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Voices from the Past: AmeriCorps Members

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As many of you know, SFEG has relied on the service of several AmeriCorps members each year for the past 24 years. 

Way back in the fall of 1997 SFEG welcomed its first AmeriCorps member, Rebecca Benjamin. Since making her mark in the Skagit Valley, she has risen in the ranks and for many years has been the Executive Director of our sister organization, North Olympic Salmon Coalition.  In 1999, Bengt Miller put in a year of service doing all aspects of salmon habitat restoration, and after a few years away he rejoined our team as field crew member.  He has headed up our knotweed and stewardship programs for the past several years now.  One AmeriCorps  member from the 2017-18 service year, Erin Matthews, went on to become our Habitat Restoration Coordinator.

In addition to many Individual placements from Washington Service Corps and Washington Conservation Corps (WCC), we have also benefitted from the service of many WCC crews over the years.  They do the lion’s share of tree planting and fence building that we do!

See how many you can identify!

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Several AmeriCorps members went on to become staff members, and one joined our board of directors!  Most went on to careers in natural resources, some became teachers, and many are parents now!

I’ve kept in touch with most of them, and it’s been fun to keep up with their life adventures through the years. I reached out to some AmeriCorps members from years past, and here is what some of them had to report about what they’ve been up to since their service with us; maybe you remember them:

Erin (Mader) Plue, Washington Conservation Corps Member 2002-03:

“After leaving SFEG, I got a Master’s in Education for secondary science.  I taught in classroom for a number of years, but never found the ideal teaching job in my current hometown of Sandpoint, Idaho.  I found my way back into natural resources here working primarily on surface water issues.  I currently work as the Coeur d’Alene Project Manager for Trout Unlimited.  In this role I coordinate stream restoration projects aimed at improving habitat for native trout.  The basin I work in has a huge legacy of mining and timber harvest impacts that continue to limit  healthy cold-water fish habitat. I partner with landowners (including private, state, federal and tribal entities), find funding, contract services and oversee construction of stream restoration projects.  It’s a mesh of collaboration, education, paperwork and field work.  I love it!  It’s dynamic work and I feel like I am really making a difference for our aquatic species and our waterways.”

 

Joel Breems, Washington Conservation Corps member 2004-05:

“Following my time with SFEG I continued to work in the region as a graduate student at UW doing research in the San Juan Islands on nearshore ecosystems, specifically on Blakely Island. This work, which started at SFEG, led to years working in the Aquatics Division at Washington Department of Natural Resources helping develop a statewide policy on wood waste impacted nearshore areas.  Eventually my partner, Joanna, and I found ourselves in Guyana, South America for several years. I had the privilege of being part of the development of a new Protected Areas System which encompassed some of the most untouched and diverse areas left. We have since returned to the US and are currently in Spokane where I continue to be involved in conservation issues as well as chasing two wonderful toddlers around.”

 

Laura (Clemmer) Glasser, Washington Service Corps Member 2004-05:

Since her internship ended, Laura worked at Komo Kulshan Outdoor School, was a naturalist for the Upper Skagit Bald Eagle Interpretive Center, worked at a cafe, and volunteered for a number of environmental organizations in Whatcom and Skagit Counties.  In 2007 she got married and moved to Seattle, lived on a sailboat, and started a new career path as a vision therapist.  Then she had two children, whom she now stays home with.  She still loves getting outside, as do her children.

 

Katie Moyer, Washington Service Corps Outreach & Education 2009-10: 

“Hello everyone!  Up until 2017, I was working as a biological technician for a variety of agencies.  However, since 2018, I’ve been living in Vietnam and teaching English.  I had planned to return to the PNW last summer to do a post-bacc program in Communication Sciences and Disorders, but then Covid happened.  So, I stayed here and have been completing the program online.  I return to the USA this summer.  I hope to attend graduate school in 2022 but I’m not totally sure what I’m going to do during this interim year.  Regardless, I’m excited to be home soon!”

 

Kelly Sykes, Washington Service Corps Education Associate 2015-16:

“My time at Skagit Fisheries is one I will never forget and I gained so much experience that I never would have made anywhere else. Since then, I have come a long way and my career does not look like anything I thought it would 5 years ago. After SFEG I have worked various jobs including Environmental Educator for KEEN, Outdoor Recreation Educator with REI, Interpreter at Point Defiance Zoo and eventually I have settled in veterinary medicine. I worked at a clinic for a few years and then exempted a job with Trupanion, a pet insurance company. I found that animals are my passion and whether it be saving the salmon or saving our pets, I want to do all I can to help.”

