In an effort to reach as many students as possible while providing meaningful opportunities for Thurston County’s youth to have a voice in the future of their watershed, DWA is transitioning to a field trip program!.
Teachers can help their students become Estuary Ambassadors by scheduling a field trip with DERT. K-12 students and educators will also be recruited for our monthly Community Envisioned Deschutes Estuary workshops to represent youth stakeholders through the process. Read on to learn more about these wonderful opportunities.
Educational Opportunities – Become an Estuary Ambassador by Learning about the Issues and Sharing with your Community!
If your class would like to schedule a field trip to the soon-to-be (again) Deschutes Estuary, we can offer the opportunity to design excursions to meet various grade and ability levels.
- Biocultural Estuary Education
- This walking tour following Olympia’s Hidden Histories StoryMap takes us on an interactive trip through local Indigenous, Immigrant, and settler histories, drawing a throughline to our modern land-use relationships with the Deschutes River and downtown Olympia. Learn about developments on the impending estuary restoration.
To arrange a field trip, eEmail us to coordinate at info@deschutesestuary.org olydert@gmail.com
Community Envisioned Deschutes Estuary (CEDE) Youth Ambassadors!
Don’t miss this opportunity to help shape the beautiful place we call home!
DERT will host is putting on a series of community visioning workshops that bring a diversity of stakeholders together to co-learn and contribute to a sustainable, community vision of a Deschutes Estuary that can provide for and engage our region’s inhabitants for generations to come. We are looking for students who are interested in participating in this process, alongside a cohort of peers, working to engage with other stakeholder groups as we all listen, learn, and contribute our vision of a future Deschutes Estuary to provide suggestions to the state’s restoration design. Don’t miss this opportunity to help shape the beautiful place we call home!
Stakeholders will be invited to a series of workshops they can attend according to availability and interest. The workshops center around several key issue areas: sustainable development, educational elements, cultural use and stewardship, and habitat enhancement, with extra meetings for open discussion. Each workshop will add details to the estuary design, which will be captured by an artist for visual rendering. The meetings will culminate in a final design to be presented to the general public for broader feedback and to provide suggestions to the Department of Enterprise Services. CEDE will work to integrate the focused estuary restoration project into the fabric of Olympia, and Washington state at large, to enhance co-benefits and interconnectivity with local projects and the spirit of the community.
Watershed Ambassadors of CEDE Can Expect…
- The opportunity to participate in up to 8 workshops alongside government, non-profit, and community stakeholders
- Dinner provided at each meeting
- DERT apparel
To Express Interest:
Please send by September 1st, 2024 a personal statement describing your background and experience (500 words max) and a response (500 words max) to the question: “Why do you want to be a Watershed Ambassador for CEDE?”
Submit to info@deschutesestuary.org with the subject “CEDE DWA Application”:
