A word of thanks to the Satsop River habitat connectivity volunteers

Blackberry removal volunteers support wildlife passage under Highway 12

By Brian Stewart, Cascades to Olympics Coordinator

On Friday July 16 and Saturday July 17 Conservation Northwest held two volunteer events at the Satsop Restoration Project, clearing blackberries from under the Highway 12 bridge to improve habitat connectivity in this Cascdes to Olympics project area, and increase quality farming land.

These were the first of many such events, many more will be announced and there are already two scheduled for August:

August – Friday 8/20 & Saturday 8/21
9:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

There are ten volunteer slots available for each day, so please register by emailing bstewart@conservationnw.org with your preferred volunteer timeslot(s).

More info is also available in this earlier post.

 

As exciting as the work is and how important it is to a healthy environment, I wanted to acknowledge three extremely powerful truths:

1) We have all been apart for a very long time and this was very evident when I noticed what laughing with a new friend or hearing someone else’s story, simple yet soothing and exhilarating in the most nuanced and unassuming way. That energy was present on both days, and I am grateful that I got to experience that with other folks.

2) Conservation Northwest Volunteers are an amazing bunch of enthusiastic and hardworking folks. I could have been breaking rocks all day, and would have been motivated by the excellent company and tenacity of these amazing people. Thank you so much, it was my humble honor to be a part of your crew for the day.

3) We are connections within connections, networks of interlocking tapestries, a woven, delicate web of humanity. Our symbiotic relationship with people, friends, families, coworkers, partners, even strangers is necessary. Without it we can lose sight and fall out of touch, but there together working laughing, sweating, and healing I was moved by the notion that we are capable of so much love and goodness, embodied in the work of these volunteers. Truly, a rejuvenating and refreshing reminder of our connections to the environment and the people we share it with.

I look forward to seeing folks again and meeting new folks. Sincerely, thank you all for what you do without your support we would not be able to do the work we do.

 

Stay tuned—we’ll share more information about this wildlife passage project in Southwest Washington in the months ahead.

Visit our CASCADES TO OLYMPICS webpage for more background.