Have you ever heard of the endangered Western Pond Turtle? You probably haven’t unless you have spent a lot of time around Oregon and California’s ponds. 

Believe it or not, this turtle was originally found all the way from Baja California to Canada. But most importantly, these turtles loved the wetlands here in the Puget Sound. There was even a population of our own living at our habitat restoration site, Deadman’s Pond (no other reason has been found to why it is called Deadman’s Pond, other than the fact that it’s close to a cemetery- but rest assured, it is a cool place). Several years ago, only one Western Pond Turtle was left there. That lonely guy was rehomed to the Woodland Park Zoo to participate in their turtle recovery program.

Each year, The National Association of Conservation Districts holds a poster contest about natural resources. Students put their creativity on display as they learn about topics like

• healthy forests
• pollinators
• and in this year’s case, “Healthy Soil, Healthy Life”

This year we helped Emerald Hills Elementary submit entries to the poster contest. We visited classrooms and taught activities about soil organisms and the benefits of healthy soil. Afterwards the students spent time turning their learning into artwork and we submitted their posters for them.

We would like to congratulate Morgan, a 2^nd grader, for submitting the winning poster! We can’t wait to see what the students come up for next years’ contest.

Thank you to all the wonderful volunteers who came out to South Prairie Creek Preserve on November 19^th! 

We had a great turnout. Close to 20 community members attended! Together, the volunteers planted over 200 trees and native plants in a short amount of time .  Even though the ground was quite frozen, that didn’t stop them from helping the habitat of South Prairie Creek Preserve 

The trees they planted will provide many ecological benefits like:

• increasing habitat for wildlife and
• improving streambank stability to prevent erosion in the future