Volunteer Susie helping students answer environmental questions about their plots. Photo by: Charles Espey
NOSC’s Real Learning Real Work education program kicked off on October 5th/6th with Blue Heron School and again on October 13th with Chimacum Middle School. The Real Leanring Real Work program works with students in Jefferson and Clallam County to work alongside real restoration professionals at real restoration sites, learning the techniques that specialists use everyday. Some of our volunteers came to help mold the young minds of Blue Heron and Chimacum 7th grade students. Students developed plot maps (the area that each student group will plant), take soil samples, learn to identify common trees and shrubs, and to answer questions about why plants are vital for good salmon habitat. Work was completed on Salmon Creek for Blue Heron School and Chimacum Creak for Chimacum Middle School. Students are now hard at work in their classrooms creating plot maps and deciding which native plant species to plant based on varying light and moisture requirements met by the plots. Each group of studetns will be planting their plots this spring! Be on the lookout for more volunteer opportunities to work with these schools, as well as with the Clallam Bay 7th and 8th graders on the west end of the Peninsula!