South Sound • Entered by Mary Taylor Goforth on October 1, 2022
Broadband field trip
September 17, 2022
Participants and Hours
| Pre Planning hours | 0.5 |
| Post Admin hours | 0.5 |
| Activity Hours | 6 |
| Participants | 3 |
| Total Hours | 19 |
Key Issue: Water-related Conservation
Activity Type: Education & Outreach (tabling, films & lectures, regional B-walks/works)
Key Partners: Lewis County Stream Team
Short Description of Activity
Three South Sound Broads met and carpooled to the Neuwakum River, about 25 miles south of Olympia for a morning streamside workshop on freshwater mussels, local steelhead and salmon, and lamprey. These species all spawn in the Newaukum Creek, a tributary of the Chehalis River in the Chehalis Basin watershed. Curt Hart, Washington Dept. of Fish and Wildlife, and Teal Waterstrat, U.S. Fish and Wildlife, biologists with many years of experience in the Basin, gave entertaining and highly educational presentations on the presence, development, and disappearance (muscles specifically) of these species over the last decade.
Reflection/Evaluation
A first time experience for two of the Broads of hearing something of these species and being on the Newhalem Creek. For me, it was like coming home: Teal and I used to work together at USFWS and even snorkeled with kids learning about the freshwater mussels; being in the midst of community environmental education and making a contact with the next generation of educators. In this case, specifically, Kenna Fosnacht, Outreach and Education Coordinator, Lewis Conservation District. Top notch outdoor educational event!!