The Homeschool Stewardship Squad is four years old! It gives me great joy to see all the faces, families and muddy boots working together to care for our local wilderness. As with our first event, the Washington Trails Association (in partnership with King County Parks) hosted us on Cougar Mountain. We appreciate our many non-profit and municipal partners who have taught us restoration techniques, thoughtfully designed successful work and graciously led us to special places- thank you!
From the history-rich Red Town Trailhead (go see the mine shafts!) we worked to improved trail drainage amongst the rich mossy maple towers and burbling creek. By now many of the kids are experienced at bucket brigades and the new ones joined right in to haul gravel apx. one hundred yards down various trails to fill in mud puddles.
Another team dug heavy gravel from the pile, loading it into both buckets and wheel barrows for the long journey to the work sites, one of which was a serious piece of hydrologic engineering the kids greatly enjoyed- creek splashing, ditch digging, gravel dumping! We even got to see a miniature iceberg that had formed in a creek eddy. It was a saucer-sized eight inch little crystal dome marvelously pirouetting in its endless whirlpool.
Balancing sensitive human access and natural preservation is crucial work, for our species and every other. Many walkers, hikers and trail-runners thanked us for our stewardship. Here's to many more years of caring for our beautiful environment.