By Sarah Brown, NSEA Stewardship Program Coordinator
Back in March, when the COVID-19 pandemic was just beginning to surface, NSEA made the decision, based on local health recommendations, to cancel all Community Work Parties for the foreseeable future. As a community-based nonprofit, we have missed the usual connections that are made at these events where we rely on the support of generous and passionate volunteers to restore streamside salmon habitat throughout Whatcom County. Over the last six months, the Stewardship Team has developed a plan to safely host volunteers at select sites this fall while strictly following protocols necessary to keep our community safe. These new Micro Work Parties will be held at four restoration sites that are spread out across the county: Terrell Creek in Blaine, Tenmile Creek in Everson, and two sites along Squalicum Creek in Bellingham.
The biggest change is limiting the total number of volunteers that can participate. This is a big shift from our usual “come one, come all” setup, which has resulted in some truly spectacular events with incredible turnout. For example, just last January nearly 500 Whatcom County residents joined us in our three-hour celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day with the City of Bellingham at Whatcom Falls Park. Unfortunately, high turnout at our events during the current COVID-19 pandemic would be detrimental to the health and safety of our community.
To keep these events true to their name, Micro Work Parties, we will be requiring volunteers to register for an event and reserve their spot online through nsea.volunteerhub.com. Limiting the number of total participants ensures that we can easily follow local health requirements by keeping group sizes small and prioritizing physical distancing. If we look at our previous volunteer turnout as an indicator, we are anticipating these event spots to be in high demand, and we please ask our community to be patient with this new system. If registration fills up, we will have a waitlist option set up just in case some spots become available. If this system is successful this fall, it will allow us the potential to scale up in the upcoming seasons knowing that we have support of our community as we implement these new, necessary measures.
Other minor changes include requiring staff and volunteers to have masks available to wear if proper spacing cannot be met, NSEA not providing snacks or restrooms to reduce shared spaces, and asking volunteers to stay home if they are experiencing any COVID-19 related symptoms or have potentially been exposed to the virus. If you are a regular at our usual events, know that these Micro Work Parties will be different. However, the overall goal is the same; together we will restore salmon habitat and continue learning how we can all be better stewards to our shared lands and waterways.
Even with new protocols in place, NSEA continues to welcome you to join us in fulfilling our mission to keep wild salmon here for future generations. We will be planting native trees and shrubs along the streams, removing any invasive vegetation present, and picking up trash. These efforts improve salmon habitat, and ensure that salmon in our watershed can thrive. I am happy to answer any questions you may have about the upcoming season or the work we are doing to keep our community safely engaged with salmon recovery. Please contact Sarah Brown at sbrown@n-sea.org or call 360-312-3235.
We look forward to seeing you at the creek!
Register for individual work parties starts October 14th on our website.