Meet the Spring 2022 Community Program Interns

Meet NSEA’s Spring 2021 Community Program Intern team! From left to right: Emma Burgess, Aja Irons, Allison Greener, Megan Fritz, Zara Wiley, and Olivia Marsh.

This spring, NSEA welcomes six new Community Program Interns! This position is part of our Future Leaders of Whatcom Waters (FLOW) Program which provides real-world experience and opportunities for professional development to gain skills for future career pathways.  This team of interns will help facilitate NSEA’s Students for Salmon education field trips and lead volunteers in habitat restoration at community work parties through the Stream Stewards Program. Their work is critical to NSEA’s mission and our ongoing salmon recovery efforts.

Let’s meet the team!

Emma Burgess (she/her): Emma was born and raised in the Puget Sound area. She is a junior at Western Washington University studying Environmental Science with an emphasis in Freshwater and Terrestrial Ecology. After graduating, she plans to join the Peace Corps in South America as an Environmental Conservation Promoter. In her free time, you will find Emma in the mountains rock climbing, studying botany, and swimming in the rivers.

Megan Fritz (she/her): Megan is originally from Wayzata, Minnesota, but moved to Bellingham two years ago to attend school at Western Washington University. She is currently in her second year and plans to major in Environmental Studies at the College of the Environment. When not in class or working with NSEA, Megan enjoys writing music, film photography, and crocheting.

Allison Greener (she/her): Allison is an environmental science student at Western Washington University preparing to graduate this spring! Along with her internship with NSEA, she is also an intern for Learning Environment Action Discovery (LEAD), an environmental restoration and stewardship organization at Western. During her free time, she can be found reading, doing film photography, gardening, walking around Bellingham with her fiancé, or nerding out playing Dungeons and Dragons.

Aja Irons (she/her): Aja is an alumnus of Western Washington University and graduated in 2018 with a BA in music and a minor in Education and Social Justice. She is native to Washington and is a member of the Citizen’s Climate Lobby for the Tacoma Chapter. She loves exploring the outdoors and hiking with friends in her free time. Aja is excited to join this internship and learn more about salmon conservation and connect with the greater community.

Olivia Marsh (she/they): Olivia moved to Bellingham five years ago from Colorado to study at Western Washington University. Last year, they graduated with a degree in Environmental Science and a minor in English. In the future, she hopes to work on making environmental science more accessible to everyone. For fun, Olivia enjoys reading, hiking, trying new crafts, and practicing tarot.

NSEA Fish Trivia Returns

By Grace Pierstorff, AmeriCorps Environmental Education Coordinator

NSEA held the 12th Fish Trivia event in February at Zeeks Pizza, bringing together community members and partner organizations to test their fishy knowledge and in turn support NSEA’s education and stewardship programs. It has been a long two years since we hosted this event due to pandemic restrictions, and we were delighted to be able to safely host this event in-person with people, including some who have participated in this event for years.

Almost 90 people spread out over a total of 25 trivia teams such as “I Kokaneed you”, “The Adi-posers”, and “Redd or Dedd”, who all brought their A-game to compete for prizes, which were generously donated by local businesses including Confluence Fly Shop, Brandywine, Vital Climbing Gym, Makeworth Coffee, and Crazy but Cute Socks.

This year, for the first time, NSEA partnered with some of our local salmon recovery partners who each sponsored a round of trivia. Bellingham Technical College, North Sound Trout Unlimited, Whatcom Conservation District, and Whatcom Land Trust each prepared ten questions along with an NSEA round for a total of 50 questions. The competition was fierce, even resulting in a tie for 2nd and 3rd place, so emcee and new NSEA board member Tyler Dockins reached into the tiebreaker questions until a team emerged. “Onchy Ringers” took home the prize of first place, with “Death Roe” answering the tiebreaker question (the meaning of the word “Whatcom” in Lummi dialect) to take second and “The Righteous Earstones” taking third place.  

We are deeply grateful to everyone who made Fish Trivia a success this year. Tyler brought fun energy to the evening and led community members in engaging and informative trivia questions centered around salmon in Whatcom County. We couldn’t have done it without our community partners, and many people commented on the new facts they learned about salmon or their habitat requirements. Zeeks Pizza was a fabulous venue to host this event and we are grateful for their donation of $1 for each pint of beer purchased during the event. At the end of the night, over $1,000 was raised to support NSEA’s programming efforts that take place along salmon-bearing waterways throughout Whatcom County.

Fish Trivia was a wonderful way to connect with people who have joined us at Community Work Parties, attended a Salmon Sighting Event, or those whose first time it was engaging with NSEA. We were excited to be able to host this event in-person and enjoy a fun evening of laughter, fun, and brainteasers.