restoration Ecology was next to arrive. Students were confronted with a 10 foot tall wall of weeds and slightly encouraged by the promise of hamburgers. The morning briefing: After the ubiquitous liability forms were completed we hit on safety and the nature of Knotweed. Today's work may need to be repeated for several years. It's a bad weed. ![]() A wall of students. ![]() A wall of weeds. There were many walls of weeds. ![]() You should know something about Steve Dahl. He not only helps organize events like Riverfest, when he shows up to deliver tools he stays to give us tips garnered from years of work with volunteers and leans into the work between words. Here Steve drags out an old lawnmower lost long ago to the Knotweed. Thanks Bothell for tools, storage and Steve. ![]() After about 70 hours of collective labor the piles are huge and people are hungry. Center in blue: That's Aaron Huston, this years UWB/CCC Sustainability Organization President advancing toward hamburgers with a committed expression. ![]() Carolyn getting food out to hard working students. Few (but a couple) saw the other cook unscrew the pepper lid and pour half a jar of pepper onto a couple of hamburgers before realizing the little shaker part was the LID. Did anyone notice a little pepper? ![]() Aaron Huston This years UWB/CCC Sustainability Organization President Sarah Witte Volunteer Magnate, dedicated forest steward, 2011/12 UW-REN Team member Darryl Nevels Last years UWB/CCC Sustainability Organization President, founding member FNCF, 2011/12 UW-REN Team ![]() At the end of the day: Sarah and Darryl offer a tour of last years UW Restoration Ecology Network site. ![]() Water... life without it isn't. Darryl explains the steps UW-REN students took to water new forest plants. First came the big barrels and bad backs. A discovery of a well allowed a siphon to do the work and life was easy. When the well (now we know what seasonal means) ran dry a neighbor, the Fries Family, let students use water from their house. Gratitude, Thank you. ![]() Biologist Dr. David Bain, a leading expert on Killer Whales, explains why this, and other forests, are a key to the recovery of Puget Sound. "Puget Sound starts in the trees." ![]() Day is done. A major piece of work was accomplished today. It could not have been done without the people you see in these photos. We call this action Stewardship. It is caring for something. North Creek Forest is a magnificent place. But it is in an urban setting and would quickly degrade if left to Knotweed, Blackberries and Ivy. Thanks to people who care it will remain a rich and diverse wildlife habitat. We hope it was a rewarding day for you too. Friends of North Creek Forest ![]() A large cedar above an old well house in North Creek Forest How do we know all of the restoration work we reported in earlier articles will look like the photo at the left in 150 to 200 years? In the UW-REN Final Report and Maintenance Plan you will find specific ways to insure the survival of new plants, measure change over time and record data for use by future students. Students considering a class in Restoration Ecology might want to look at this scientific document. The plan calls for: 1. Water hundreds of plants up to 2-3 / week for 3 years. 2. Remove any invasive plants that pop up. 3. Inventory/record plants and growth changes annually. A part of the inventory is to take photos from 5 erected photo points twice each year. This record of winter/summer plant cover will be valuable to students 2-5-10 or 40 years from now. So making sure it is done and on file for the next forest restoration planners is vital. Summer 2012 Photo Point Records
Two More Grants! Oh, we should share this too. The city now has two more grants. Another King County Conservation Futures Grant has been awarded and we placed 4th on another Land and Water grant. As long as Congress funds the Land and Water program we will be funded either this year or next. So 4th place is a winner! Again! We are exploring additional ways to finish conservation.
Alas, it will take some work to bring this all to completion. But we are going to do that. Please consider joining us when we announce periodic work days. Share your thoughts and ideas with us too. It's your forest. Thanks for your support, Friends of North Creek Forest ![]() Yesterday, August 9th, 38 students from UW Professor Amy Lambert's class on the Art and Science of Restoration Ecology enacted their own tribute to, and stewardship for, the cycles of nature. Students gathered above the UWB wetlands, at it's time, the largest successful wetland restoration project in the USA. Their goal was to first traverse the wetlands. Thank you to Teppei Sato, UW - REN Team Member and photographer, and Carolyn Freese for your photos!
