It's all about fall clean-up at Maritime Heritage Park

There was something new about the landscape of Maritime Heritage Park. The usually quiet hillside that neighbors the Whatcom Creek hatchery was alive with the sound of garden tools puncturing the ground and plant waste hitting the metal bed of a truck, along with the sound of talk and laughter of an eclectic group of community members.

About 60 volunteers from all corners of Whatcom County helped strip invasive species, such as numerous blackberry bushes and ivy vines, across the hillside above Whatcom Creek hatchery Saturday morning, Oct. 18.

These volunteers gathered together through two organizations: Greenway and NSEA, or the Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association. Kelley James, a volunteer coordinator for NSEA, says its goal is to “keep native plants strong and remove invasive species” along with protecting streamside habitat for salmon for all of Whatcom County.

“NSEA work parties work with the city of Bellingham, advertise on campuses and get on community calendars to get the word out,” said James. “I love working with all of the people. People here are so dedicated to the environment and activism, even if it means doing work that isn’t always fun.”

That’s how Ian Woodruff, Western Washington University junior and environmental science major, found himself between brush and berries.

“I got an email from Huxley advisor about stream restoration and it seemed like a cool opportunity,” said Woodruff. “I’m out of state, and felt kind of disconnected with Whatcom County, so I thought it’d be a good way to give back and a cool experience.”

Woodruff is one of eight interns through NSEA recruited from WWU and Whatcom Community College. These students lead small groups of other community volunteers from creek to creek and habitat to habitat.

For Woodruff, these excursions are more than just field experience.

“I like to meet new people interested in what I’m interested in, and I get to do something cool and productive in an important area,” he said.

Across from him on the top of the hill is a passel of about 25 young girl “explorers” scooping mulch into buckets then dumping the contents into another girl’s sled, which she then drags to other parts of the hill to be dispersed.

“We help people and plants and go exploring,” said Catie Beech, as she pushed mulch into a five-gallon orange bucket. She explained her group’s job was to remove a bed of mulberries.

Beech is a 7-year-old from Ferndale who is a member of the Explorers Club through Wild Whatcom, a non-profit organization founded in 2010 (though around 10 years previously it was as an informal group) focused on outdoor education.

Jess Gifford, a field mentor for the organization, sat with the girls, guiding them in their tasks and answering any questions they had. She described the program as, “a little bit of ecology and experiential learning.”

Gifford explains that the program aims to teach these girls about important environmental processes, such as the salmon life cycle, and give them a chance to really foster a “sisterhood,” seeing that most members of the club join around second grade and gradually fade out in early high school.

“It’s a lot of fun,” Gifford said. “One of our motto’s is it’s about the journey not the destination. We can spend a whole day only going a quarter of a mile.”

But Beech has grown to like more than this about the Explorer’s Club.

“I get to learn new mottos and it gets me to be less scared about climbing hills and stuff,” she said smiling.

NSEA holds around seven work parties in the fall season and 11 in the spring in various locations.

“In the spring there are more because we focus more on planting trees and shrubs,” said James.

The work party for NSEA will be held 9 a.m. to noon, Oct. 25 at the New Ferndale Library on Main Street where volunteers will be helping plant native trees along the Schell Creek/Marsh to improve salmon habitat.