SCA Seattle Community Programs kicked off the School Year Program with a fabulous All Corps Retreat.  All three School Year Crews (the Old Faithfuls, Thunderbirds and Albatross) gathered at Camp Long for an intro to SCA.  Together we maintained 1800 ft of trail and completed 480 hours of service and education.

 Trail maintenance projects included: tread repair, debris removal, brushing, step removal, and more. 

Educational activities included: Leave No Trace, Knots, First Aid, Map & Compass, Water Awareness, Nature Yoga, Teambuilding Games, and more.

The returning students (Old Faithful Crew Members) planned and lead the event.  SCA staff Meredith Stone and Sarah ZA also joined!  Seattle Parks and Rec staff Sheila Brown and Jacobo Jimenez introduced SCA youth to Camp Long and the trail projects.  Check out photos from All Corps Retreat .

Are you 15-19 years old?  Do you want to...  Meet new friends from all over Seattle?  Get outside?  Get your hands dirty working in parks and greenspaces?  Gain camping and leadership skills?  Earn over 60 community service hours?

Apply for the SCA School Year Program!

• January - May 2013
• Attend one weekend event and one evening meeting each month
• Weekends include service projects and recreation trips.  Some are overnight.
• This program is free and gear is provided.
• Summer crews are available (15 day trips to Mt. Rainier National Park)

To Apply:  Go to https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/embeddedform?formkey=dDBCWTJOOTVNdVlwbDBfWFdsdUd6OWc6MQ   

All applications are due by Oct 31, 2012.

Please contact Sarah Weigle with any questions. 

sweigle@thesca.org   Office: 206.324.4649 x4814  Cell: 206.499.1474

This year SCA Northwest celebrated Earth Day two weekends in a row, with two major work projects.

Washington Park Arboretum (Saturday, April 14)

SCA Northwest celebrated Earth Day at the Washington Park Arboretum in Seattle, Washington on Saturday, April 14 and it was a huge success!  The celebration started with inspirational speeches from UW Dean Lisa Graumlich, Acting Superintendent of Seattle Parks & Recreation Christopher Williams, former Congressman and 2012 Democratic candidate for Washington State Governor Jay Inslee, and SCA youth leaders Latreea Garner and Georgia Ray.

Nearly 200 volunteers joined to complete 750 hours of volunteer service.  Work projects at eight different sites included removing invasive plants, mulching a trail, salvaging and replanting native ferns, and weeding. 

The Arboretum staff was surprised and pleased with the amount of work completed. Over 15,000 square feet of invasive plants were removed, 6.5 trailer loads of ferns were salvaged, and over 150 feet of trail was mulched.

We were also joined by Zoo Corps naturalists who provided environmental education talks throughout the day about wetlands, watersheds, raptors, turtles, toads, bears, wolves, and New Zealand wildlife. This youth lead event was full of energy and hard work. Beautiful weather, passionate people, and diligent work added another successful Earth Day event to SCA’s history.

CoastSavers, Point Grenville, Quinault Indian Reservation (Saturday, April 21)

In continuation of celebrating Earth Day, SCA Northwest joined CoastSavers on Washington Coastal Cleanup Day as proclaimed by Governor Gregoire in volunteering to remove marine debris from Washington’s Pacific coastline.

Former SCA board member Jackie Oldham, SCA youth members, SCA staff, volunteers, and other organizations, such as the Surfriders Foundation and ARAMARK, joined forces at Point Grenville, one of the Quinault Indian Reservation’s beautiful beaches, normally closed to the public. They removed marine debris and learned about our endangered coastal habitat and wildlife.

The Washington Coast Cleanup is an annual event which started as a series of separate beach cleanups held every April in celebration of Earth Day. Since 2000, they’ve had a total of 9,404 volunteers collect 300 tons of marine trash. This year, SCA’s Evan Escamilla helped to organize the critical clean up. The debris washing ashore comes from both land and sea sources and is harmful to the coastal ecosystem.

Activities like this Earth Day cleanup event promote awareness of preventable human activities and develop a sense of ownership towards our coastal habitat. Beginning this year marine debris related to the Japan Tsunami of 2011 has arrived on the US Pacific coast. The amount of debris and affects are anticipated to increase over the coming years. This was the first year that SCA has joined the clean up and contributed to its success in bringing 1,457 volunteers collecting approximately 33.5 tons of garbage. The total estimated value of Washington Coastsavers efforts is $94,501.

For more photos please go to:

Arboretum Work Projects and Celebration

CoastSavers Beach Cleanup

The SCA Seattle School Year Program offers leadership opportunities and community service hours through outdoor programs. Meet new friends from all over Seattle! Work on conservation projects in local parks and gain outdoor recreation skills. No experience necessary.

You will be expected to attend one evening meeting and one weekend event each month, January to May. Some of these will be overnight camping trips. In the summer you will be challenged to spend 15-35 days on a trail crew away from home.

Once you have completed the following application our staff will contact you in 2-3 weeks with further information. To Apply: SCA Seattle School Year Program Application

All applications are due by October 21st.

Thank you for your interest in applying!

All Corps Retreat took place at Camp Long in West Seattle from Saturday, January 8 to Sunday, January 9, 2011 and was attended by 47 youth and 8 staff. Students participated in a service project, led team-building games, had small group time, did leadership activities, and put on a student run panel about future conservation opportunities. Overall, SCA students completed 162 hours of work, removed 495 sq. ft. of invasives, graded 40 ft. of trail, graveled 35 ft. of trail, built 3 box steps, and removed 1 garbage bag of trash! Students also received 141 hours of environmental education, including workshops in Leave No Trace, orienteering, compost/trash, tracking, climate change, plant ID, survival skills/first aid, campfire building, and nature poetry/art.

Lots of awesome photos...

By Emma Jornlin, SCA Staff

The room bubbled with energy just prior to the start of the America's Great Outdoors Listening Session last Thursday. Nearly one hundred youth from around Seattle gathered at circular tables, playing with the place cards, eating granola bars, and talking excitedly. No one seemed to know what was going to happen, only that we had been invited here by important figures from various park and environmental agencies.

The Urban Forestry Corps (UFC) is a continuation of a successful program that started in summer 2008 in which SCA had a crew of six Seattle area students working in Seward Park, Washington Park Arboretum, and Cheasty Greenspace.  In 2010, SCA will serve 60 youth in partnership with Cascade Land Conservancy, King Conservation District, University of Washington Botanic Gardens, Seattle Parks, King County YouthSource, Highline School District, Auburn School District and Seattle Youth Employment. Work-skill training and service will include watersheds and water quality, urban forestry, horticulture, data collection and monitoring, conservation ethics, stewardship and green job readiness curriculum. Youth will provide over 12,000 hours of conservation service.

In the City of Seattle, site locations include: Washington Park Arboretum, Seward Park, Cheasty Greenspace, Maple School, and Madrona Woods.  There is a similar program in south King County at New Start School in White Center and Metzler Park in the Green River Natural Area near Auburn.  The New Start site is installing a raingarden, creating a native plant nursery and performing restoration work.  In addition to being paid, the students at New Start are eligible to receive one school credit for math or science.  King Conservation District funded the New Start project.  The UFC is a new and innovative program that addresses the needs of urban youth and provides a unique opportunity for students to gain real life work skills while connecting with the environment.