The Grey Fox Kits Serve Connelly Creek with the Alevin

Last Saturday the Grey Fox Kits met to serve at the Connelly Creek Site. As they arrived they immediately gravitated towards the creek. Circling up it was clear which Explorers had already been in the water! With soggy boots and high spirits the Explorers introduced themselves to a new Mentor. Adnan, a climbing guide from the mountainous northern region of Pakistan, has traveled to Whatcom County to study sustainability at Whatcom Community College. Adnan is currently interning with the Explores Club and hopes to gain more insight and experience in the way the Explorers serve and connect with the land. We are grateful to have him in our program and are excited for him to share some of the Explorers Club mentoring culture with the youth in his community.

The boys also welcomed a few returning Mentors, Drew Butler and Soren Brotherton. Soren, the Grey Fox Kits steadfast EMA since the first season in 2012, has been a guiding force and a supreme example of what it means to be a caring male in the world. His dedication through mentorship has resulted in a transformative experience for both the boys and himself. The Mentors would like to honor his deepened service ethic as he journeys through the trials and opportunities of arriving adulthood.

Once the group had greeted each other we oriented ourselves to the land by reflecting back on our navigation of Connelly and Padden Creek. With that in mind the Explorers broke the circle, eager to start their service work. However before they could start the Mentors had one piece of critical information to share with the group. The Alevin Explorers had taken a sit spot with the goal of being close to the trail that led to the site, but camouflaged so that the Kits would walk right past them. The Grey Fox Kits looked around nervously, now aware they were being stalked!

The Mentors challenged the boys to individually find the hidden members. Fox Walking along the Alevin proved difficult to spot. Once we arrived at the site we gave a Crow Call and they came pouring out of the bushes, hardly three feet from the trail!

Grabbing our lunches we gathered in a large circle and introduced ourselves. While the group snacked the Mentors gave a talk about tool safety and usage. Our tools are borrowed from the City of Bellingham as well as the Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association, so it is very important that we treat them with care so that we can keep using them for seasons to come. This subject of tool usage is especially pertinent for the Grey Fox Kits because they will be learning The Art of Carving next fall. It is critical that they recognize that the difference between a tool and a weapon is the user. The Mentors stressed the importance of meeting the service work with our best intentions for the sake of honoring themselves and the land.

Packing up lunch we hauled over the tools and got to work shoveling a giant pile of mulch the Bellingham Parks Department had left us. It was impressive to watch the boys work as one unified crew. The boys spent a few solid hours mulching over freshly tilled clay and soil, digging Himalayan Blackberry roots, cutting back blackberry canes and hauling them out to the trail, and cutting back the persistent Reed Canary grass. I would like to commend and thank both groups for their strong work digging roots and raking swaths of blackberry canes. This is truly a daunting and arduous task that takes perseverance and patience.

Our aim as Mentors is for the Explorers to gain a deep sense of connectedness and ownership through their transformation of this land, and to realize their power to serve and provide for communities. Our hope is that their long-term investment will instill a life long ethic for commitment and service to their communities. Not out of servitude or duty, but of a realization that we are intrinsically tied to our human, plant, and animal communities, and to serve them is to thrive. Service takes us outside of ourselves while both keeping us humble and providing a wellspring of sustaining gratification.

Calling the group back in the Grey Fox Kits said goodbye to the Alevin and thanked them for their leadership and guidance. Sitting together in the grass the group snacked and rested. A few boys investigated a Cherry Tree next to the grass field and found Tent Caterpillars incased in silk at the end of its limbs. The boys started to hit the silk tents with sticks, trying to knock them off the tree. Recognizing the need to bring the group together the Mentors called a circle below the tree. Drew asked the boys why they were killing the caterpillars. The boys told Drew that they were bad for the trees and needed to be removed. Drew then asked the group if they thought this was right. The group answered that just like killing blackberries to help the land, killing the caterpillars helped the tree so it was right. Asking them to take a good look at the tree, the Mentors asked the group if a few caterpillars were really going to kill the tree. The boys answered no, to which Drew replied that if the tree was not going to die then why did we need to kill them? The group was a little quiet. Drew then explained to them that life does not always have clear-cut answers and it is our intention and discernment that steers us towards just decisions.

After this important conversation the group needed some light-hearted play. Setting up a circle of backpacks and hanging a bandana from a Cherry limb the group played Crows Steal a Jay’s Egg, which the Explorers would be happy to tell you more about. 

Circling up for a closing meeting tired, sweaty, and content the group brought the conversation back to our service day and the transformation that we saw in the land over the course of our spring service outings. The Explorers used intention, focus, and power with the assistance of tools to harmonize with the land, restoring balance.

Sharing apples the Explorers gave thanks for a great day of service, for the ability to use tools, for the service partners who provided them, for all the animals moving through Connelly Creek, and for a chance to get to work with the Alevin and volunteers. The Mentors would like to thank all the parents for your support of the Explorers as they mature and grow. We would also like to give a big thanks to Bellingham Parks and Recreation and Nooksack Salmon Enhancement for their guidance and support of our project. We couldn’t do it without all the support!

Please visit the Grey Fox Kits photo gallery for more pictures from the outing.