JBLM...Nisqually meets the Army meets the environment...

So yesterday's field trip to Joint Base Lewis McCord was hosted by a slew of Evergreen Alumni...if ever I doubted my education at TESC would not produce work (like I thought that) here is proof positive that a bunch of so called hippies could work professionally and productively with the Feds, specifically the military feds...well there you are...

Great group of people dedicated to their work...most of them at their positions over 10 years each, one with a doctorate in biology. 

We saw the Earthworks recycling station that is built on a land fill and actually helps monitor the gasses coming out of what is left of the space created in the 70s. They recycle just about everything from the JBLM base including: asphalt, cement, buildings, materials from revamped buildings, food waste that is compost-able, building waste, machines, timber and either reuse or recycle it back to the base or sell it for $$$ for schools. They are ISO 14001 silver working on gold and some platinum EPA standards.

An amazing meeting/lecture from one of Nisqually Tribes' best advocate Joe Kalama. He filled in some of the connection to place that words on paper cannot. According to Joe Kalama JBLM is one of the best relationships in the region to help protect Nisqually land and good stewards to boot.

We saw Muck Creek, King Cemetery where Joe performed an ancestor ceremony letting them know we were here with respect. I have to tell you that I picked up on their energy before we got there and my walk through with instructions from Joe was intense. Joe is an amazing person, someone who I would like to listen to more.  I will say that the area was bordered by Oregon white oak and on a knoll right next to the "impact" area of JBLM. We learned that the Checkerspot Butterfly and the Oregon Spotted Frog and the Western Grey Squirrel are being re-introduced to the area. While back a the creek we were able to draw and reflect on the day.

We also learned earlier about the re-veg program utilizing 8 species of rare plants to reveg the impact zone and provide restoration on base all the while in other areas the military are training.

Here is to all who participate in the solution, no matter where you stand or how open your heart is...woot, hoorah, rock on...

Remember Campers the goundhog does not come out for a few more days, hold onto your socks, we may have an early spring!

Cheers and peace out!

Welcoming the Salmon Festival...

5 am...the alarm goes off...find my clothes...stumble to the bathroom, but on my socks from yesterday and my sweats...get the dogs, take them out for a spin...come in after 3 round around the all too full winter pond...feed the dogs and the cats...start the tub...make the coffee...turn off the tub....make breakfast to go...bath...dress really warm...pour coffee into thermos... pack the car...drive to ferry...ferry late...need to get to Olympia by 7:15...tappp tappp...ferry late....ferry comes....ferry drops me off...drive behind a school bus and two cars that think 30 miles per hour means 25....they are in both lanes...can't pass...people waiting for me to pick them up....finally make hwy 16.... its 6:45 now...I need 45 mins to get to school...and have 30....so I move over to get to the I5 south ramp...who is out at this time of the morning on a Saturday but me... apparently everyone....tapp tapp tappp.....resigned I look for my fellow student's phone number in the recently called...I erased it...sigh... state troopers are everywhere...apparently they know the entire world is out at this time on a Saturday morning...7:00...not even close... going to be late...finally get to exit 104....both lanes have cars going below the speed limit...maybe only teachers and grand parents are out this early...tapp tappp tapp....I breath...everything is as it should be...breath....vib the J man to call me...7:15...I'm on 101 headed for the school offramp...cool no one ahead of me untill we get tot he campus line and everyone is going 35...like they should...who are all this people out this early?...don't they know I need to pick up my peeps for the Salmon welcoming? 7:20 J man calls me...I'm relieved...reasuring I will be right there I'm at the round about... we meet...the J man is my shotgun he reads the directions like he's been to Roy 50 million times we get there 5 mins early and are the only ones in the parking lot...are we in the right place...I call my instructor...we are...cool...we help set up the double wide canopy...team work..quick...done...go to bridge over Muck Creek with my peeps we see birds.. get the binoculars and the field guide...3 western scrub jays, 1 red wing black bird, song sparrows...later as we get ready for the blessing a Bald Eagle does a fly by...sweet....

people show up...Nisqually Tribe members, JBLM (Joint Base Luis McCord)(military guys in uniform- they are cool they partner to protect the watershed!! Rock on boyz n girls)...City mayors, Nisqually River Counsel, Nisqually Land Trust...tons more...more of my peeps from TESC show up including our instructors...great displays... we all make a key chain out of colored beads (each bead represents the life of a salmon and what it means to the watershed)...a lot of very nice people...Bob of the Nisqually tribe, a very connected Medicine personage blessed the waters, the salmon, us the land the beasts and the space...welcoming back the salmon which is of the place and as everything is sacred.

