Washington Conservation Corps (WCC) has arrived at the Nisqually River Foundation! WCC, a part of Americorps, offers one year Individual Placement positions to help outside organizations complete projects. This year, NRF was accepted into the Individual Placement program and is hosting two of these service members to be a part of two exciting projects in the watershed.
Nathan Mead is splitting his time between three organizations (the Nisqually River Education Project, South Sound Green and the Chehalis Basin Education Consortium) to help develop K-12 curriculum for service-learning projects and field investigations, and to develop and implement action projects with students in the watershed. Since starting with NRF, Nate has given classroom presentations about restoration in the watershed, helped instruct students in water quality monitoring, and planted tons of trees. The Pacific Northwest is home for Nate. He lived and worked in Spokane for four years, studying english at Whitworth University for two of them, and is now happy to be back in western Washington, looking forward to continuing his education, and gaining new experiences in life and work. Nate currently lives in a cabin, on his uncle’s farm in Port Orchard, where he cares for chickens, ducks, and dogs, and looks forward to many fun winter projects– perhaps the construction of a composting toilet! Nate aspires to grow his own food, and to live consciously, meaningfully, and happily.
In addition to joining forces with WCC, the Foundation is also excited to be a part of the Model Forest Policy Program’s 2014 Climate Solutions University. The program is a two year process in which climate change scientists and planners help communities develop a Climate Change Adaptation Plan, to create more resilient communities and to minimize negative impacts of climate change. The first year of the program focuses on writing the plan, while the second year focuses on implementation.. The second WCC member, Morgan Greene, will be leading NRF through the first year’s process.
Morgan studied forest biology in her home state at Colorado State University and has had a variety of job experiences, including wildland firefighting, trail construction and collecting forest health data. Most recently, Morgan worked for the Nature Conservancy in Oregon as the field assistant for Sycan Marsh Preserve. While there, she lived 2 hours from a grocery store and would often go for days without seeing another person! On her drive north to Washington, she stopped in Portland and ran the Portland Marathon. Now, she is having fun exploring a new state by eating a lot of seafood, learning new plants and figuring out the perks of living in a wet climate.
The addition of the WCC members allows NRF to explore more project opportunities and work towards its goal of connecting the land, water and people of the Nisqually Watershed. We are hoping to host more members next year!
