2015 Success Summit Supplement

Transcription

IRISNCW.ORG
Initiative for
Rural Innovation
and Stewardship
NOVEMBER 12, 2015
North Central Washington
Community Success Summit
Photo by Jared Hobbs
2
NCW COMMUNITY SUCCESS SUMMIT
Initiative for
Rural Innovation
and Stewardship
IRISNCW.ORG
I
t starts with one story. A musttell success story that can teach
us something that will enhance
some aspect of our life be it the
environment, community, economy or all of the above. Most of
the stories we showcased at the
first Success Summit in 2009 in
Pateros were about collaboration;
different groups working together
to reach common goals. Formation of the new Douglas-Okanogan County Fire District #15,
using native soil bacterium to
combat cheatgrass in Douglas
County, and the launch of the
regional Non-Profit Summit were
a few of the stories we featured
that year.
By 2013 our search expanded as
we worked with advisors from
Okanogan and the greater region
to celebrate such success stories as
restoring water to Salmon Creek,
a bicultural dance program in the
Wenatchee Valley, and city-wide
composting in Quincy. Each year
as we scan the region for success
we look for stories that promote
cross generational relationships,
bridge cultures, and connect
lands and waters – all actions that
contribute to a healthy future in
this place.
We have never had trouble finding these stories. Everyone has
one; our region is brimming with
success. And like so many things,
the more you look the more you
see. This year’s annual treasure
hunt started in the community
of Waterville which serves as a
hub, in many ways, for nearby
towns including Orondo and
Douglas. The tagline community
members came up with, “A Great
Place to Come Home To,” celebrates the return of people from
multi-generational families to
the community. It also welcomes
the contributions and successes
of more recent arrivals who have
chosen to make their home here.
It’s a theme that resonates across
the region; we all want and need a
great place to come home to.
In the pages that follow you will
find stories that illustrate why
Waterville is such a place. Stories
about how farmers are improving
the health of the soil, teachers are
fostering leaders, and volunteers
are helping community institutions, such as the NCW Fair,
thrive. You’ll also find stories that
show how neighbors are cooperating to restore a watershed in the
Okanogan Highlands, to build
community in South Wenatchee,
and to electrify transportation
and tourism across the region.
And you will find other stories in the NCW Success Story
Exchange that provide examples
of recruiting volunteers, engaging youth, reducing waste, and
strengthening community even in
the midst of the devastating fires
we have experienced. We hope
that you will be as excited and
inspired by these stories as we are
and that you will consider sharing
your own.
It all starts with one story. And
you have one. Please share it and
make someone’s day!
2015 Success Summit Themes
Co n n ec t i n g L a n ds a n d Wate rs
How are we increasing the health and connectivity
of our lands and waters, i.e., how are programs that
incorporate habitat restoration, art, recreation,
and locally-produced food contributing to this
connectivity?
Fos terin g Bu s i n e s s a n d Re duci ng Waste
What are we doing to reduce waste, increase
recycling, and foster healthy businesses that create
jobs and increase access to locally-produced
goods?
Cros s Ge n e ra t i o n a l Re l a ti o nsh i ps
How are we using cross-generational relationships
to foster a sense of belonging, improve our health,
engage students as lifelong learners, and grow
opportunities for jobs?
Bri dging Cul tures
How are we using art, technology, and "third
places" or meeting spaces to bridge cultures and
strengthen our communities?
Com m on Vision
How are communities coming together to develop
a unified vision and take steps needed to turn that
vision into action?
OUR MIS S ION
To foster sustainable rural communities
in North Central Washington by
gathering and sharing success stories
that enhance a sense of belonging,
inspire action, and build community. We
believe that thriving communities in a
healthy environment create success.
3
2015 NCW Community Success Summit
CONTENTS
4
Initiative for
Rural Innovation
and Stewardship
Meet You at Anjou .............................................................................. 4
Growing Wellness at the Nespelem Community Center......... 5
Waterville School is Cultivating Leaders Who T.H.R.I.V.E...... 6
14 N Mission
P O. Box 4563
Wenatchee, WA 98807
Student Leaders Step Up at Orondo School ..............................7
Hands-On Learning at TwispWorks.............................................. 8
IRIS Team
Building a Culture of Health............................................................. 9
Erin Mundinger
Board President
Electrifying Transportation and Tourism in NCW................... 10
Using Art to Build Community in South Wenatchee............... 11
NCW Success Story Exchange................................................12-13
George Thornton
Board Vice President
5
Nicolle LaFleur
Board Secretary
Interpretive Opportunities Plentiful on Reservation............. 14
Keeping Good Soil Down – No Till Farming............................... 15
Michael Yale
Board Treasurer
Partners Help Sage Grouse Keep Dancing............................... 16
Lauren Loebsack
At Large Board Member
Landowners Support Beavers for Restoration........................17
Coming Home to the NCW Fair..................................................... 18
Nancy Warner
Program Coordinator
Bringing Outside Learning In......................................................... 19
Dancing into Diversity..................................................................... 20
A Sewer System for Sustainable Growth.................................. 21
Cheryl Dawes
Web Manager
16
IRIS is a 501(C)3
non-profit organization
Our Valley, What’s Next?............................................................... 22
Visit the IRIS website
irisncw.org
A Great Place To Come Home To................................................. 23
Sponsors and Partners.................................................................. 24
Elisabeth Tilstra
Editor
17
Daniel O’Connor
Design
To learn more about the Waterville Community
visit the Listening Post Network or irisncw.org
4
Foste ri ng Business and Red uc ing Waste
Meet You at Anjou
By Mara Bohman
Photos (above, right and lower right)
by Marilyn Hedges
T
ucked between pear orchards
right along Highway 2 is an
unlikely location for an artisan
bakery. But for the bike riding community as well as travelers wanting a
convenient stop on their way between Leavenworth and Wenatchee,
Anjou Bakery, just east of Cashmere
is in the perfect location. And in
spite of challenges, location being
one, it has continued to be a successful business in the Wenatchee Valley
for 20 years.
Kevin and Heather Knight, both
outdoor enthusiasts, moved to Leavenworth in 1994 to open a bakery
and enjoy all the area has to offer.
After lovingly converting the 100year old fruit storage building into a
bakery, they each honed their baking
skills. Heather focused on cookies
and pastries, while Kevin learned
and developed the craft of baking
artisan breads. They focus on quality,
using only the very best ingredients,
local and organic if available, to
maintain a high standard for all of
their products.
But anyone who has tasted their
baked goods, doesn’t need to be
convinced of the quality. And the bicycling community is amongst some
of their biggest fans.
Dr. Ed Farrar, longtime board
member of the Wenatchee Valley
Velo Club first discovered Anjou
while riding his bicycle shortly after
they opened. “The quality of Anjou’s
products are really appreciated by
people in the cycling community,”
he said.
In addition to enjoying their delicious baked goods and espresso,
Anjou has become the meeting place
for the many Velo Club rides. It’s
about a 10-mile ride along the back
roads heading west from Wenatchee,
so if you want to do a 20-mile ride it
is the perfect turn-around spot. It’s
also a great rest stop for those on 40
or even 70-mile bike rides.
Kevin and Heather have been long
time supporters of many of the Velo
Club’s rides. A great example of this
support was the annual Yeti Ride on
New Year’s Day in 2014. “We knew
Anjou was closed, but we were going
to use it as a turn-around spot anyway,” said Dr. Farrar. “When we all
pulled into the parking lot, Heather
came out and said, ‘Since you are
here, you might as well get something to eat.’ And we did.”
“We realized right away that it was
fun to interact with these riders,”
said Heather, “They were always in
such a good mood, getting a great
workout and definitely pushing
themselves.” The Wenatchee Valley
Velo Club is recognized in the community for promoting a sport that is
healthy for both individuals and the
environment.
While the continuing success of
Anjou Bakery can be attributed to
many factors, Kevin gives much
credit to never being content. ‘We’re
always pushing and looking for how
we can be better at what we do.’
