Gathered just out of sight of Mount Si’s campus, tucked in the bushes at the Kimball Creek Slough, members of the school’s Green Team slipped on work gloves and grabbed shovels.
The 30 or so students spent their Saturday morning removing invasive blackberry and morning glory plants, hoping to restore the area to a more natural and sustainable state.
Over the last five years, the Green Team has hosted a handful of similar cleanup events each year that have paid off in a big way.
Since 2017, in partnership with Oxbow Farms and the Snoqualmie Tribe, Green Team members have cleared about 1.5 acres of invasive plants, while introducing over 900 native species.
“Just pulling out little roots at times, it doesn’t feel like you’re doing a lot,” said Savonnah Mitchell, a Mount Si senior and Green Team member. “But it’s been very neat to be a part of.”
Green Team is made up of about 40 students, and draws between 15 and 30 students to each of their restoration events.
Jasmine Lao, another Green Team member, said she had been part of other environmental groups, but none of them had a site they were dedicated to like Mount Si’s.
“They didn’t have any active component of restoration and environmental awareness,” she said. “This is the first one where you actually have a close-by site that’s accessible.”
Andrew Rapin, a Mount Si science teacher and advisor to the Green Team, said the space the students were cleaning used to be completely inaccessible due to walls of blackberry bushes that Green Team members have since removed.
Rapin said his Advanced Placement biology students now use the space to teach fifth-graders about ecology.
“It’s been really satisfying work,” he said of the clearing.
Mount Si science teacher and Green Team advisor Andrew Rapin. Photo Conor Wilson/Valley Record.
Saturday’s event was co-sponsored by YMCA’s Earth Service Corps. Chelsey Wheeler, director of the service corps, said the program is about empowering and supporting youth to become leaders and provide opportunities for service.
Aside from removing invasive plants, the MSHS Green Team is also working alongside the district school board to implement a five-year plan for sustainability. They presented some of those ideas and achievements to the board last spring.
One of those goals is to attain a higher certification from the King County Green Schools Program, which helps districts improve sustainability. Mount Si currently has a level one certification, which includes requirements for waste reduction, recycling increases and natural resource conservation.
They are working to progress to level three, which involves more energy and water conservation efforts. Mitchell said their ultimate goal is for the district to be a state leader in sustainability.
“We live in such a beautiful place and we want to keep it sustainable and beautiful,” she said.
