Learn and Serve Environmental Anthropology Field (LEAF) School

Community Partners and Service-Learning Projects

Partnerships with local tribes, governments, non-profits, businesses and educational institutions make a variety of service-learning projects possible. Recent service-learning projects have included the following:

• Monitoring of wildlife passages via remote sensor camera and wildlife tracking for Snohomish County Public Works, Jefferson Land Trust, and Whidbey-Camano Land Trust;
• Design and installation of an ethnobotanical garden at the City of Lynnwood's Gold Park with support from State Farm Youth Service America, Hazel Miller Foundation, Lynnwood Parks Foundation and Edmonds CC Foundation;
• A rapid ethnographic assessment of possible sources of PBDE contamination at Bracket's Landing in Edmonds in collaboration with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Status and Trends Program;
• Forensics investigation of pre-spawn mortality of Coho salmon in Lund's Gulch with King County, Snohomish County and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Coastal Storms Program;
• Pilot project monitoring the return of fishers on the Olympic Peninsula with Olympic National Forest, Olympic National Park and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife;
• Snowtracking and remote camera monitoring to document the presence of wildlife along I-90 and in the Cascades as part of Cascade Citizens Wildlife Monitoring Project, a partnership between Conservation Northwest, Wilderness Awareness School and I-90 Wildlife Bridges Coalition;
• Initiation of a wolf and lynx monitoring project in Kettle Falls River Range with Kettle Falls School District, Colville National Forest and Conservation Northwest.
• Ethnographic study of Jetty Island, an uninhabited island owned by the Port of Everett and managed as a park by the City of Everett;
• Assisting the Stillaguamish Tribe with broodstocking of Chinook, pond seining, habitat restoration and the production of an annual Festival of the River;
• Salmon habitat restoration with Adopt-A-Stream Foundation, Stilly-Snohomish Fisheries Enhancement Task Force, Whidbey Watershed Stewards and Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition;
• River, beach and lake cleanups with Puget Soundkeeper Alliance, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and Stilly-Snohomish Fisheries Enhancement Task Force;
• Assisting the Native American Student Association and Edmonds School District's E-15 Nations with the production of an annual powwow;
• Writing a trail guide, vegetation monitoring, construction of an outdoor classroom and organic gardening with Whidbey Institute and Good Cheer;
• Exploring sustainable food production, community supported agriculture, farmer's markets and low impact design with Camano Island Coffee Roasters, 21 Acres, Klesick Family Farms, Pam's Produce and Snoqualmie Gourmet Ice Cream;
• Water quality monitoring and youth mentoring with WSU Extension 4-H and Edmonds Backyard Wildlife Habitat;
• Shellfish habitat, microplastics and beach profile surveys with WSU Extension Beach Watchers, Port Townsend Marine Science Center and Snohomish County Marine Resources Committee;
• Helping People For Puget Sound and Padilla Bay National Estuarine Research Preserve produce Storming the Sound, an annual workshop for environmental educators;
• Maintaining an ethnobotanical garden at Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center and helping to produce Seafair Indian Days Powwow;
• Tours of water resources at Cedar River Watershed Education Center, West Point Wastewater Treatment Plant and Everett Water Pollution Control;
• Marine expedition aboard the Indigo and trail maintenance with Service, Education and Adventure and Washington State Parks.