Alethea Westlund
4-H Stewardship Member
Fall Season Work Crew 2012
The fall 2012 Stewardship program was an amazing experience for me. It helped me gain real life work skills that I can use for the rest of my life. It also gave me a better understanding with my role in the environment and how I can participate with it. It was great to know that I was making a difference for myself and for my community, and I feel like I can come away from it feeling that I have grown to become more of a leader.
- Poverty/Hunger
- Overpopulation
- Endangered Species
- Environmental Impact
- Disease/Cancer/AIDS
- Animal Cruelty
- Water Conservation
- Pollution
(this is just a short list there are many things that are important to me)
National Public Lands Day
Watershed Clean-up:
During watershed clean-up day the 4-H stewardship program teens went to the big Quilcene watershed and picked up trash as well as invasive weeds. We started the day out by gathering at the ranger station after a van ride from Port Townsend. We learned about plastics and the insanely long time they take to biodegrade back into a natural resource. After we gathered this information the team, along with some volunteers divided up into groups and covered the Quilcene watershed. My group went to the top of a small mountain. This was a popular dump site for many cars who didn't want to pay for trash pickup or disposal. The trash was not only ugly, but it was damaging to. Especially since it was on a pile of dirt that was used to make new roads. Many pieces of trash could have been spread along the National Forest without us even knowing. After many hours of labor the dump site look much better. However, the work did not stop here! We then walked along the road up to the dirt pit and picked up the trash that had been part of the water runoff systems. This was even more difficult since the trash was down a very steep hill and it was harder to see. We managed to pull up four large tires and many empty cans and bottles.
A week after we cleaned up the watershed we visited an off-road forest near Sequim. This forest was home to the many elk that live in this area. This forest was protected under the National Forest Foundation but it needed work to have a beautiful place for the elk to live. We again split up into groups. My group went and took the bark off of trees, which would "choke" them and eventually kill them. It sounds bad, but then this tree will die, giving nutrients to other plants, and creating more space for other things to grow. We measured each tree that we shaved, as well as tagged them so that if loggers came they wouldn't cut it down. We also went into a large field and cut down smaller trees that were killing native plants that the elk used to feed on. It was good for me to feel as if I was changing the environment for the better and restoring a place where an animal can live without too much trouble.
Campground Cleanup:
The last two sessions of our work were spent at Seal Rock campground. This time we were cleaning up the campsites to prepare them for their next season of campers. We swept walkways, cleaned fire pits, raked leaves, and scrubbed tables. As I went along doing these many different chores I thought to myself, "why do this if it's just going to be covered up again?" The answer came to me, if we don't come and clean up now, the next work crew will have a more difficult time clearing the new leaves and pine needles that have fallen as well as trying to reach the stuff under that. Also pushing the leaves off the road and into the trees was creating more soil for them. The leaves will decompose and make nutrient rich soils for the newly sprouting plants. The boardwalk people walk on will also become less sustainable, and even more slippery. As I thought of these aspects, I realized that the work I was doing was going to make a difference for those people in the future and I thought that that was a great thing to experience.
Skills Learned:
Teamwork Leadership Communication Awareness
Hard work Respect Adaptation Following Directions
Responsibility Focus Motivation Commitment