The City coordinates and funds a variety of environmental education programs in alignment with our commitment to clean and safe drinking water, a healthy environment, and a sense of place.
We offer a youth water education program centered on watersheds and the water treatment process from Mt. Baker to Bellingham Bay. Each school year, City staff teach the Water School curriculum to nearly every 5th grade student in the Bellingham School District, taking students on a tour of the Water Treatment Plant and teaching them about Lake Whatcom and its watershed, stormwater pollution and prevention, water treatment and distribution, and wastewater collection and treatment.
Salmon in the Classroom is an educational program coordinated by community volunteers in 18 elementary and high schools in Bellingham. The program supports teachers in managing coldwater salmon tanks in their classrooms and provides classrooms with salmon eggs, allowing students to learn about salmon from the egg to fry stages of their lifecycle. The program then helps students release their salmon fry from their tanks into local creeks.
Through the program, students learn about salmon biology, their habitat, and how to protect salmon and our waterways.
The Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife provides permits for the eggs to be reared in schools and the fry released in local creeks. The City of Bellingham is a proud funder of the Salmon in the Classroom program.
The Students for Salmon Program, offered by the Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association (NSEA), transforms fourth graders into stream scientists to investigate the health of salmon habitat in their watershed. This three-part series is offered at no cost to participating schools, including a student-led restoration project and a Next Generation Science Standards supported curriculum for teachers.
The program includes in-classroom activities, outdoor stream exploration and habitat restoration field trip, and more. The City of Bellingham is a proud funder of the Students for Salmon program.
Our Parks Volunteer Program offers several ways to get engaged in environmental education and stewardship in local parks.
Volunteer Work Parties
The program hosts volunteer work parties during the fall, winter, and spring seasons at parks and trails throughout Bellingham. All ages and abilities are welcome at these events. We provide tools, gloves, and instructions.
Park Steward Program
Want to adopt your favorite local park or trail? Become a Park Steward! Volunteer stewards work independently to improve parks and trails by removing litter and invasive species, planting native plants, tending garden beds, reporting problem spots, and more.
School Stewardship
The Parks Volunteer Program also meets with student classrooms across Bellingham to provide hands-on stewardship and environmental education activities.
Interested school or community groups can tour the City’s water treatment plant or wastewater treatment plant upon request. Join a City environmental educator and learn about the treatment process that keeps our water clean. Tours will be provided for groups of at least 6 people. Learn more about the tours and how to request one.
We have a robust water conservation program with tips, free tools, and a rebate program to help you save water. All City of Bellingham water customers can request one free indoor water conservation kit per household that includes a low-flow showerhead, kitchen and bathroom faucet aerator, and toilet leak detection tablets. Want to save water outdoors? Take our pledge to reduce your outdoor watering and receive free outdoor water conservation tools mailed to your home.
We’ve also partnered with the Community Energy Challenge to offer rebates for single-family residential, multi-family residential, and commercial customers. Learn more about the program.
Our We Scoop Program encourages Bellingham dog owners to pick up, bag, and throw away dog poop in the trash. Take the We Scoop Pledge to receive free stickers and a Poop Scooping Toolkit. The goal of this program is to reduce pollution from pet waste, which is raw sewage that can spread disease and enter our local waterways.
Follow the path of rain after it falls in our self-guided Stormwater Discovery Tours. Learn how our natural areas and stormwater system keep our water clean by filtering out pollutants before the water enters our creeks, lakes, or Bellingham Bay. Visit one of our tour sites in Squalicum Creek Park, Bloedel Donovan Park, Barkley trails, downtown Bellingham, or Fairhaven.
Learn about the community events that we host each year to promote environmental education and stewardship.
Resources
Contacts
Email: AskPW@cob.org
