May 18th E-NEWSLETTER

Programs

3rd Grade Field Days

WRI has just completed a 4-week Field Day program with four 3rd grade classrooms at Alpine Lakes Elementary. Each classroom visited WRI for a half day each week for 4 weeks!

 

On week 3, students learned more about birds by participating in two activities. First, they got to look at real bird skins to learn about their body parts and functions. In the "What's That Bird?" activity, they observed hidden wooden birds by using binoculars. They had to describe the bird to their partner as they colored a picture of that bird.

 

On week 4, students learned about the behavioral traits of birds. They played "Migration Mayhem" where they learned about some local migratory birds and then saw some of the challenges birds have to go through as they migrate. They also learned how to communicate like a bird by learning bird songs and calls! Finally, they went on a hike to see how many birds they could see. Some students were able to see 60 different birds!

6th Grade Field Days

In partnership with Cascadia Conservation District, there was a two-day Field Day program for 6th grade students from Cashmere Middle School. Students got to explore two different ecosystems in our valley: the WRI campus and the Columbia Breaks Fire Interpretive Center.

 

On their day with CCD, they learned about fire ecology and fire management practices. On their day with WRI, they hiked the trails around WRI while looking for some key items about the ecosystem here. They used some science tools to compare three different mini ecosystems. They also tested the health of the Wenatchee River and learned more about the water cycle and how it applies to Washington's rainshadow.

 

Thank you to one of our loyal volunteers, Tim Abel, for helping at each of the Youth Programs mentioned above. Want to volunteer for Youth Programs? Click here to view upcoming opportunities.

Place

Welcome Sara to the WRI Team

We are excited to welcome Sara Evans to the WRI team as Bookkeeper! Sara has a lot of experience with nonprofit bookkeeping. She has worked with Upper Valley MEND for several years (and continues to do so!). Sara has a BS in Accounting from CWU and lives in Leavenworth with her husband, two teenage boys, two dogs, 7 chickens and a cat. She enjoys gardening, nature, frugality, saving the planet, history, documentaries and true crime.

Welcome Nic to the WRI Board

We are excited to welcome Nic Pottier to WRI's Board of Directors! Nic is passionate about community-supported education, and feels honored to serve WRI and our community. He has called Washington home for more than 20 years, and is grateful to live in the Cascades where he has skied, biked, hiked, and climbed for years. Nic grew up in France and has lived in Ecuador and Rwanda, where he co-founded the software company, Nyaruka, and helped to develop the kLab, a co-working space and innovation hub for Rwanda’s young tech sector. His time in Rwanda and Ecuador taught him human ingenuity knows no bounds. Nic and his wife live in Leavenworth and can often be found hiking and foraging for mushrooms in the surrounding hills with their dog Chef.

New Multi-Lingual Native Plant Signs

If you've walked around our property lately, you may have noticed some new signs! In 2021, WRI received a grant from the Washington Native Plant Society to support creating multi-lingual signs for native plants on the WRI campus. Currently, we have 13 signs for different native plants on display. You can visit our Native Plant Garden now and learn the English, Scientific, nxaʔamxčín (a dialect of interior Salish language spoken by p'squosa people), and Spanish names of the plants in the garden. Thank you to local language experts for helping with this project! To learn more about WRI's seven gardens, visit here.

Thank you to our donors from the last 2 weeks!

Susan Hamilton and Timothy Bates

Susan Polizzi

Druska Salisbury-Milan

Candace and Chuck Egner - Sustaining

Diane Patterson and David Stoller - Sustaining

Jane Mounsey

Kamuron Gurol - Sustaining

Tracy and Ben Brulotte - Sustaining

Lyn McCoy and Richard Szeliski

Dave and Pat Notter - Sustaining

Michael and Nancy Merrill

Gro Buer and Bruce Williams - Sustaining

Laura and Greg Reichlin - Sustaining

Upper Basin Birders

Phil Leatherman and Jeanne Miller in memory of Harriet Bullitt

Puget Sound Mycological Society

Kimberly and Larry Fulkerson