The Nisqually Watershed is THE most restored and protected watershed in the Country..oh wait the WORLD...its because all the cities, towns, counties, state peeps, FED peeps, locals like you and me pitch in and assure the the connection of the Glacier to the Sound is solid for the salmon and all the species and flora and fauna there meet n greet. THE WORLD... it is a model for all watersheds and communities to get and understand and put to good use.....There are many watersheds in our region and they could use a hand to get closer to the Nisqually ideal...the next big step is the Sound...then the Ocean...we need to pay attention to how we are connected to the place where we live...everyday and in all things...As a great zen master said...the divine is not in us, we are in the divine...so lets take care of our world like we are that space and time and matter...

Peace out campers...remember the winter is not over yet...keep the coffee hot and the gloves handy!

Carbon River Watershed...

Of course I was/am excited about researching the Carbon River because its so been in the news about flooding and the NPS at Rainier or Tahoma/Ta-coh-bet to the rest of us....and there is info out there about the flooding and the history of logging and coal mines....but it is not a major watershed, not like the Nisqually or White River or the Puyallup...its nested in the Northern Puyallup watershed and trying to get separate data for the Carbon River area is piece meal at best and etherial at its apex....

Looking at the small ponds joining to make a swamp in my front yard (2 acres)...I can see why water flooding and disturbances are an issue...so piecing in Pierce County I go...one bit here one bit there and walla (not as is walla walla) you have a larger bit of data to work with. And in the Spirit of Evergreen...here is the opportunity to bond body/mind/soul to your project...

Don't forget to get in your birdie drawings, your reading, your species reports and meetings and prepare for more data to be infused so that just when you think you cannot put one more iota of info in...it starts to make sense and you get it...clever these instructors they are, very clever....

so campers as you wade through your lawn and garden, look down and the ground and notice the tips of bulbs coming out of the ground...soon there will be flowers and sunshine!

Place names....

Before this project of creating a place name(s) map of a watershed I would be casually interested in the history of a place or spot on a map. Now I wish there was more out in the world of the internet that spoke about locals and not just one person's oral history of the area, but also from the perspective of others who may have lived there... It is one thing to read an academic text of data and historical singular dates that lacks a sense of where this place is who may have lived there...but what did those others from our past do in a day, throughout the seasons...data is bland and has no color, even if it has plates and photos...to have a sense of what went on you need first person accounts and descriptive other words to use to paint the picture in your heart.

I am very grateful to be in this program, that it gets me out of my singular thinking and lets me explore with my heart!

Ok campers it will prolly snow sometime over the next few days/weeks....keep extra warm clothes in your car if you go outside of your town...water, food, blankies and something to start a fire....10 essentials people....

Week 1, Winter Quarter...

Well lets just say week one of the winter quarter picked up where the last week of the fall quarter left off... most of us from the fall quarter are already putting in extra time and I am not sure the new participants really know what they are in for....

This program is so dynamic and exciting, if you are not willing to be soooo present and plan in advance for what is due you may just be spinning in circles...we learned, at least I hope most of us learned that Evergreen is not a cake walk by any means and if, just if you are present enough when you are in lecture or field service learning or processing the scientific aspects of record keeping you may get that all these parts which seem to make you crazy do indeed have meaning and focus and a trail to follow to your next step...

boy that was a long sentence...meaningful but long....

Here, this moment, this iota of existence is your opportunity to get it...are you ready?

Really?

Then step back from your day and observe....who or what is moving in your life...
What complete essence is in everything you see, taste feel....

Go outside of your comfort zone and be....

Twas the night before the Winter Quarter...

And all through the house
could be heard washers and dryers and the click of the mouse...
The winter moodle is growing and expanding by the hour...
The assignments for week one are filling with the power
of rivers and mountains and birds flying so high
we will need wellies and ladders to reach that sky..
That is reflected in puddles and ponds of the Sound.
Nisqually watershed will be mapped and all around
we write in the notebookes that withstand the rain
and help our neighbors look what we gain...

So off the next morning to explore all we might
To Evergreen we go and to all a good night...

Well campers it's been a while since I've written a poem,,,
So thanks for listening and remember get up 10 mins early and defrost your car!