TACOMA PIERCE COUNTY CLIMATE LEADERSHIP COHORT

CAPSTONE PRESENTATIONS AND GRADUATION

Come celebration and support the 2024 Climate Leadership Cohort:

SEPTEMBER 7, 2024

1:30PM-3:30PM

Mi Centro: 1208 S 10th St, Tacoma, WA 98405

Light refreshments will be provided.

Let us know you’re coming:

Are you a Lincoln resident interested in supporting the outreach of Green Blocks: Lincoln and promoting trees in general! Either connecting with your neighbors, chatting with your church or school community or just learning more about Tacoma Tree Foundation and our mission - Join us!

Lincoln Community Outreach Gathering Tuesday Sept 3rd 5pm - 6pm at Whitman Elementary (on the corner of s K and s 39th st)

The entire family is welcome to join us to learn how to promote tree planting and care with a community centered approach. We'll have some snacks and Green Blocks/tree materials to share. Parking is limited, we also encourage walking, biking or carpooling. See you there!

It's summertime and we're revving up for an amazing planting season this fall! Our programming is possible because of our dedicated and passionate TREE CAPTAINS! Please consider becoming a tree captain by attending our training or attend our Tree Captains Social for those who are trained!

Please click here to RSVP for these events. 

Tree Captains Training - August 29th 4:30-6 - Union Club (539 Broadway, Tacoma, WA 98402)
For our large planting events we train volunteers to become Tree Captains, who lead small volunteer groups to plant trees on private properties. If you're interested, please consider registering for this training. Women, femmes and folks of color are encouraged to register.  You'll learn how TTF implements large planting events, how to lead volunteers, engage residents and understand tree planting/utility guidelines. Veteran Tree Captains are welcome to attend as a refresher training and support the learning for others.


Tree Captains Social - August 29th 6:30-7:30 - Dusty's Hideaway Patio (723 E 34th St. Tacoma, WA 98405) 
Veteran TTF Tree Captains and newly trained alike are invited to attend our first ever Tree Captains social. Veteran Tree Captains will receive official Tree Captains Vests with a name tag for future planting events. Newly trained Tree Captains will receive these vests at their first tree planting event as a Tree Captain. Join us for a social hour together. While purchasing from Dusty's is not required to attend, it is a no-host event, so please come prepared to purchase your own drinks or snacks. TTF will bring swag, memories and so much love and appreciation!

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!

Sign up with a friend or family member to drive one day with a heat sensor!

This summer, Pierce County is doing an urban heat mapping project that will bring together local cities, organizations, and volunteers to produce heat maps. Do you know areas of cities with unshaded roads and buildings and low tree cover can be up to 20°F hotter than surrounding areas? You can learn more about urban heat island effect by staying involved. This community-based science project will be conducted by heat ambassadors like you and me!

TIME: 3 one-hour time slots in one day: Morning: 6:00 - 7:00 AM; Afternoon: 3:00 - 4:00 PM; Evening 7:00 - 8:00 PM. 

DATE: Primary Date: August 3rd and 4th (back-up). Secondary Date: August 10th and 11th (back-up).  Note: This urban heat mapping project is science-based. To effectively measure heat, the weather conditions must be as follows: Temperatures must be above 81F; No clouds; No marine layers; No precipitation. For this reason, and in consultation with weather experts, we chose Saturday, August 3rd as the primary date for this project with a backup date of Sunday, August 4th. If these two dates do not work, the secondary date will be Saturday, August 10th, and the backup would be Sunday, August 11th. On the form, you will be able to choose on which dates you can volunteer to do all morning, afternoon and evening time slots. Thank you for being flexible and willing to offer your time for this project!

MAPPING LOCATIONS: Lakewood, Midland-Parkland-Spanaway, Frederickson, South Hill, Bonney Lake, Puyallup, Fife, Sumner, Tehaleh, Lake Tapps, and Gig Harbor.

VOLUNTEER SIGN-UP FORM: Volunteer Register is closed (July 17th)

SOCIAL MEDIA HASHTAGS: #UrbanHeatIslandMaps2024 #capaheatwatch #PierceCountyIsSoHotRightNow #HeatEquity

PARTNERS: NIHHIS, CAPA strategies (Heat Watch), Tacoma Tree Foundation, Tacoma Pierce County Health Department, Pierce County Planning & Public Works, Pierce County Parks, City of Lakewood, City of Fife, City of Puyallup, City of Tacoma, Pierce Conservation District, The Nature Conservancy, University of Washington Tacoma, Washington State University Extension. Puyallup Tribe of Indians, Blue Zones Parkland, Springbrook Connections. (in no particular order)

Parking: Event is held at the field behind the Columbia Middle School here in Fife, located at 2901 54th Ave E, Fife, WA 98424. I attached a screenshot of the event space below – bands perform in the middle of the field, and booths are set up along the southern edge of the track (blue box). The green box is where you can park for free.