Could it be that the success of both
the Wenatchee Valley Velo Club and
Anjou Bakery is fed by the pairing of
two organizations that share a common vision of a healthy and active
community?
anjoubakery.com
wenatcheevalleyvelo.com
D
Br i dgi n g Cu l t u re s
an Nanamkin, manager of the
Colville Tribe’s Community
Center in Nespelem, likes to
use the medicine wheel to describe
the success he has helped create there
over the past seven years. He has
moved the center’s program from
one focused solely on basketball to
one that enhances the spiritual, mental, and emotional components of life,
along with the physical. While there
is still a basketball program, the center now also pairs kids who have lost
family members with mentors who
help them excel in other kinds of
physical training. Programs address
spiritual needs, too, for people dealing with addiction. “I had a guy who
was sober for over a year,” Dan said,
“because he committed to serving as
the sweatlodge fire chief, taking care
of the rocks and the fire.”
The center also helps pass on traditions and culture through beading,
dance, and drumming classes. “Some
kids don’t have a relative to show
them these things,” he said. “We
find people who are willing to share
these skills in a respectful way.” In
addition, the center offers classes on
cooking, gardening, and three native
language dialects; they also provide
tutors for kids who would otherwise
drop out of high school.
Dan started expanding the center
programming by doing community
dinners and asking for input from
youth and their families. He also
looked at the various issues affecting
the community from suicide and
domestic violence to unemployment
5
Growing Wellness at the
Nespelem Community Center
By Nancy Warner
and addiction and designed programs to address them. In addition,
he saw the need to organize policies,
procedures, and internal controls for
the Nespelem Community Center
which are now also used to guide
operations at tribal centers in Omak,
Inchelium, and Keller.
The tribal community centers have
been part of different departments
through the years. But through these
changes Dan says he has never had
anyone constrain his freedom to
work with his small staff, volunteers,
and the community to create their
diverse programs. “We can be as
creative as we want to be here,” he
explained. “People who live in our
community can come and offer their
skills. This adds more meat to our
stew pot and that’s all we’re trying to
do,” he said.
The biggest challenges Dan says he
faces in developing the center as a
hub of wellness are funding, interrupted programming due to funerals,
fires and other emergencies, plus the
facility itself. Built in 1973, the community center is in need of major
repairs. In addition, whenever there
is a funeral, memorial, or emergency,
such as the recent North Star Fire,
the community center has to shut
down. “When you don’t have consistency,” Dan points out, “your programs suffer.” He sees the need for
a new longhouse in Nespelem that
could host funerals and memorials
so he can keep the center programs
open. “People need to know there
will be activities for them.” he said,
“That’s when we’ll get results.”
One of the newest programs is the
recording studio Dan and fellow
staff member Faran Sohappy are
developing, where elders will be able
to record traditional music and stories, and where kids can perform and
create their own videos and songs.
“We’ll work on gathering stories and
legends that show us the way to live,”
Dan said.
He envisions the day when the
center will operate as a wellness
center that will help people take
care of themselves—their bodies,
minds, and spirits. For now, he
celebrates small successes along the
way. “That’s one awesome thing I’ve
seen,” he said referring to people
coming into the center and showing
the place off. “Heck yeah,” he nods,
“that’s great!”
6
Waterville School is
Cultivating Leaders
Who T.H.R.I.V.E.
By Cathi Nelson, Superintendent
Waterville School
I
n 2010, several Waterville teachers, part of the staff Professional
Learning Community (PLC),
began asking how they could engage
their students who weren’t motivated, and who didn’t seem to see the
relevance of what they were learning
to their lives and futures. This group
continued to look for ways to change
our school’s culture, continually
coming back to “The Leader In Me”
philosophy of helping students find
their greatness through developing
an active leadership model. Deciding to try out the system, a few of
the PLC’s teachers introduced the 7
Habits into their classrooms for the
remainder of the 2010-2011 school
year. As they did this, the physical
environment within the school
buildings began to reflect a growing
leadership culture with banners, murals, and street signs reflecting our
changing vision.
During the summer of 2011, we
mailed out The Leader In Me books
to all Waterville staff and asked
them to give it a try. When the
2011-12 school year began, more
Waterville staff and a few parents
began an after school book club
with The Leader In Me. Excitement
grew, and led to Waterville School
applying for a sizable grant to fund
staff training on the “7 Habits of
Highly Effective People,” which was
ultimately unsuccessful. Continuing
to pursue the idea, however, administrators and a few staff members attended a Leadership Day at
Mukilteo Elementary School to see
the leadership culture in action, and
came home more committed than
ever to find funding to move our
leadership culture forward.
While we were searching for the
funding to build our leadership
model, our School Improvement
Team began meeting to craft a document that reflected our goals and the
actions we would use to reach those
goals. This group used the 7 Habits
of Highly Effective People and The
Leader In Me throughout their work,
building a foundation of leadership
within all content areas, school
systems, and areas of focus. Our new
mission came from this work: “Cul-
Cross Ge nerational Rel ationship s
tivating Leaders Who T.H.R.I.V.E.
(trust, honor, respect, integrity, valor,
and evolving excellence).”
Our second attempt at a grant was
also unsuccessful, but Waterville
School had begun to develop a
following, and a Franklin Covey
representative visited us that fall to
witness our progress. He was impressed by our work, and promised
to help us find funding to train our
entire staff. That June, we applied
for our third grant and, this time, we
were successful. Waterville School
received a 3-year grant that helped
pay for staff training, training and
curriculum materials, and personnel
support from Franklin Covey. In
addition to this sizable grant, we received funding from local supporters
like the Badger Mountain Masonic
Lodge and the Waterville Community Fund.
The 2012-2013 school year was our
first “official” year of implementation of The Leader In Me, and all
staff participated in 5 full days of
training before school began. The
environment continued to change in
our buildings, and students created
personal and class mission statements as they learned about the 7
Habits. A Lighthouse Team of staff
and community members was created and took on the task of directing
the leadership work. Seven of our
staff were certified to be 7 Habits
trainers and offered free parent and
community trainings that fall and
spring. Staff continued to learn ways
to incorporate leadership skills into
their curriculum, and students became increasingly involved in school
activities outside the classroom. Student Roles were created by students,
and students took on more and more
responsibilities in their classrooms
and around the school. Finally, we
were beginning to find the answer to
the initial questions that staff were
asking way back in 2010.
During our second year of the
grant, we partnered with the North
Central Educational Service District
and Franklin Covey to host three
Leadership Open House events for
community members, neighboring
educators, politicians, and business
leaders. Following one of those
events, a visitor commented: “You
guys rocked yesterday! On the way
back home, after attending your
Leader In Me Open House, one
of my colleagues told me that he
wished he could send his kids to
Waterville! Another one began
talking about how different life
on the college campus would be if
students brought that mindset and
those skills to the campus. Bravo!
You inspired a roomful of people with what is possible for their
schools, their students, and their
staffs.”
Waterville School completed our
third full year of implementing
the Leader In Me model into our
culture and systems last year. Our
students shared their skills with
hundreds of folks at the Leader In
Me Symposium in Mukilteo, at the
AWSP Small Schools Conference in
Yakima, and at our own 2015 Leadership Day. We continue to look for
natural ways to integrate leadership
in every aspect of Waterville School;
our students, staff, and community
are seeing the results on a daily basis.
Following one of our recent Leadership Day events, a local reporter
wrote: “These kids were engaged,
articulate, focused, and confident. It’s
what happens when you start with
the premise that every child and
every person can lead rather than the
mantle of leadership falling to a few
select positions.”
O
rondo Middle School
believes that students’ voices
are an essential part of the
leadership structure of the school.
Each year 5th, 6th, and 7th graders select a Leadership Team that
advises teachers and administrators,
and coordinates and plans various
training and community activities.
This year-long work begins with an
annual retreat where students learn
team-building and leadership skills.
