By Jennifer (Jenn) Mackey
Stewardship Director at Whatcom Land Trust.
30 for Thirty #16

In 2011, I started working with NSEA as a Stream Restoration Intern. I began my internship with NSEA as I wholeheartedly agreed with their mission and values and wanted to gain hands on experience while working with such an organization. After my internship ended, I continued volunteering by attending Saturday work parties. Lately, I have been so grateful to be working even more intimately with NSEA behind the scenes.

In 2017, I became the Stewardship Director for the Whatcom Land Trust (WLT). NSEA and WLT partner in many ways to further both of our missions and together we accomplish amazing work in Whatcom County. Involving all ages of the community in protecting salmon and their habitat accomplishes even more than people realize. While planting trees in the ground with the community, NSEA is sowing the seed for positive change.

Over the years I have formed many memories with NSEA and the community that surrounds them. Being able to see trees that have grown taller than me that I planted back in 2011 is a great feeling. I just can’t help but smile and say, “I helped plant those!”. Staff may change slightly over the years, but you’ll notice they all come back to volunteer events since it’s hard to stay away!

By Staci MacCorkle
Foreign Service Officer
30 for Thirty #15

Twentysome years ago, I was looking for an internship opportunity to satisfy the requirements for my WWU/Huxley degree program. Someone mentioned an organization that I heard as “N.C.” They went on to explain that it was “NSEA,” the Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association. I don’t recall now if I cold called the office or if I was given Rachel Vasak’s name. I believe Rachel was the Volunteer and Monitoring Coordinator at the time. It didn’t take long for Rachel’s infectious love of NSEA to reach my own heart; I was hooked! I spent that spring as her assistant and did everything from updating a guidance manual and collecting monitoring samples to babysitting the smolt acclimation ponds in the middle and upper watershed.

When my internship was nearing its completion, I approached Rachel about volunteering through the summer while I awaited news of my Peace Corps application. I just wasn’t ready to leave NSEA in the rearview mirror. That season, I coordinated the Tenmile Creek Watershed Habitat Survey. Years later, as a Natural Resources Scientist with a Sumner-based consulting firm, I would find myself applying the same survey techniques and knowledge I gained during that summer.

When my Peace Corps application was delayed, I found yet another opportunity to keep me working with NSEA – this time on the payroll! For another few months, I filled a vacancy left by the departure of the Program Assistant. The community interfacing and engagement I experienced all those years ago still serves me today in my most recent role as an International Relations Officer in the Department of State’s Office of Marine Conservation. I am just wrapping up a three-year assignment as the Department’s representative to the various North Pacific Ocean fisheries agreements and treaties to which the United States is a member.

Among other things, my North Pacific portfolio work has reminded me of the time I spent in the Salish Sea community in Bellingham. During a pre-pandemic work meeting that brought me back to Bellingham, Rachel, now the NSEA Executive Director (!), and I reconnected. I was delighted to be treated to a personal tour of some of the Tenmile Creek project work that has been done over the years since that habitat study was completed, as well as a project that was actively being installed. Wow! NSEA continues to do amazing work!

My NSEA roots provided me a sturdy foundation from which to broaden my knowledge and engagement in the bigger North Pacific Ocean fisheries community. As I transition to my onward Foreign Service assignment, I can assure you that my old, and yet still sturdy, NSEA canvas bags (and a more recently acquired new version) will continue accompanying me around the globe and reminding me of my Salish Sea beginnings. Like those salmon that return to their natal streams, I will always feel the draw back to this incredibly special organization.

(Staci is in front. Carrying NSEA bags through the Dominican Republic; Portland, OR; Guatemala City; Panama City; Washington, D.C.; and onward to Islamabad)