Schedule: The event runs from 6-8PM, and the bands begin playing at 6:30. We will be set up there between 6:00-7:00PM to greet you.

Come say hi at one of our favorite events of the year: Earth Gay! This year we’re gathering for community and environmental restoration at Wapato Hills Park.

Come say hi at Tacoma Pride! Tacoma Pride Festival honors the LGBTQIA+ community by celebrating pride in who we are as valuable, creative members of a diverse population in the South Puget Sound region, we invite you to CELEBRATE with Us!

Come say hi at this year’s Ocean Fest! We’ll be there from 11AM-2PM.

You can join the waterway cleanup from 10AM-12PM to keep the waterfront and waters healthy!

Tree Stewards are community tree champions who help grow and protect Tacoma's urban tree canopy.

Do you care about Hilltop? Do you care about Tacoma? Would you like to help increase its tree canopy? 

As part of our Tacoma Creates program, the Tacoma Tree Foundation is offering a FREE Tree Stewards Training. This day-long training will include information on tree selection, planting, and pruning young trees. Participants will also learn how to communicate about trees with their neighbors and how to engage in the Hilltop or Tacoma tree planting and tree care event. 

Up to 20 tree stewards will receive the skills they need to take local actions and engage with their communities about sustainability and stewardship. 

Snacks, light refreshments and lunch will be provided. Please apply by June 7th.  Applications from the Tacoma Frontline Communities will be prioritized. 

Frontline Community Members are experiencing at least one of the following categories: 

• Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC)

• Speak English as a second language

• Low household income

• Ages 16-26 or 59+

• LGBTQIA+

• Living with three or more generations in one home

• Living with more than one family in one home

• Living with a disability

• Immigrant

• Experiencing homelessness or housing instability

• Completed formal education up to a high school/GED level

• First or second-generation American

• Experiencing food insecurity

Join Denise McDermott (MSW, LICSW), Association of Nature and Forest Therapy licensed guide on a forest therapy walk in the NW Native Plant Garden. With her guidance, we will slow down and, through an evolving series of sensory-focused invitations, mindfully interact with the world around us. The guide holds space for every person to arrive at their unique relationship with the Earth in their own way while offering opportunities to witness our shared connection with the Earth as human people. 

This program is capped at 10

Dress for our ever-fluctuating Pacific Northwest weather.  Layers, umbrellas, hats, gloves, sunblock, raingear.  A backpack is not necessary.

Whatever would make you feel most comfortable. If it’s wet, I like to wear rain pants so that I can sit/kneel wherever I’d like without getting wet. Your car will be within one minute of where we are so that you can leave whatever you don’t need in the car.  

Denise McDermott, MSW, LICSW is a licensed therapist who has lived in the Puget Sound area for most of her life. After seeing positive results early on in her practice when working with clients in natural settings, she sought to create more ways to incorporate nature in all aspects of her practice and her life. She has found that a hike on Mt. Rainier or time spent watching a snail work its way around the rim of the birdbath can be equally rewarding when time is taken to notice with intention. Being trained and certified as a guide with the Association of Nature and Forest Therapy has allowed Denise to further her connection with nature and she views guiding both groups and individuals in this practice as an honor and a gift.

Managing your grounds and yard in tune with nature.  Permaculture and pesticide-free with Cascadia College and University of Washington Bothell. 

The joint campus of Cascadia College and University of Washington Bothell have been managed pesticide free since 2006 and contain a 58-acre restored wetland since its creation in 2000.  Now the campus is pushing the boundaries on what can be done for grounds and yard management, supporting pollinators and wildlife, reducing mowing, and working to maintain tree cover.  Come learn about these practices, and the pathways you can take to develop your own gardens and landscapes!