The 2015 Leadership Team began
their year with a campout at the
Orondo School from August 11
to13. Middle school teachers Mark
Shorb, Alicia Lopez, and Leah Sedlacek; after school program director
Jena Gooch; and Assistant Principal
Lance Young mentored the young
people as they learned the qualities
of good leadership.
“We make it a priority to help students know themselves first,” said
Alicia Lopez, “because when you
are secure with who you are, you are
more accepting of others.” Superintendents Cathi Nelson,
Waterville (on right) and Millie
Watkins, Orondo, collaborate on
leadership programs.
In one activity the students talked
about the negative things they say
about themselves, or that others
have said to or about them. Mrs.
Lopez led the group in a discussion about these unfair labels with
students identifying these as put
downs and stereotypes. The activity
concluded with students replacing
these negative labels with affirming
qualities about themselves. Sixth
grader Geyza Sanchez stated that “it
helped us overcome negative labels
from others that hurt our confidence
and have more empathy for our
classmates. The positives helped us
feel more confident about ourselves.”
Learning to work together is another central focus of the Leadership
Retreat. In one activity, students had
to work as a team to overcome mock
physical disabilities that required
them to help and rely upon each
other to “cross” imaginary stepping
stones. A lively discussion afterward
affirmed that they had practiced
supporting each other despite their
differences, expressing compliments
and appreciation to teammates, and
holding themselves accountable for
successful work.
Teacher Mark Shorb summarized
the impact of the leadership retreat:
“it’s beautiful to watch the transformation as students learn to trust
each other.” Indeed, students come
to the retreat concerned about what
others will think of them; they leave
as friends, though, excited and prepared to support and lead their peers
in building a caring community.
7
Student Leaders
Step Up at
Orondo School
By Lance Young
Jacqueline Ruiz, member of the student leadership team, puts
her training to work with classmate Julio Capi.
8
Hands-On Learning
at TwispWorks
By Amy Stork,
Previous Executive Director
of TwispWorks
O
n the site of the old Twisp
ranger station, TwispWorks
is a collaborative campus
where small businesses, non-profit
organizations, artists, and others
come together to create, educate, and
invent.
When TwispWorks took
over the 6.5 acre ranger
station property in 2009,
one of the community’s
priorities for the campus
was the development
of vocational education
programs for youth. These
dreams have been realized
through a partnership
with the Methow Valley
School District, who bring
students to the campus
for welding and carpentry
classes.
Launched in 2011, the
Liberty Bell High School
Welding Lab at TwispWorks was the brainchild
of local metal worker Barry Stromberger. Stromberger, who had taught
welding at Liberty Bell previously,
saw the old Forest Service road
shop and was immediately inspired
to restart the high school’s welding
program. He collected funds and donated equipment from the community, convinced the school district to
provide a very part-time salary, and
quickly filled his 20-person class.
In the four years since, students in
the welding lab have completed
community projects ranging from
fixing the grates on fire pits for the
Forest Service, to building a large
snowboard jump for the Loup Loup
Ski Bowl.
With the success of the welding
program, TwispWorks reached out
to Liberty Bell’s trades teacher Bob
Wilson to see if other skills could be
taught on the campus. Wilson was
thrilled, and a three-year collaboration evolved that has involved dozens of students and helped renovate
a historic warehouse.
Constructed by a Civilian Conservation Corps crew during the Great
Depression, the “fire warehouse”
served as the center for firefighting
operations on the Twisp Ranger
District for many decades. Though
solidly built, the structure was never
used year-round, and lacked heating
systems or insulation.
Beginning in 2012, students in
Wilson’s Design Tech class worked
with TwispWorks to create computer
aided design (CAD) drawings showing the “as-built” conditions of the
warehouse. TwispWorks was able to
use these drawings for reference in
cost-estimating the renovation.
The following year, two students
tackled the design of a front deck
for the building using the popular design program SketchUp Pro.
TwispWorks project manager Tori
Karpenko presented the students
with a handful of key design challenges, then arranged for a local
architect to work with the students
to refine their designs.
During the 2014-2015 school year, a
new Liberty Bell class – Careers in
Construction – took on the actual
construction of the student-designed
deck, as well as other projects within
the warehouse. The project was a
major success, says Bob Wilson.
“Not only do they learn hard skills in
construction, they also learn workplace skills like teamwork, reliability,
and safety. Anytime you have the
school and the community collaborating to give students a hands-on
learning opportunity, that is a winwin.”
TwispWorks recently completed renovations on the building, which now
houses KTRT “The Root” 97.5 FM,
a ceramics studio, a dressmaker’s
shop, a print and book arts studio,
and a flexible classroom space.
Both programs will continue in
2015-2016, though under new
instruction, as both Stromberger and
Wilson retired from their positions
at the end of the school year.
“We are thrilled that TwispWorks
can serve as real-world classroom
for local students,” said TwispWorks
Executive Director Amy Stork. “This
is exactly the kind of partnership
people wanted to see when the ranger station became TwispWorks.”
Once complete, this three-year
partnership will have given nearly
20 high school students a significant role in a real-world construction project, and serves as the pilot
project for establishing an ongoing
collaboration between the Methow
Valley School District and TwispWorks to provide more hands-on
learning opportunities for students.
twispworks.org
N
Co m m o n V i s i o n
orth Central Washington
(NCW) is a beautiful place
to live, work, and play; however, over 17% of the area’s residents
report only poor to fair health—
significantly higher than the state
average of 13.60% (CWH CHNA
2013). In 2014, regional healthcare
stakeholders sought to address this
disparity by working together to
strengthen existing relationships and
catalyze new collaborations between healthcare systems and other
organizations throughout Chelan,
Douglas, Okanogan, and Grant
counties. This effort has grown into
what is now the North Central
Accountable Community of Health
(NCACH), a developing regional
collaborative tailored to align the
actions and initiatives of diverse
regional partners in order to achieve
healthy communities.
Healthy thriving communities are
possible when there is both a culture of health that promotes healthy
lifestyles, as well as local leadership
and ownership of health at the individual and community levels. NCW
counties celebrate a long history of
collaboration of partners such as
Emergency Management Services,
emergency preparedness planning,
and public health initiatives. A new
non-traditional partnership between
IRIS and Community Choice, born
from this regional work, is A Picture of Health in NCW. This is an
initiative that engages individuals in
sharing their own stories of whole
person health, and what that means
to them.
Regional leaders have recognized
that it is at the local, community
level (county-up) where innovation
is possible and where new healthcare delivery solutions can be tested,
improved, and deemed successful.
Recognizing and placing increased
emphasis on the fact that good
health occurs outside of the walls of
health care systems, many diverse
community partners, such as business and economic leaders, education
professionals, social service organizations, and individual consumers
have willingly joined in these local,
county-up conversations in an effort
to build a culture of health.
The NCACH is led by a regional
leadership group consisting of both
traditional and non-traditional
health partners from throughout
the region. Altogether, about 88
organizations have come together in county-level and leadership
conversations. These conversations
are raising awareness that individual
health outcomes depend on more
than just formal health care provision. Bringing non-traditional health
partners into the discussion has
encouraged individuals and organizations to take on a different view of
personal roles and responsibilities in
their own health, the health of their
communities, and the health of the
environment. More people are feeling empowered to be a part of this
growing culture of health.
Perhaps the biggest challenge
that the NCACH partners face is
the sheer geographic size of the
9
Building a Culture
of Health
By Deb Miller
NCACH region. It will be an ongoing challenge to produce and sustain
a high level of partner and individual
consumer engagement across this
large area. Building healthy, thriving
communities will require changes
in the existing health care delivery
systems towards integrating physical
and behavioral health care, as well
as innovative community approaches that will improve whole person
health. This means that “health” is
everyone’s business, and it will require collaboration across all sectors
in order to produce the strong base
of support that is needed for a successful regional effort.
The NCACH process has already
brought increased collaboration and
coordination into our region. The
successful local, county-up meetings
have brought community members
together to identify the needs of
their communities. By looking beyond traditional health care systems
to other determinants of health
outcomes, community members and
leaders have been empowered to
identify and act upon the opportunities that achieve better individual,
community, and environmental
health in our region.
To learn more about
A Picture of Health
visit the Listening Post
Network or irisncw.org
10
Electrifying Transportation
and Tourism in NCW
By Ron Johnston-Rodriguez
Charging station at Highway 2
Brew in Waterville
A
s we enter into a more technologically-efficient world,
Plug-In North Central
Washington (PINCW) is enabling
and accelerating the adoption and
use of electric vehicles in our region;
providing a boost to eco-tourism
and clean energy job creation; and
providing a catalyst for business,
community, and public engagement
and investment in electric vehicles
and technologies.
purchase the station for a reduced price. Jack Anderson,
a PINCW volunteer, is the
originator of hal2; he and
Randy Brooks, a PINCW
board member, promote the
program and maintain the
equipment. The biggest challenge for the hal2 program
is raising the funds to make
the initial purchase of the
charging stations.
Through fostering the installation of over 24 electric
vehicle (EV) charging stations, PINCW has successfully enabled emission-free
electric car travel within
NCW and across the state,
from Seattle to Spokane
over Highway 2 and Highway 20, and to the Canadian border on Highway 97.
This historic accomplishment had its beginnings in
2011, via a partnership with
Washington’s Department
of Transportation and the Cities
of Leavenworth and Wenatchee to
install Quick Charging stations over
Stevens Pass.
In addition to enabling increased
local adoption and usage of EVs,
charging stations have allowed us
to promote North Central Washington’s recreational and scenic
amenities to attract EV drivers
from throughout the state. We have
coined the term “EV Tourism,” and
are progressing towards our goal of
positioning the region as a worldclass destination for EV drivers.
Our two-pronged strategy has been
to, first, organize special tours and
rallies for EV drivers from the Puget
Sound metro area and, second, to
seek media coverage for EV touring
in NCW.
Since then, PINCW’s High-Amp
Level 2 (hal2) charging station program has been responsible for most
of the recent (12+) installations. This
program is a partnership between
PINCW and individual businesses.
PINCW provides the equipment
(purchased with privately donated
funds) for three years, and the “host”
businesses house the stations on
their site, paying for the installation
and electric power usage. At the end
of the 3-year period, the business can
Within the first aspect of this
strategy, our most successful tours
have featured area wineries and an
exploration of local geologic features
from the historic Missoula Floods.
Local restaurants, lodgings, gift
shops, and destinations have taken
part in these tours. Secondly, our
efforts for increased media coverage
have reached over 18 million readers.
We received international coverage
for the first EV Friendly Scenic
Byway - Stevens Pass Greenway - in
the nation in 2011; followed by our
recent “electrification” of the longest
Scenic Drive in the nation—the
440-mile Cascade Loop. Articles
and videos featuring PINCW’s EV
drives have appeared in multiple
publications and, in 2015, Governor
Jay Inslee visited Wenatchee and
honored PINCW with a Proclamation declaring the launch of the
State’s first “EV Tourism Season.”
PINCW board members and volunteers have provided EV information
and hands-on demonstrations to
over 1500 local citizens and community leaders at over thirty events
in the past four years. In addition
to public outreach, PINCW communicates information and engages
community members via its website,
e-newsletter, and email. These venues
have contributed to an increasingly
refined vision of an EV future for
NCW shared by members of the
community on all levels. We are
excited to be part of something that
is successfully bringing our community together, as well as providing an
avenue for others to visit and enjoy
what our region has to offer, in a way
that is healthy for our environment.
pluginncw.com
T
Co m m o n V i s i o n
he City of Wenatchee has been
working to build trust and
strengthen relationships with
South Wenatchee residents through
“Let’s Talk” events and collaborative
City planning. Recently, the Chelan
Avenue Sidewalk project provided
another avenue for public participation. In a unique approach, the City
partnered with the community to
ensure that this project met the infrastructural needs of South Wenatchee
while opening a door for conversation about the physical and social
needs that the neighborhood wanted
to address. Through the resulting
conversations, the United Neighborhood Association was established
and, with City and community
support, is committed to advocating
for the needs and ideas of South
Wenatchee community members.
Although the focus of the multiple community gatherings was the
sidewalk project, they created a
space for neighbors to gather and
connect—with each other, and with
City representatives. In addition to
answering project-specific questions,
there was always someone available
to speak with neighbors about any
questions, concerns, and ideas that
were unrelated to the project. The
City ensured that everyone was heard
and understood by providing multiple translators at each meeting and
providing all documentation in both
English and Spanish. Community
members voiced requests for City
accountability and involvement; City
representatives responded with providing personal contact information
and a commitment to maintaining
open communication with residents.
11
Using Art to Build
Community in
South Wenatchee
The City of Wenatchee manages the
CDBG (Community Development
Block Grant) program, a federally
funded grant. The Departments of
Economic and Community Development, Public Works, and Parks
& Recreation partnered with RH2
Engineering and Terry Valdez Studios to create a space in which the
community could participate. Volunteers and City staff provided Spanish
translation during presentations
and meetings. South Wenatchee
residents and business owners were
present at the community meetings and were also the driving force
behind the creation of the UNA. To
show the support behind this effort,
the Mayor and many board and
commission members attended various meetings, connecting personally
with neighbors.
Early in the process, City representatives began to see that communicating effectively meant thinking
outside of the box. To connect with
as many neighbors as possible, individualized postcards were made, a
Facebook page shared, large banners were hung throughout South
Wenatchee, and word-of-mouth
messages and fliers were spread. An
art event was held that gave control
of the creative component to the
neighbors. A challenge presented
itself in knowing when a majority
was available to attend meetings,
and so the City began holding two
meetings a day to accommodate everyone’s schedules, and increase the
possibility of participation.
Throughout this process, the South
Wenatchee community has created
a movement. A key group of neighbors is focused on bettering the lives
of their community, and is doing so
through non-traditional partnerships
with the City of Wenatchee, local
businesses, and supportive organizations. Projects beyond sidewalks and
lighting are being undertaken by the
UNA. The ground is breaking and
the trust is building.
Photos by Terry Valdez
By Brooklyn Holton
12
NCW Success Story Exchange
Take one you can use, leave one that can help others at: irisncw.org
Connecting Lands and Waters
Sowing Hope in the Methow After the Carlton Complex Fires burned 275,000 acres in 2014, many
people who love the Methow wanted to do something to help with
restoration. The Methow Conservancy, the valley’s non-profit land
trust, recognized a potential win-win situation: acres of land that
needed re-seeding could be matched with the many people eager for
action. The Seed Mob was born – a one-day 100+ volunteer effort to
spread native seeds (and a little hope) in areas that had been disturbed
during the process of creating firelines and restoring powerlines on
public lands. The Seed Mob is now an annual event.
Sarah Brookes: [email protected]
Reducing Waste
Leavenworth Grocery Rescue
The local foodbank, Community Cupboard, has teamed up with
Safeway and Second Harvest, a statewide food distribution
organization, to participate in the Grocery Recovery program. Each
day the Community Cupboard, a program of Upper Valley MEND,
receives hundreds of pounds of food from the Leavenworth Safeway
store that would otherwise be thrown away. With fresh items such as
bagged salads, meat, and fruit making up most of these donations, food
bank users now have many more healthy foods to choose from.
Bob Mark: [email protected]
Recruiting Volunteers
Embracing Change in the
Orondo Fire District
When he became fire chief in 2010, Jim Oatey’s challenge was to
reinvigorate the Orondo Fire District volunteer force in a community
that included many people new to the area – those who came from
Mexico and other places to work in the orchards as well as secondhomeowners, retirees, and recreationists who now called Orondo home.
By 2015 Jim had succeeded in increasing the volunteer force from 12
to 36 active volunteers that includes a mix of men, women, young, old,
Latino, Anglo-European, and others.
