Serenity Lane Walking Tour |
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Last spring, the Serenity Lane site along the Dungeness River boasted a beautiful display of riverbank lupine so we've put together a self-guided walking tour of the area! Whether you make a quick stop to admire the wildflowers or take a day to explore the neighboring trails, it's a spring spectacle you won't want to miss. |
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Visit us at your local farmers market! |
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Past NOSC intern Aliina at the Port Townsend Farmer's Market in 2011. Image: NOSC Archives |
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NOSC will be making the rounds at farmers markets in Jefferson and Clallam counties this spring and summer. After a year without markets and festivals, we've missed our community and are eager to re-connect. Stop by to get a free NOSC sticker! Check out our schedule below to find us at a market near you.
Saturday, June 12 10 AM - 2 PM
Saturday, August 14 10 AM - 2 PM
Saturday, June 26 10 AM - 2 PM
Saturday, July 24 10 AM - 2 PM
Saturday, July 10 9 AM - 2 PM
Saturday, August 28 9 AM - 2 PM
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Revisiting Eaglemount Farms - Creative Approaches to Removing Reed Canary Grass |
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Recently, NOSC paid a visit to Eaglemount Farms. In February 2015, NOSC worked with farm owners Ellen O’Shea and Norm Norton to restore a section of upper Chimacum Creek that flowed through their property. The creek had become overrun with invasive reed canary grass over the years, and it was their vision to create a riparian buffer utilizing native pollinator plants such as Pacific crabapple, black twinberry, Pacific ninebark, Douglas spirea, and elderberry. These plants were planted twice as dense as we normally do with hopes that the shade provided would eventually kill the sun-loving invasive grass. |
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2014
Volunteers planted an array of native pollinators along a straight section of the creek that lacked riparian cover.
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2021
The plants are now 12 to 15 feet tall, providing shade to the creek and lush wildlife habitat!
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Well, we’re happy to report that the planting has been a huge success! The pollinator plants have matured to a point that very little reed canary grass can be found at the stream’s edge. The shade provided by the maturing plants and the recent arrival of beavers to the stream will ensure that the juvenile salmon have access to cool, clean water, even during the warm, dry months of summer. The creek is now teeming with wildlife, including red-winged blackbirds, long-toed salamanders, red-legged frogs, beaver, and even a mountain lion sighting! Ellen has begun utilizing the creek as an outdoor classroom, where students of all ages can learn about the importance of riparian areas and the plants and wildlife that inhabit them.
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A beautiful shaded pool (left) and recent beaver activity that is helping create stream complexity (right). |
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Thanks for joining us at volunteer and member appreciation night! |
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On June 25th, we gathered (virtually) with supporters include Board of Directors, volunteers, and NOSC members to celebrate all that we were able to accomplish this year! Volunteers are the heart of this organization, and we are always incredibly moved by the support from our communities. Thanks to those who joined us, and thanks to those who have been involved with NOSC! |
Stewardship Coordinator Nate Roberts recording locations of invasive Knotweed along the Dungeness River |
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Partner Spotlight: Al Gonzalez |
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Al working with NOSC staff to teach his students about benthic macroinvertebrates. |
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The Salmon Coalition is grateful to work with and learn from so many inspiring and dedicated people. To celebrate the contributions of this community, NOSC selects someone each month to highlight and give thanks.
This month we are highlighting Al Gonzalez. Al is a teacher with Chimacum Schools that is passionate about STEM education and has been partnering with NOSC for many years. Read on to learn more about Al!
