Thank you to all who showed up for our first Recreation Northwest Stewardship Work Party.
We had a great bunch of people show up to our first Work Party. Well, actually it was more of a Stroll Party (according to 5 year old, Violet Elsworth). We’d like to thank everybody pictured below for coming out and getting a tour of the property with Rae Edwards, from Bellingham Parks and Recreation.
One of those who joined us was former Mayor Dan Pike, who gave a good summary of our experience for the day, via Facebook. You can like us on Facebook/Recreation Northwest.
“Took part in the Recreation NW/Parks Department Fairhaven Park/Chuckanut Forest cleanup this morning. Was pleased to see the forest is in good shape overall, and a good turnout of volunteers. Bellingham Parks Volunteer Coordinator Rae Edwards did a great job of educating us about specific tasks that would benefit from volunteer attention both now and later. As importantly, she showed off a real connection o the environment, and shared her encyclopedic knowledge of flora, fauna, prioritization of bad plants (Stinky Bob won the grand prize), and the unseen resource commitment required for wetlands mitigation–not at all suggesting the mitigation is bad, or overdone, or inappropriate, but rather that it is a hidden cost, resulting in scrambling on occasion to find the resources. Got me thinking about changes that might be helpful in the budgeting process.
Thanks to Todd Elsworth and Rae for their work in pulling this together. And star of the show was Todd’s daughter Violet. Here’s a few pictures from this morning. I have to say, this is a magnificent piece of property.” Thanks Rae! – Dan Pike via Facebook.

Todd Elsworth is one of the many “Mossy-haired lunatics roaming the dripping peninsulas”, described in “I’m Here for the Weather” by Tom Robbins. As executive director, he works to fulfill our mission to teach the health benefits of nature, promote outdoor recreation, and steward the places where we play.