Jim Oatey: [email protected]
13
NCW Success Story Exchange
To read the rest of these stories and others visit irisncw.org
or email [email protected] to request a copy
Cross Generational Learning
Oroville Seed Lending Library
The cost of high-quality vegetable seed coupled with the desire to
find plant varieties adapted to the different growing conditions of the
Okanogan Valley and the Okanogan Highlands, inspired LaVonne
Hammelman and Julie Ashmore to search for and share local sources of
garden seeds. Now in its third year, the bilingual Seed Lending Library
is a formal, North Central Regional Library (NCRL) program hosted
by volunteers, some of whom are also WSU Master Gardeners. The
seed library catalog contains over 800 donated vegetable and flower
seeds that are checked out and grown by 60 people each year.
LaVonne Hammelman: [email protected]
Developing Leaders
Pateros Fire Relief
Waterville resident Kimberly Gormley launched a Facebook campaign
in July 2014 to raise funds needed to give trailers to those who lost
homes in the Carleton Complex Fire. Within weeks $40,000 of the
funds she raised provided emergency housing for 16 families. Most of
these families have passed the trailers on to others as they have rebuilt
their homes. An additional $18,000 was directed to long-term recovery.
Kimberly and her friends created a new model of giving which has
strengthened community between Waterville, Pateros, and beyond.
Kimberly Gormley: [email protected]
Engaging Youth
Sheltering Community at
Eastmont High
On a hot, windy Sunday night, June 28, 2015, the Douglas County
Sheriff ’s office called to ask staff at Eastmont High School to work
with Red Cross to set up an emergency shelter for those affected by the
Sleepy Hollow Fire. Evacuees included residents of an assisted living
facility. The Student Senate Advisor sent out a tweet asking for help
and within an hour about 80 student volunteers joined staff and adult
volunteers to help some very stressed and confused evacuees find shelter
and comfort during the crisis.
Mark Marney: [email protected]
14
Bri dging Cul tures
Interpretive Opportunities
Plentiful on Reservation
By Kristen Heidenthal
S
everal large brown road signs
can be found alongside both
directions of Highway 97 and
Highway 17, just north of Brewster, alerting drivers that they are
approaching a heritage site. “Fort
Okanagan Interpretive Center, Next
Left” reads one sign. But, in 2008,
another sign was placed diagonally
overtop each of these heritage signs,
reading, “CLOSED.” The gates of
the Center were locked permanently
in 2008, when the State of Washington felt the impacts of the recession.
Many State Parks closed during
these hard economic times.
Upon learning that Washington
State was permanently closing several parks and looking to transfer these
parks to other governing bodies,
the Colville Business Council—the
governing body for the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation
(CCT)—saw an opportunity to
acquire the Fort Okanogan Interpretive Center and add a second museum to their educational outreach
program. Towards the end of 2010,
the State gifted the Fort Okanogan
Interpretive Center, located in the
SW corner of the reservation, to
the Tribes. This gave the Tribes the
opportunity to reopen the Center.
After completing renovations, the
center reopened in June of 2013 with
new exhibits, artifacts, and a fresh
story: The Okanogan – A Changing
Landscape an Enduring Culture.
The exhibit tells the history of this
landscape, the people, and their connection with Fort Okanogan from
a tribal perspective. The Fort was
established in 1811, and was owned
by all three major fur companies
(Pacific, Northwest, and Hudson’s
Bay). However, it was predominately
operated by tribal people throughout
the years.
The Fort Okanogan Interpretive
Center is just one of several cultural
and educational opportunities located
on the Colville Reservation. In 2011,
the Colville Tribal Museum located
in Coulee Dam opened its doors
to the public after going through
substantial exhibit renovations. The
Chief Joseph Fish Hatchery, located
near Bridgeport, opened on June 21,
2013, and includes a welcoming center with interpretive exhibits covering
traditional fishing techniques.
The success of our museums and
interpretive centers would not have
been possible without the collaborations of our many partnering
agencies and organizations. These
organizations include the Okanogan
County Historical Society; Douglas
County P.U.D; Humanities Washington; Washington State University
Manuscripts, Archives, and Special
Collections; Washington State
DOT; the Icicle Foundation; the Tulalip Tribes Charitable Fund; Gebbers Farms; the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers Seattle District; and the
Bonneville Power Administration.
One of the largest challenges we
have faced—and continue to face—
is getting the word out that each
of these centers are open to the
public with no admission costs. The
Fort Okanogan Interpretive Center is open May through the end
of September, Wednesday through
Sunday from 9am to 5pm, and has
several public programs scheduled
throughout the summer, as well. The
Colville Tribal Museum is open May
through September, every day of the
week from 9am to 5pm. The Chief
Joseph Fish Hatchery’s Welcome
Center is open all year around, Monday through Friday from 7:30am to
4pm; they offer tours to guests.
Each center provides a unique perspective of the history and culture of
the twelve regional tribes—Wenatchi, Entiat, Chelan, Methow, Okanogan, Moses-Columbia, Colville,
Nespelem, Lakes, Sanpoil, Palus, and
Chief Joseph Nez Perce. In doing
so, we provide local residents and
visitors a glimpse into the region’s vibrant history and continuing cultural
traditions.
These three centers serve the tribal
membership in a variety of ways,
including internship opportunities,
employing youth workers, and providing educational outreach programs at K-12 schools both on and
off the reservation. The Interpretive
Center provides a platform for tribal
members to share their artwork and
traditional knowledge with the community through our diverse summer
public programing. Each center also
serves in preserving cultural heritage
and sharing knowledge through
experiences like the first salmon
ceremony at the Chief Joseph Fish
Hatchery, and the Interpretive
Center sharing technical knowledge
on preserving family heirlooms.
These centers are important pieces to
connecting our community with its
own history and cultural traditions,
and we hope to see more community
members taking advantage of the
programming and exhibits open to
them.
colvilletribes.com
I
have spent almost all of my life
living and working as a farmhand
in Waterville. I have worked
mostly in dry land summer fallow
farming, which is the process of letting producing land “rest” for a year
with no crop in order to save that
year’s moisture in the ground and to
control weeds. This type of farming
involves working the soil after harvesting the wheat, either by disking
in the fall to cut up the crop stubble,
or by plowing (subsoiling) to break
up the soil and work it deeply—or
by doing both. The work begins in
the spring, as we incorporate the residue, kill weeds, and make a mulch
on the top of the ground to insulate
the soil from the summer sun and
to hold the moisture: we use a dusty
covering of dirt and straw that is less
susceptible to erosion by wind and
water. This process has been used in
various forms for over a half century
on the Waterville plateau.
I work for Alan Loebsack, who
decided to enroll his farm in a
minimum-till program over a year
ago. Whether it is a success or not
is too soon to tell: it’s a new way of
doing farming, it uses different tools,
and the learning curve is extremely
high. However, the work is anything
but boring, and none of our dirt
has found its way across the road
or “down the creek!” One measurement of success has been when we’ve
heard someone from outside our
circle say, “you’re no-tilling, you don’t
have to worry about the wind after
you seed!”
One of the best parts of this process
has been the input and involvement
of other farmers, agriculture industry
professionals, FSA/NRCS/WSU
Extension staff input and advice, and
soil test service advisors. We have
been involved in some great discussions, advisory sessions, “this is what
I’ve done/learned” meetings, and test
plots—not to mention hours of cell
phone conversations and personal
field tours that have helped us figure
out how to best make minimum-till
farming work in our part of Douglas
County.
15
Keeping Good Soil Down
– No Till Farming
Some say that the most challenging
thing in life is change—I’ve found
that it’s even more difficult in farming. We’ve tried no till annual cropping, annual tilled cropping, continuous crop farming (on two separate
farms), and a few things in between,
and what we’ve seen work best—
save in one area—is summer fallowing. The soil accumulates moisture
over two years, which helps to
average out the dry spells; allows the
use of non-chemical weed control;
and saves the soil from wind or water erosion. The last time I checked,
nobody is making more dirt. Two
years ago we filled in ditches from
thunderstorms that hadn’t been cut
that deeply since the floods of 1948.
Fields that we are trying to seed this
year were adversely effected, because
we didn’t keep that moisture.
Even in the 50 mph winds that
we’ve already had this year, you can
safely drive by any one of Alan’s
seeded fields and still be able to see
the road—the wind isn’t carrying
any of the soil away. Also, the little
water that did run off some of the
fields last winter wasn’t carrying any
soil. That’s a plus in my book.
By Michael Grande
16
Partners Help
Sage Grouse
Keep Dancing
By Michael Brown
O
n cold spring mornings
groups of male sage grouse
begin the same mating
display, or dance, that has been
performed for centuries. The sight
is symbolic not only of the present
American West, but also of the
many cultures that have lived in and
among the sagebrush for generations. The display of the male sage
grouse is as dramatic as the story of
the species’ conservation. And, just
as sage grouse depend entirely on
sagebrush for food in the winter, the
conservation efforts going on today
depend on one thing: partnership.
Sage grouse have served as the
catalyst for a land conservation
movement of an unprecedented pace
and scale. In just five years, the Sage
Grouse Initiative (SGI)—one of
many partnerships working to save
sage grouse—has conserved 4.4 million acres throughout the 11 states
that the bird calls home. In Washington state alone SGI has helped to
conserve over 50,000 acres of shrubsteppe, or sagebrush country.
Co nne cti ng L and s and Waters
Some may say that the conservation
successes are attributable to this
iconic American bird. But the sage
grouse itself cannot conserve acres or
enhance the landscape—it can only
be a motivation to do so. The conservation that has taken place is the result of communities coming together
to conserve a way of life that, for
many, has slipped into movies and
history books.
In fact, ranchers and farmers across
the west are the reason for the
unprecedented scale of conservation
of recent years. For this reason, SGI
builds their foundation of wildlife
conservation through sustainable
ranching, with the idea that what
is good for the ranch is good for
the birds. This is not a new idea to
farmers and ranchers, who have been
stewards of the land for generations.
What is new, though, is working
in partnership to ensure that these
ranchers and farmers can stay
sustainable while promoting range
management that enhances sagebrush habitat for all the species that
call it home.
In Washington the SGI really took
flight with a simple meeting around
one rancher’s kitchen table in Douglas County. From that one meeting,
11 SGI contracts were created. Since
then SGI has worked with ranchers
in Lincoln, Grant, Douglas, and
Okanogan Counties, and continues to grow. In the last two years,
SGI has started to work with the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and
their Partners for Fish and Wildlife
Program to further enhance on-theground projects. This has included
obtaining funding for landowners
to enhance wet meadows, control
noxious weeds, and remove unused
fencing on their land.
SGI was not the first partnership to
focus on shrub-steppe restoration
and protection in Washington. In
fact, SGI’s goal has been to build
on the work that other groups and
organizations have started. These
include the development of the
General Habitat Conservation Plan
by the Foster Creek Conservation
District, the Arid Lands Initiative,
the Washington Wildlife Habitat
Connectivity Working Group, and
many other initiatives.
As SGI continues to grow and
evolve, its primary question continues to be: what will help sustain
the community, the sage grouse, and
the habitat for future generations?
With the support that the ranching
community has already put forward
and the partnerships that have developed, the future of sage grouse in
Washington looks bright.
I
n 1980, a group of like-minded
individuals purchased over 500
acres of land along Myers Creek
north of Chesaw, on a site now
known as Triple Creek. They formed
an intentional community based on
simple living and sustainable paths
for securing food and shelter. Several
households now live on this Okanogan Highland landscape of forests,
meadows, wetlands, and riparian areas. A primary goal of the community is improving and restoring wildlife
habitat for native species. Members
have developed a forest management plan, rehabilitated overgrazed
pastures, and reduced noxious weeds,
thus reestablishing native plants. By
engaging with local non-profits and
agencies for wetland restoration, the
community is creating a legacy to
benefit future generations.
Myers Creek flows from headwater
streams on Mount Bonaparte, is
joined by MaryAnn Creek, and then
flows north through the glaciated
Chesaw Valley. The convergence of
Bolster, Thorp, and Myers Creek
creates the “Triple Creek” site, where
a biologically rich wetland once
thrived with herons, fish, beaver, and
a remarkable water storage capacity.
In the late 1990’s, a rain-on-snow
event severely incised Myers Creek,
impeding water from flowing into
the wetlands. The Triple Creek
community, seeking to restore naturally occurring ecological processes,
explored a variety of restoration
options before deciding to work
with Okanogan Highlands Alliance
(OHA), a local non-profit. Together
they developed a collaborative restoration team.
Triple Creek members make collective stewardship decisions. OHA’s
offer to facilitate stream and wetland
restoration was accepted, and other
groups were invited:
17
Landowners
Support Beavers
for Restoration
Trout Unlimited (TU), to bring
restoration ecology expertise to the
project;
US Fish and Wildlife Service
(USFWS), to share design and
hydrology expertise;
NOAA Northwest Fisheries
Science Center, to provide input
based on their work in mimicking
beavers to restore incised streams;
WA Department of Fish and
Wildlife (WDFW), to share expertise on flow and sediment dynamics.
Funding sources include the Department of Ecology water quality funds,
USFWS Partners program, penalty
settlement agreement between Ecology and Kinross Gold, and in-kind
contributions from all collaborators.
The greatest challenge was identifying the optimal restoration technique that would connect the land
and the water, while also being cost
effective. The landowners’ goal was to
restore natural and native ecological
processes. OHA worked through
several designs at a mitigation site
downstream of Triple Creek before
settling on the Beaver Dam Analogue (BDA) approach for both sites.
Experts suggested putting vertical
pilings across the stream to provide
beavers with a stable starting place
for dam building, and weaving with
live cuttings to slow flows. This approach has already started to capture
sediment at the downstream mitigation site and will be implemented at
Triple Creek within the year.
Photo by Justin Haug
The initial success at the downstream
mitigation site proved that the
approach of mimicking beavers with
BDAs is highly effective, radically
less expensive than other restoration
techniques, and also provides local
jobs. Upstream, Triple Creek’s willingness to make the site available to
a collaborative team invites a larger
scale project to move forward. Emulating the effect of beavers in slowing
flows, capturing sediment, and connecting the water with the land will
improve water quality and increase
water storage capacity. Re-establishing beavers, and the plant life needed
for their long-term presence, will be
a key component of local drought
and fire response.
By Okanogan Highlands Alliance
& the Triple Creek Community
18
Cross Ge nerational Rel ationship s
Coming Home to
the NCW Fair
By Margaret Viebrock
F
or most of us, the phrase “I’m
going to the fair” evokes many
memories, depending on when
we became part of it. Some of us
may remember our great-grandparents telling stories of loading up the
wagons with the best of what they
had grown and made with hopes of
taking home a blue ribbon—from
prize pigs to perfect pumpkins and
crocheted doilies. Waterville resident
Diane Petersen says she remembers
“watching our children with their entries, countless hours of volunteering,
and experiencing the joy of excited
grandchildren when they see that
blue ribbon on their own exhibit.” “The fair is a celebration of all things
home cooked, farm grown, and
handmade by folks of all ages. It is
a space to meet up with old friends
and honor the connection between
land, people, and animals, to show
pride in our youth and in our way of
life,” Petersen adds. With a history
spanning more than 125 years, the
mission of the NCW Fair has not
wavered. It is an event committed to
the future of our youth, families, and
communities through education and
promotion of agriculture, industry,
and the resources of the region.
The growth of the fair began with
the Douglas County Industrial
Exposition in 1895 commemorating the first year of statehood for
Washington. The Big Bend Roundup came next, followed by the first
annual Douglas County Fair and
Potato Carnival in 1913 to celebrate
the bumper crop of potatoes grown
in the area. This became the Douglas County Fair in the 1920’s, and
then the North Central Washington
District Fair by the 1940’s.
The success of the NCW Fair can be
attributed to many factors, but three
things have really made it shine.