BIOS:

Stephan Classen is the Assistant Director of Sustainable Practices at Cascadia College, where he manages the sustainability bachelor's program, supports facilities and grounds management for sustainable practices, and works with partners to create programming and education activities, including with UW Bothell.  He was the Aquaculture Education Specialist for the Pacific Aquaculture and Coastal Resources Center (PACRC) in Hilo, Hawai`i, and a Biological Technician for two national parks.  He received his Masters of Science in Tropical Conservation Biology and Environmental Science with a focus in aquaculture at the University of Hawai`i at Hilo, and his B.S. in Environmental Land and Water at the University of Arizona.

Tyson Kemper practices organic land care at the shared campus of University of Washington Bothell and Cascadia Community College.  He came of age in the garden working for his father’s small landscape business and later went on to earn a degree in Botany from the University of Washington and a master’s degree in Forest Resources from the University of Idaho.  This collective education provided Tyson opportunities to wander, observe, and learn from the wild spaces of the Pacific Northwest while working as an environmental consultant and later as a rare plant botanist for the Washington Natural Heritage Program.  Tyson has since come full circle and found his place beside the buttercups in the garden again. 

Join us as we welcome spring in a mindfulness walk at Tacoma’s Nature Center Snake Lake. In this walk, Sarah Low will help us wake up to the sounds of spring by practicing mindfulness as we listen to the trees, the Park’s wildlife–herons, finches, wrens, juncos, crows, amphibians, and more!--our breathing, and silence. 

Bring comfortable shoes and dress according to the day’s forecast so you can enjoy the walk! No pets and no bikes allowed for the walk unfortunately. Feel free to request any accommodations if you need at the registration form. 

Meeting Point:  Tacoma Nature Center, 1919 South Tyler Street, Tacoma, WA 98405

What can a walk from a park to a reservoir teach us about the relationship between trees, cities, and people? By connecting two apparently ordinary landmarks, this walk will help us make sense of the presence and absence of trees, about tree benefits, as well as the importance of cultivating native plants. Join Sarah Low and Alejandro Fernández on this bilingual walk through Hilltop and learn how to see your streets from a new perspective!

Remember to bring comfortable shoes and weather appropriate clothing so you can focus on enjoying the walk! 

Meeting Point: Grant Park on S. Grant Ave. 

¿Qué nos pueden enseñar un parque y un depósito de agua sobre la relación entre los árboles, la ciudad, y la gente? Sarah Low y Alejandro Fernández nos llevarán del parque al depósito de agua, dos sitios aparentemente ordinarios, para ayudarnos a entender cómo interpretar la ausencia y la presencia de los árboles, sus beneficios, y la importancia de cultivar plantas nativas. Acompáñanos en esta caminata bilingüe a través de Hilltop y aprende cómo ver las calles de tu barrio desde una nueva perspectiva.  

Recuerda portar zapatos cómodos y vestirte de acuerdo al pronóstico del tiempo.

Punto de encuentro: Grant Park sobre S. Grant Avenue

Come get free trees!

Tacoma’s Lincoln Neighborhood is invited to join Lincoln High School’s Climate Change Club in celebrating Earth Day by sharing the gift of trees! Lincoln’s Climate Change Club members meet to discuss local climate change issues and tackle projects within the school and community.  Support this partnership between the Tacoma Tree Foundation and Lincoln High School students by taking home trees and greening Tacoma’s Lincoln neighborhood.

Join us as we welcome spring in a mindfulness walk at one of Tacoma’s wetlands, China Lake Park. In this walk, Sarah Low and Claudia Linares will help us wake up to the sounds of spring by practicing mindfulness as we listen to the trees, the Park’s wildlife–herons, finches, wrens, juncos, crows, amphibians, and more!--our breathing, and silence. 

Bring comfortable shoes and dress according to the day’s forecast so you can enjoy the walk! 

Meeting Point: South Shirley Street parking lot, just off of S 19th. 

Acompáñanos en esta caminata de conciencia plena. Le daremos la bienvenida a la primavera en China Lake Park, uno de los humedales de Tacoma. Aquí, Sarah Low y Claudia Linares nos ayudarán a despertar a los sonidos de la primavera mientras practicamos la conciencia plena. Escucharemos nuestra respiración y los sonidos de los árboles, de la vida silvestre del parque (grazas, pinzones, carrizos, juncos, cuervos, anfibios y más), y el silencio.   

Punto de encuentro: Estacionamiento de South Shirley St., a unos pasos de S 19th. 

FREE TREES for Gig Harbor Residents

Donkey Creek Park - 8714 N Harbor Dr, Gig Harbor

Join your neighbors in welcoming spring and take home a new tree!

This spring, we are fundraising to grow an urban forest that sustains us—all of us.