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Tell us a little bit about yourself. |
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I’m a first generation Cuban-American, born and raised in Miami, Florida. I started teaching 4th and 5th grade in 1991 in South Central Los Angeles to Spanish-speaking, Hispanic students. My wife and I moved to Washington state in 1997 where I started teaching middle school and have been teaching mostly 6th grade ever since. (I actually taught 7th grade my first year in Washington state at Blue Heron Middle School but then I was hired by Chimacum Middle School the year after.) Here at Chimacum Schools I worked my way from teaching all subjects to teaching mostly Science in 6th, 7th, and 8th grade. I have enjoyed focusing on Science and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) because it’s so much fun. |
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What drew you to teaching? |
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During my sophomore year at UCLA I had a chance to help with freshman orientation and I really enjoyed helping others learn. Helping the new incoming freshman was something I did every year until I graduated. That was the first time I fell in love with teaching! Once I graduated UCLA with a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology I got my teaching credential and started teaching at the young age of 24! |
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How did you come to work with NOSC? How do you think working with NOSC benefits your students? |
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When I first started working for the Chimacum Schools I noticed that Chimacum Creek ran right by the district property. I knew that I had to make use of that amazing resource in my Science classes so I designed a project centered around Chimacum Valley, our watershed, and the environment. Wanting to test the water quality to see how our creek was doing I wrote some grant proposals looking for funds to purchase equipment. The project, which included getting students outdoors and doing real science at the creek, has been my most popular project. Since the 2000-2001 school year I started getting grants to fund the water quality project and since then 22 of the 48 grants I’ve gotten over the course of my 30-year career have been for this project!
It was around 2000 or 2001 that I got in touch with NOSC because they were already working with the schools to help educate our children about salmon and the environment and our watershed. The work NOSC was doing with schools and the work I was having my 6th graders do was a perfect match! Over the past 20 years NOSC has done an incredible job of maintaining the strong connection to our schools and to this 6th grade project in particular due in part to outgoing restoration stewards and education outreach coordinators training incoming staff to keep the NOSC-to-school connection going without missing a step! Having restoration stewards and volunteers working directly with students has been an incredible resource. Year after year 6th grade students have been able to learn from those doing restoration work on our creek and our watershed. Seeing young people learning Science in school to get a job or career where they get to help the environment exposes students to possible careers in Environmental Science and that is an added bonus. Plus they get to meet some amazing people and see how a career that focuses on the environment could be a lot of fun, especially if you love the outdoors.
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We heard you just won a pretty big teaching award - congratulations! Can you tell us more about it? |
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The Northwest Council for Computer Education or NCCE focuses on relevant technology integration to prepare our students for their futures. NCCE hosts yearly conferences providing workshops and training to teachers from Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. I’ve attended NCCE conferences for years and have even presented at a few of their conferences. NCCE gives out awards each year for excellence in the use of technology in student learning. When the pandemic hit I was able to spearhead the training of the Chimacum Schools staff because I have been blending my face-to-face teaching with technology for years so I have experience in integrating technology to best support student learning and to engage students in their learning. I see how technology is a tool that kids not only use on a daily basis but it’s the tool used by the world. Knowing that, it is the job of educators to infuse technology into our subjects in the ways that our kids will be using those technologies in their future careers. Without technology skills we are not preparing our students for the world they are growing up in. Because of that, my colleagues nominated me, without my knowledge, and I was honored to be selected as this year’s NCCE Outstanding Technology Educator of the Year! Here’s the story I wrote on my blog: http://educatoral.com/wordpress/2021/03/19/outstanding-tech-educator/
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Anything else you'd like our supporters to know? |
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I consider myself very fortunate to work with Chimacum’s 6th graders. Along with our amazing outdoor science experiences, outdoor education experiences, and robotics curriculum, I get to have fun with my students while providing them with an excellent education! As a 6th grade teacher in Chimacum Elementary School (our middle school was closed down due to declining enrollment so 6th grade was moved to the elementary). I get to work with students using Lego Mindstorms EV3 robots, I get to take 6th graders to Camp Cispus in the gorgeous Gifford Pinchot Forest every year (except for this year), I get to make use of our amazing creek for water quality testing and fish trapping and identifying, and I get to work with NOSC to help kids learn more about their watershed, their creek and valley, and the bugs in our creek! What more could a science and tech geek like myself want? Nothing else, this is the perfect job for me. |
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Thank you Al, we appreciate you! |
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Base funding for the RFEG program comes from a grant from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program, a portion of state commercial and recreational fishing license fees, and excess egg and carcass sales administered by the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife.
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Give Us Your Feedback
Questions or Comments? Let us know what you think!
outreach@nosc.org
360.379.8051
www.nosc.org
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