First is the commitment of the fair
board to provide entertainment that
people will enjoy. For example, the
Big Bend Roundup has evolved
since the early 1900’s from potato
polo to the nail-biting events of
the rodeo, wild cow milking contests, Native American relay races,
and wild horse races. Likewise, the
annual Friday night concert attracts
people from all over the state for
a popular country western singer.
Off-season events include July 4 fireworks, an exhibition hall to rent for
weddings, quinceaneras, and family
reunions, school events, community
meetings, and a recently updated RV
park.
The second key factor of the NCW
Fair’s success is the volunteer force
that make each of these events happen. A small paid staff and hundreds
of volunteers manage the exhibit
buildings, operate the livestock
sale, run the rodeo, horse-races, and
off-season events, and keep the
grounds looking good.
Finally, the fair exhibitors, the financial supports of the fair and livestock
sales, and the families who come are
crucial to the continued success of
the NCW Fair. There is no better
place to learn about agriculture, see
baby animals, or visit with your
friends and neighbors. As Marcia
Henkle, former 4-H member and
fair secretary, says, “looking back,
there are so many life lessons learned
from 4-H – responsibility, record
keeping, public speaking, love of animals – that have remained with me
throughout the years. The friendships made and the special memories
of the Fair have not faded. It really
is a ‘great place to come home to.’
F
or over twenty years,
Waterville Elementary School
has partnered with community
groups to study local outdoor areas,
enrich students’ environmental
understanding, and add to local
scientific knowledge about native
species. The program began in 1983
with the Douglas Creek Watershed
study conducted by third, fourth,
and fifth graders. Since that first
year, students have been collecting
data at study sites on land and parts
of the creek (8-100 square feet in
size) owned by the U. S. Bureau of
Land Management (BLM). The
scientific information gathered by
the students is the largest on-going
data collection in the county.
For their data collection process,
students first do a site survey and
create a map. They then find water
temperature, dissolved oxygen content of the water and pH for each
site, also recording any evidence of
animal and human activity. Finally,
the students’ macro-invertebrate collection reveals what kind of critters
live in the creek, providing more
evidence of water quality. Data for
each site is made into graphs which
are accompanied by written analysis
with results posted online.
Early on in the study, teachers
enlisted scientists from the BLM
in Wenatchee, including Diane
Priebe, to help teach the students
about geology, plants, and animals
of the shrub-steppe. The BLM
has also contributed grant monies
which were used to buy high quality
scientific equipment for the project.
In addition to the BLM, each year
the South Douglas Conservation
District awards a grant to further
water quality work. Recent records
of student work at Douglas Creek as
well as training videos produced by
students can be found at
douglascreek.blogspot.com
19
Bringing Outside Learning In
Another program at our school that
supports the Douglas Creek study
is the Literate About Biodiversity
project. The entire school participates by studying native species from
the Waterville Plateau, integrating
science with the language arts curriculum in all grades: Kindergartners
study spiders; first graders butterflies;
second graders birds; third graders
insects; fourth graders reptiles and
amphibians; fifth graders wildflowers; and sixth graders mammals.
The students all contributed to a
field guide of native species that was
edited and added to each year for
5 consecutive years. This guide was
then sold to raise additional funds
for the outdoor work. As part of
the project, a native species plant
garden was planted at the school to
attract the native animals, and BLM
scientists painted a mural on three
walls surrounding the school library
which depict the landforms of the
area: the Cascade Mts., Badger Mt.,
the Waterville Plateau, and Douglas
Creek. Scientifically accurate student
artwork from each class is added
regularly to the mural, resulting in a
rich visual representation of the biodiversity of the Waterville Plateau.
A third Waterville outdoor education project was the Short-Horned
Lizard Adopt-a-Farmer project.
Fourth grade students partnered
with 12 local farmers to collect
sightings of “horny toads.” The
data collected over a 17-year period
proved that, contrary to popular
scientific belief, short-horned lizards
are plentiful in Douglas County. To
see a video produced by the George
Lucas Foundation highlighting the
project, go to this link: http://www.
edutopia.org/naturemapping-technology-fieldwork-video. Students
who participated in this project
traveled extensively in Washington
and the US to present the project at
wildlife and technology gatherings,
at one point presenting in front of
13,000 people. Farm field atlases, using Arcview mapping software, were
produced for participating farmers.
This project was carried out with
technical and scientific help from
University of Washington scientist,
Karen Dvornich.
Our goals in prioritizing these
projects are to make students more
aware of their surroundings; to add
to the body of scientific knowledge;
to integrate science with writing,
reading, art, and technology; and to
give students a valuable reason for
using their skills as they prepared to
share with a wider audience, whether
in art, writing or speaking. All of
these together provide a rich array
of expectations and experiences in
which each student finds their voice.
douglascreek.blogspot.com
edutopia.org/
naturemappingtechnology-fieldwork-video
By Diane Petersen
20
Bri dging Cul tures
Dancing into Diversity
By Susan Griggs
N
orma Ramirez’s multicultural
dance group is using dance
to bridge the cultural barriers
between Wenatchee Valley’s dominant English-speaking community
and the minority Hispanic community. Through collective dance, the
group is empowering Latino youth
to relate to their own heritage by
learning folkloric dances from their
ancestral cultures. Ramirez is also
finding that being part of the group
is successfully giving young people a
sense of community, and equipping
them with tools to move beyond the
tendency of feeling inferior to peers
belonging to the dominant culture
and into a place of pride.
The dance group began in August
2013 with a weeklong Dance Camp,
as part of the Enriqueciendo La
Vida (Enriching Life) ministry of
the Wenatchee First United Methodist Church. Both Latino and
non-Latino children participated in
this camp, and it was immediately
evident that the program would
be a success and fill a need for the
community. At the end of the week,
Norma continued to manage and
teach the group, with many of the
same children coming to weekly
practices. Since the start of this
program two years ago, children have
both joined and left the original
group of dancers. In total, Norma
has taught approximately seventy
local children and youth the steps to
numerous dances that are
native to a variety of Mexican states, and has helped
them put on presentations
all over the Wenatchee
Valley. The group has become well known despite
its relative newness, and has
been invited to participate
in many festivals and community events.
This dance group was a collaborative effort from the start, initially
between Norma Ramirez and Susan
Griggs—both from First United
Methodist Church. Since then, others have joined in to help the group,
including parents and other church
members. Norma Gallegos and Rancho Los Lagos facilitated the dancers’ participation in the 2014 Apple
Blossom Festival, where the group
danced at the Appleaires dinner and
rode on the Rancho Los Lagos float.
La Nueva Radio has assisted the
group as well, promoting the events
at which the dancers perform, and
taking pictures at performances.
In its two years, the dance group’s
biggest challenge has been to maintain a consistent group of children
and youth who know the choreographies, have the necessary clothing,
and can commit the time to participate in the numerous festivals.
The dancers have very busy lives
going to school and working, and
while Norma wants to allow each
child and youth to participate in the
festivals, she also wants to ensure
quality performances at each festival.
Although there is no cost to be part
of the dance group, the clothing that
is typical for each dance must be
bought or borrowed, which can be
expensive.
This dance group has become a great
asset to our community. Numerous children who were depressed
or insecure have shown a dramatic
change in their self-esteem and
overall well-being. They have found
something meaningful to do with
their free time, and have found that
a church and its members have cared
about them, even if they are not
members themselves. Additionally,
the children and youth have discovered talents in themselves that
they can use to open doors in their
future. And for the community, we
are seeing that the dominant English-speaking community has also
been able to learn about Mexican
culture through the dancers’ performances. The group is providing an
opportunity to see Latinos from a
new perspective, which is ultimately
and successfully creating space for
new relationships between the different groups in our community.
B
Becoming the number one project
in the North Central Washington
Economic Development District for
the three county region of Douglas,
Chelan, and Okanogan Counties
was key for our project’s success.
Our biggest challenge for this
project was always having the money
to ensure that the completed system would be affordable. In 2009,
we started the construction of the
collection system, after which we
built the sewer treatment plant.
