Happy New Year

From Rachel Vasak

NSEA Executive Director

Dearest NSEA supporters,

I want to write to let you know how deeply appreciated you are. I hope your health is good. I want to wish you a happy New Year. I also want to say thank you. Thank you for giving NSEA hope during this challenging time.

 I know that this past year has shared abundant trials with each and every one of us. You amaze me. While you were experiencing your own challenges, you still chose to support NSEA’s efforts to recover salmon. Thank you. 

In the spring when the pandemic descended, you emailed and called to see how we were doing, and you offered to help.  You offered financial support to help NSEA survive and you offered advice and ideas. You helped us think of new and different ways to adapt our work.  We did adapt, and with new safety protocols in place, we managed to get thousands of trees that we had already purchased safely planted along local creeks and potted up in the nursery. NSEA’s education team switched gears quickly and re-created curriculum into online accessible options to help teachers adapt and students who found themselves suddenly learning from home. “These [lessons] gave my students meaningful opportunities to learn and engage and provided support for students and their families.” – Blaine elementary teacher.

This summer, restoration projects were successfully completed: as a result, over nine miles of stream habitat are now open to salmon for spawning thanks to the removal of 10 barriers. NSEA’s River Stewards program adapted from giving salmon information to thousands of people visiting the Nooksack River to removing invasive vegetation and sharing salmon information with people outside and in socially distant ways.  

While the salmon returned this fall to newly restored habitat, NSEA’s stewardship team redesigned NSEA’s traditionally large community work parties into micro sized work parties so we could invite volunteers to rejoin us in our shared efforts to restore healthy riparian areas. Together we have planted hundreds of trees along our local creeks. We are finding these micro-work parties are a safe and fulfilling way to get outside and to accomplish this important work.  I hope you will consider joining one and let us know what you think.

None of these wonderful things could have happened without your support.   Your generosity creates incredible resiliency: your volunteer time helped accomplish salmon recovery, your financial gifts kept NSEA working, and your advice helped us be creative and adapt.  Thank you for helping NSEA survive through 2020 so that our work to recover salmon thrives into the future. 

While 2021 continues to bring much uncertainty, I also know that there are things to celebrate: NSEA turns 30 this year. We plan to celebrate virtually this spring on the anniversary of the day NSEA was officially incorporated (April 12th). We will also be gathering and sharing stories of the people that helped shaped NSEA’s 30 years. Please let me know if you want to share your story of why NSEA’s work is important to you. We have exciting and important restoration projects on the schedule for 2021. Our DEI focus group is taking leadership to help guide ways that NSEA can continue to improve at the board and the staff level. We continue to offer high quality education, especially to our most vulnerable students. This spring, we are offering more micro-work parties than ever before so that we can safely spread out along local creeks to continue to plant trees. These trees are an investment in better habitat for the future. They combat the impacts of climate change and they slowly but surely create a healthier landscape. When we plant trees, we know we are investing in a healthier future for our planet and for us all. This is just the beginning: please join our Fish Bytes newsletter to learn more.

We are a community-based organization. That means we are here because of you.  Thank you for each thing, and EVERYthing that you do to support NSEA’s work. You give us hope for a brighter future. 

Gratitude in the time of Covid-19

By Shoshana Paige

NSEA Board President

In a year that has seen our community face substantial hardship and uncertainty, it may seem strange to be talking about gratitude. However, every Thanksgiving, it is my tradition to take stock of all the things I am grateful for. This year, I recognize how privileged I am to still have a job that I love, to be in relatively good health, and to have the rewarding opportunity of serving the community I love as an NSEA board member. As President of the Board during this very challenging year, I am so grateful for the stability of this organization.  That stability is due in large part to the generosity of our members and partners throughout the past 29 years, and the financial stewardship of staff and board members to ensure that NSEA could weather storms such as this current crisis.

I am grateful for the NSEA staff who nimbly adapted to the changes of working under a pandemic to educate, inspire and engage the community to take action to keep wild salmon here for future generations. I am grateful for my fellow board members who worked hard to finalize and implement our new 5-year strategic plan, and sought to ensure NSEA was adapting to meet the unforeseen challenges of today, while also pushing forward to ensure NSEA can continue to advance this mission for many years to come.

I am especially grateful to the commitment and generosity of our members this year—those who have reached out to see how we were doing; those who offered support at whatever level they could during this difficult time; those who shared their support for NSEA with other members of our community; and for all of you who continue to stay engaged as members of our community to keep wild salmon here, in Whatcom County, for generations to come. This Thanksgiving, please know that we at NSEA give thanks for your support for the salmon, and for our community.