Photo courtesy Keeley O’Connell, People For Puget Sound

“We had a great turn out and a great time with the College Park Middle School’s 7th grade students June 12.  There were around 100 students, four teachers and three parents that traveled up from Edmonds to spend three hours at Union Slough learning about habitat restoration, plant identification and volunteering their time and muscle to remove invasive Scotch Broom.  Several students enjoyed learning how to use plant ID books, and I heard many excited shouts of...'I found it! I found Scirpus americanus!' when they got a positive identification of American bulrush, one of the dominant intertidal plants at the site. All of the students quickly learned what Scotch Broom is and how to identify it.  Several of the boys showed off some muscle using the weed wrenches to pop the larger broom plants out by the root. Pulling up the Scotch Broom was a favorite activity of the day...just don't tell their parents how much they like manual labor and yard work! There were lots of smiles and plenty of adults overhearing the kids remark what a great day it had been.  I searched out one student, who at the beginning of the day told me he’d rather be at school because there really wasn’t any difference to him between regular school and a field trip.  I found him just before he boarded the bus to head back to school and asked him again if he had a good time.  His response- “That was so much fun- it was way better than sitting at school!”

“The teachers all remarked that this was a very organized and very exciting field trip.  They will likely be contacting us again next year for more ideas on engaging their students in activities and places like Union Slough.”

--Keeley O’Connell, restoration coordinator, People For Puget Sound