Coastal Life
Story by DAVID CAMPICHE • Photos by DWIGHT CASWELL
A CLASS FOR
THE AGES
Willapa National Wildlife Refuge will teach local
fourth graders about Pacifi c County’s natural
environment and ways to help it heal and fl ourish
T
The challenge is simple enough to explain:
Changes to the planet will evolve through our chil-
dren, and then, through theirs. Changes happen
naturally through evolution, intentionally through
education. Throw into the mix a sprinkling of Tin-
kerbell pride and knowledge, and then we might
be looking at a green revolution. A planet healed
and healthy — we all wish for this. At the Willapa
National Wildlife Refuge, environmental educa-
tion is a key factor toward this enlightenment.
This year, on May 19, 20 and 22, refuge staff
and local volunteers will administer a three-stage
environmental program to
the fourth grade students of
3DFL¿F &RXQW\ DQG LWV VHY
eral school districts. Lauren
Goodmiller is the environ-
mental education coordinator
for the refuge. She has a smile
and enthusiasm to melt ice.
She is looking for more vol-
unteers.
I met with a half-dozen of
these volunteers at the Willa-
pa Refuge Headquarters on
the Naselle River. After hugs
and handshakes, Goodmiller
and the volunteers laid out the elements of their
program, the one that will be shared with the
fourth graders.
The volunteers will make presentations at
three stations, titled: forest, fresh water, and estu-
ary (salt and brackish water). Each of the students
will stop at each station for 10 minutes. Beyond
watching and learning, the exchange is a two-way
street. As Rose Power, a peninsula resident and
weaver explains, “We teach the kids, and the kids
teach each other. Along the way, the kids teach
us.” In other words, all is one happy family of
environmentally conscious human beings, both
young and old.
“Bottom line,” says James Lev, of north coun-
ty, “is instilling a vested interest in the rivers and
ED\ WKDW LQXQGDWH 3DFL¿F &RXQW\´ 7KRVH ULYHUV
run through forests. Tumble down granite-faced
gorges, make riversong until, ultimately, they
reach the ocean. Not such a long journey, but one
that invests richly in our future.
In one demo, the volunteers, aided with the
presence of a rough-skinned newt, demonstrated
how the small creature always sought out the nat-
ural environment of lichen, ferns and moss over an
alternative landscape of dried
and arid needles, twigs and
dirt. The highly toxic newt
— don’t swallow one — in-
stinctively knew its comfort
level. In slow plodding steps,
it moved, every time, toward
protection and shelter.
In another demo, the dis-
SRVLWLRQ RI D FOHDU ÀRZLQJ
river was compared to a dam-
aged stream. While studying
the use of improper culverts
— or where there was ram-
pant destruction of the ripar-
ian zones that parallel the rivers — one clearly
could see the breakdown of the natural environ-
ment that supports the wide inundation of salmon,
steelhead, trout and dozens of local critters.
The kids will watch and learn: Tiny larvae of
fresh water mussels (western Pearlshell) attach
themselves to the mature salmon. Through that
evolution, vital nutrition is distributed up and down
river.
The impact of warmer water on the cultivation
of oysters will also be a topic of discussion. So will
EH WKH FRQVHTXHQFHV RI DFLGL¿FDWLRQ LQ :LOODSD
Bay. All these elements knit together in a dramatic
At the Willapa
National Wildlife
Refuge, environmental
education is a key
factor toward this
enlightenment.
4 | May 7, 2015 | coastweekend.com
Kathy Freitas holds a newt during a Willapa National Wildlife Refuge environmental education demonstration practice.
Rose Power and John Epler practice the demonstration they’ll
give to Pacifi c County fourth graders later this month about the
increasing salinity of Willapa Bay.
web that supports the health of our rivers, bays and
forests, and that is the root of these lessons.
These are just a few of the sessions to be shared
with the grade school students in mid-May. Be-
ginning of May 19, students will gather on Tarlatt
Slough near the PUD station on Sandridge Road.
Tarlatt Slough runs off the Willapa and ends its me-
andering course in the ocean at the end of Holman
Road in Seaview. The stream was a pipeline for the
Chinook Nation for hundreds of years. It might be
said that today, Tarlatt Slough is a pipeline for our
children, for their growth and illumination.
Willapa Bay is the cleanest estuary in the 48
contiguous states. It grows 20 percent of country’s
consumed oysters.
The oyster growers guard this body of water
with ferocious determination. Aided by the dedica-
tion of the Willapa wildlife managers and their de-
voted staff, and with the added stimulus of acquired
knowledge from our children, this lovely bay and
its resources can grow and prosper. As these kids
become empowered players in the battle for new
world survival, they learn that our planet could
still become a verdant and rich ecological haven
for future generations. It could become, in the
eyes of these volunteers and Goodmiller, a fait
accompli.
Lauren Goodmiller, environmental education coordinator for
Willapa National Wildlife Refuge, is seeking more local adult vol-
unteers to help with an environmental education program with
fourth grade students at the refuge.
Help volunteer
This May, the Willapa National Wildlife
Refuge needs your support
Call 360-484-3482
Email willapa@fws.gov