 

Shannon Jones, Washington Conservation Corps Member, 2015-16:

“I’ve been working with state agencies like Tennessee department of environment and conservation and now the department of ecology on solid waste issues. I work closely with local governments, material haulers, material processors, non-profits, end markets, and the general public on waste issues and statewide policies like the ban on plastic bags. I just completed my masters in sustainable wildlife management and hope to make a shift to something more hands-on soon.”

 

KayLani Siplin, Washington Service Corps, 2016-17:

“After my AmeriCorps term I went to grad school to study Urban Environmental Education at Antioch University in Seattle. Since graduation, I have been working full time as one of IslandWood’s Lead Educators on the Urban Programs Team. This role has allowed me to serve youth throughout the Seattle area, building connections between stormwater issues and their communities. I also have had the opportunity to teach a college-level environmental studies course and I will be travelling to Maine this summer to facilitate programming for other adult educators during Hog Island’s Educators Week.”

 

THANK YOU to all those who’ve spent a year in service through AmeriCorps.  We are currently in the home stretch with our brilliant members Danielle, Olivia, and Katie, as well as our current WCC crew, and are in the hiring process for next fall!  Interested?  Details HERE

Vegetation Will Be Monitored

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If 2020 were a normal year, we would have a team of interns and volunteers heading out amongst the conifers and shrubs to monitor the plants at our restoration sites. However, this year is anything but “normal”, so to make up for that, our team of Washington Service Corps members have begun monitoring instead!

Washington Service Corps members monitoring at Riverfront Park in Sedro-Woolley

Two sites were accomplished during their first week, Riverfront Park in Sedro-Woolley and Skagit Land Trust’s site Utopia. Everyone wears a mask at all times, and social distancing protocols are adhered to.

WSC Members monitoring at Utopia

The plants are checked for species, height, mortality rating, and anything else of note, including insect damage and whether they have protectors. We miss our volunteers but SFEG is still getting important work done!

One of the plots at Utopia

A Glimpse into the Corps Experience

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by Tessa Marie

The Washington Conservation Corps has given us a unique opportunity to make an impact for our local streams and wetlands. We work together with Skagit Fisheries to plant trees, remove invasive species, and work on a variety of construction projects aimed at improving our environment for future generations.

There have been some surprising lessons along the way. For example, I never knew of a planting technique called live staking. To live stake, we cut off a limb of a mature cottonwood or willow tree and stick it about a food deep directly into the ground. Doing this in the winter months allows the dormant limb to focus all of its energy into growing roots and then presto! It becomes a new tree! I had no idea that starting a baby forest could be so easy.

Going into WCC, I also had no idea how much work goes into prepping planting sites, let alone the actual planting process. At a site known as Marietta Creek, we spent several weeks in October building about one mile of fence through a cow pasture to keep the animals away from the stream. We returned for several more weeks in December to transport 4,099 potted plants and stage them in our planting area.  We rented a UTV to help us transport plants across the pasture, and also crammed hundreds of plants into a Skagit Fisheries truck and trailer.

Our restoration crew coordinator Joe pulled up to the fence and hopped into the trailer filled with spruces in 2-gallon pots. He picked one up, turned toward my colleague Nathan, and asked, “Are you ready?” Nathan readied his stance. Joe tossed the pot into the air, over the fence, and into Nathans’ arms. I watched in awe, “You’re kidding right?” No, no they weren’t kidding. That’s an actual spruce flying through the air. Nathan set the spruce down just in time to catch the next one that Joe flung towards him. Once I took a moment, watched a few more tosses to reconcile my disbelief, I got ready. Joe pivoted towards me and tossed me a spruce. Next thing you know, Joe is hurling spruce after spruce over the fence with precision, giving Nathan and I just enough time to set it down and get ready for the next plant. That was an exciting and efficient offload! I was completely out of breath by the time we had the trailer emptied. I will probably always chuckle to myself when I think back on this project.

I am one of six members of a Washington Conservation Corps crew based in Mt. Vernon. We work with Skagit Fisheries Enhancement Group to restore habitat near streams that feed into the Skagit and the Sauk River. In the fall we focused on construction projects and some site maintenance to prepare for the planting season in the winter. Now that it’s springtime we are focusing mostly on invasive species removal with brush cutters. Before this position, I had no experience with power tools and very little planting and construction experience. I feel super empowered to be able to run a brush cutter, chainsaw, a drill and other construction tools. It is extremely rewarding to know that our projects are a result of our hands and our pure hard work.

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