An important part of the project
was Phase Three, during which we
hooked every home in the City at
that time to the sewer system and
21
A Sewer System for
Sustainable Growth
efore I can share the success
story of the Rock Island sewer
system, I need to give some
background on the City of Rock
Island. Until 2012, Rock Island had
no sanitary sewer system, and every
home in the City was on an individual septic system. Most of the soil
found in Rock Island is quite gravelly, which means that when a septic
tank fails, the materials go down and
do not come up.
We were not certain how many
septic tanks were failing or on the
brink of failing, but we did know
that Rock Island needed a functioning sewer system in order to grow.
Our City population had actually
dropped from last census. Becoming
Mayor in 2006, the project of creating and implementing sewer system
became my task. The city had already
done two feasibility studies for a
sewer system; I went to our three
legislators and was able to secure
a direct apportion of $860,000 to
design a sewer system for the City.
By Russell Clark, Mayor
decommissioned every septic tank in
town—at no cost to the homeowner.
It was discovered during Phase Three
that at least 40% of homes had failed
septic tanks.
The ultimate success of this story
is not only that we have a new and
functioning sewer system for our
City; Rock Island also has 200 new
homes being built in the next three
to five years, as well as one commercial property. This will be the
first commercial building to be built
within the City in over twenty years.
The City worked with many partners
to complete this project, including
Douglas County’s financial assistance with property purchase, and
State and Federal funding for infrastructure development. The main
actors in this project were myself and
our Rock Island City Council members. I am proud to say that without
the collaboration of our funders and
builders, the project could not have
happened as it did. When all was
said and done, the sewer system—
an 11 million dollar project—was
completed less than 1% over budget.
With this project complete, the City
of Rock Island is able to move into
a future with many more options as
we continue to grow the success of
our city.
22
Com m on Vision
Our Valley,
What’s Next?
By Alan Walker
O
ur Valley is currently participating in a national competition to prove that we are
one of “America’s Best Communities” (ABC). So far, we have made
it into the top 50 finalists—out of
337 communities competing—and
winning would result in a $50,000
prize! Sponsored by Frontier Communications, the ABC contest is
designed to highlight rural cities
that are taking control of their future
using innovative methods to improve
the well-being of their community.
Involvement in this competition
is being led by the United Way of
Chelan and Douglas Counties, with
the support of local business and
government agencies. Even before
knowing about the ABC contest, a
small group had been meeting for
several months, discussing barriers and opportunities for regional
economic revitalization efforts. The
challenge was how to secure funding to help move forward with a
visioning and planning process, and
how could we do it from a regional
perspective. Then, when Frontier
Communications announced the
contest, the opportunity seemed to
be a great match, as well as a potential funding source.
Multiple individuals from different
organizations—representing both
sides of the Columbia River—came
forward to help with the contest
application. It was this group of over
twenty people who first decided
that, yes, we can and should submit a
proposal. They secured a joint letter
of support from the mayors of both
East Wenatchee and Wenatchee,
and began the application process.
Since then, our core work team
has expanded to also include Stacy
Luckensmeyer, Lori Barnett, Norma
Gallegos, and Gustavo Montoya. The
group worked amazingly well together, meeting every Friday for two
hours to work, discuss, and eat lunch.
Those involved in the actual writing
of the proposal included Steve King,
Allison Williams, Lisa Parks, Shiloh
Schauer, Jennifer Bushong, and Alan
Walker. We each understood certain
aspects of the proposal’s three critical
areas: Education and Workforce Development; Alleviating Poverty; and
Developing Regional Strategies.
We found that the biggest challenge
presented in this process was writing a potentially winning proposal
that showcases our overall strengths
as a community. It was difficult to
develop a proposal which integrates
the multiple issues of a broad geographic area, with a central focus on
stimulating economic growth and
opportunity. Additionally, we had to
incorporate entities that historically
had not worked together. What does
United Way and the Port District
have in common? However, the
more we talked, the more we realized
how much our missions align. This
became true for all of us. Ultimately,
when more individuals and individual organizations prosper, so does the
region. Prosperity creates less strain
on social service, government, health
systems, and leads to a more vibrant
commerce.
Successfully making it this far in the
ABC contest has shown that our
most valuable community resource is
our people, and that the best strategies we have for success are open
collaboration, increased communication, and inclusive projects. Our
goal has been to operate within a
values-based process that is data
supported—not data driven—and
which takes a look at our Valley
from a holistic viewpoint. People in
community are helping us to identify
ideas and goals which will lead to
strategies that will us achieve priority outcomes for our future in the six
topic areas: how we prosper; how we
plan and grow; how we sustain our
environment; how we live and care
for another; how we learn and create;
and how we participate and decide.
The next step is to develop a plan for
our future with the goal of improving our region, and we believe that
we are in the perfect position—and
an ideal community—to do just this.
J
A Great Place
To Come Home To
ournalism students have been
exploring the theme for this
year’s summit, “A Great Place
to Come Home To,” by conducting
interviews with staff and faculty at
the Waterville School and developing content for the Douglas County
Empire Press and IRIS’s Listening
Post Network.
By Taylor Schoenberg, Cithlali Chavez
and Phylicite Chitwood
Armando Davila graduated from
Waterville High in 2007. He came
to North Central Washington when
he was 8 years old. The reason he
came was because his father moved
up here, and his family wanted to
follow him. He, like many others,
left for a while to the big cities, but
in the end he came back.
Tabatha Mires has been here in
Waterville almost all her whole life
and graduated from Waterville High
School in 1990.
She stated, “I was gone about five
years and have been here about 38
years.” Tabatha has a wonderful
answer for why Waterville is a great
place to come home to. “This community, this school, the people and
how you feel supported by all those
pieces and how there is so much
tradition and so much support,” she
stated.
Mr. Davila admitted that he believes
“Waterville is a great place to come
home to because it’s quiet and it
has that sense of community.” He
realized this when he had lived in
the cities. He explained to us how
he “loves that we’re in the middle
of nowhere, but at the same time
we’re hours away from lakes and the
ocean.”
Today, Armando Davila lives in
Orondo and has been working as
the bilingual secretary at Waterville
High for almost three years. He does
not plan on leaving North Central
Washington anytime soon.
Tabatha explained how Waterville,
in her opinion, is better now than
when she was a teenager. She said,
“Waterville has always been great but
Waterville is better now than it was
when I was a kid. I think because
of the work with leadership and
character and focus on our mission
here. I think our students are more
inclusive. I think they support one
another more.”
Mires also added her attraction to
the local landscape in that, “you
forget how unique it is until you visit
other places and come back and see
Pine Canyon or Moses Coulee.”
23
Marsha Burke Ashley graduated from Waterville High School in
1994. She, like most young people,
wanted to leave the small community she grew up in.
Mrs. Ashley mentioned, “I wanted to
see the big cities and see the world.”
Later on, she met her husband Ryan.
Once they started to form a family,
Marsha and her husband believed
that “Waterville was a great place to
raise a family.” That’s when Marsha
decided to move back.
She admitted that one thing she
would brag about Waterville to
outsiders is “the people, because in
Waterville everyone supports each
other and it’s the fact that we all
help each other out.”
Today Marsha is living in the Waterville community with her husband Ryan and her three daughters
Claire, Julia and Elsa. She’s working
as the third grade teacher at Waterville Elementary.
To sample more of these stories visit
http://empire-press.com/category/voices/ncw-community-success-summit/Waterville
and the Listening Post Network.
2015 NCW Community Success Summit
Sponsors and Partners
Waterville Community Fund
N C W E D D
NCW
ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT
DISTRICT
COMMUNITY
HEALTH PLAN
of Washington™
Douglas County Historical Society
Your donations will help IRIS continue to gather and
share the stories that make our region thrive.
Visit irisncw.org to donate online
or mail your contributions to:
IRIS, P O Box 4563, Wenatchee, WA 98807

2015 Success Summit Supplement

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