Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association

Education: nsea provides science education opportunities for community members of all ages, including education, outreach, and stewardship programming. During 2024, nsea staff worked to educate and engage more than 1,975 fourth grade students throughout whatcom county in the students for salmon program. This flagship program, started in 2000, provides each class with a classroom presentation and, in 2024, facilitated 83 field trips to study stream ecology. Additionally, nsea instructors lead classes through stewardship activities which often include restoration projects. Nsea partnered with several other local nonprofit organizations to lead 61 educators in teacher training through the ten-hour clime time program. Camp keystone celebrated its fourth year in 2024 with 178 camp participants over nine weeks of summer camp.

Stewardship: nsea is a community-based organization and strives to engage community members in salmon recovery. Volunteers support many different programs throughout the year and help a small core staff accomplish far more than would otherwise be possible. Community volunteers are central to the mission of involving the community in salmon recovery. In 2024, 4,422 hours were donated by 1,474 community volunteers to restore about 21.75 acres of riparian habitat. Interns and students from western washington university, bellingham technical college, whatcom community college, and northwest indian college provide critical support to nseas programs including education, monitoring, and stewardship. Summer and fall of 2024 brought increased opportunities for nsea staff and interns to do outreach: nseas summer river stewards program led guided river walks along the nooksack river and hosted outreach events. During the fall, we hosted 14 salmon sighting events along several creeks, engaging over 930 people. These events provided an opportunity for community members to learn about salmon, salmon habitat, and how we, as individuals and as a community, can support salmon recovery.