![]() SUMMER is here. This is a chance to add occasional forest care into your Saturday morning. The stewardship of North Creek Forest takes many forms. Currently we have a few trees left to plant, some mulch to spread, an occasional blackberry to root out and some salmon berries to clip back from our new cedar trees. We will have big work days and smaller drop in days. You can pick. It all adds up to maintaining a robust wildlife habitat. ![]() All events are on Saturdays from 11:00 AM till 2:00 PM June 30................... Lite Maintenance July 7.......................Lite Maintenance July 14....... Community wide work party July 21.................... Lite Maintenance July 28 ................... Lite Maintenance Go HERE for a map to the site. We appreciate your support. By sharing stewardship you make it possible to save this forest. No jurisdiction: city county or state, can keep its parks without volunteers. It is a meaningful and fun contribution. ![]() Gratitude! We want to thank the City of Bothell for offering us the use of a 20' storage container for all our tools, city park staff for landing the container in the perfect spot and Quality Towing in Kirkland for moving the container at a very low price. If you need to tow a car consider Quality Towing and thank them for supporting North Creek Forest. And don't forget to thank Parks people. They are doing a ton of work on a very thin budget. Thank You All! Friends of North Creek Forest ![]() THERE IS A PILE OF MULCH behind the one you can see. The UW-REN Team and volunteers moved a lot of it last Saturday. What a group! People from local, state and federal government; UW students/faculty; neighbors and kids. Unfortunately everyone was working and didn't take much time to take pictures so we are thin on those. Not everyone is represented in a photo. ![]() The Team: Teppei Sato, Elliott Church, Darryl Nevels, Danee Moesch, Sarah Witte, Freddie Hensen The Team was organized. Upon arrival we could pick from one of three stations. 1) pull blackberry roots 2) water every plant on site 3) deliver and spread mulch 6-8 inches deep We took breaks for a variety of group photos, food, beverage and Dan Paquette led people on a local botanical tour while Sarah Witte showed visitors around the site. What is hidden is the enormous amount of work the team did. We will publish their final report very soon. ![]()
![]() Linda Cung, Mandy Knudtson and Yara Khalaf on a short break. OTHERS missing from group photos: Ceasar Larin Chu-yi Chuang Dan Paquette, botanist extraordinaire Erik Goheen, Rep. Moscoso leg. assistant Juila Gold Linda Cung, 4th time on site, UW-REN from another team Mandy Knudtson Matheus Lima Peater Bottuello, Board Member WWRC Suzanne Church Tim Dennler Yara Khaqlaf Ben Kantner, Wash. State Sierra Club
FRIENDS OF NORTH CREEK FOREST SUMMER ACTIVITY First we must complete our contribution to the next Land and Water grant application.
Second: We have interns, students of perpetual energy and interest. We do our best to feed their thirst for forest education. Third: We must begin serious fund raising for a staff person. Volunteers can only do so much before quality suffers. Want to help? Drop an email and let's talk! Thanks for the great Spring! Friends of North Creek Forest ![]() UW-REN Team members Darryl Nevels and Freddie Hensen The original work party scheduled for May 12th has been changed to: Saturday May 26th 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM Map to North Creek Forest work site HERE Several other events on campus necessitated this change. So please mark you calendar for the May 26th. If you can't come to work please drop in anyway to thank the students for their hard work. This is the last big event for academic year 2012. ![]() Sarah Witte adds native shrubs along old garage foundation. The team will be on site in reduced numbers on May 12th. So if you can't make the May 26th date please drop in for a couple of hours on the 12th between 11:00 AM and 2:00 PM. If you have to pick between the two dates pick the 26th.
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