Conservation on Camano Island
/SCD Environmental Educator Nathan Sharon teaches youth about the types of orcas that visit the Puget Sound.
This is the trip you’ve been waiting for all year: soaking up the sun at Cama Beach on Camano Island. Harbor seals peer at you from between the waves, crabs scuttle along the rocks next to your towel, and a bald eagle soars overhead.
Next to the general store and historic gas pump, you notice children gathered around a table covered in bones and pelts. You join the fray and before you know it, you’re eye to eye with an orca skull at Snohomish Conservation District’s Conservation Station.
The District’s Conservation Station at Cama Beach started the summer of 2021 with a handful of afternoons, grew in 2022, and fully bloomed in 2023. Our environmental educators provided visitors with hands-on activities covering a range of science topics including whales, bald eagles, pollinators, and geology.
Children and adults alike stopped by to build terrariums, identify seashells, and complete plant scavenger hunts. These activities deepened visitors’ connections to the natural world and introduced them to the native plants and animals of Camano Island with the goal of inspiring environmental stewardship.
At one science table, a young visitor had so much fun building a terrarium that he stuck around to encourage other youth to build one too. He helped our educator explain how to plant the terrarium and watched eagerly to see which native wildflower seeds other guests would choose for their planters.
In addition to participating in these hands-on activities, visitors learned about direct conservation actions they can take, such as preventing stormwater pollution, reducing pesticide use, and creating wildlife habitat. Families leave our educational tables ready to make a positive impact in their community.
Our Youth Educators will be at the Camano Island State Park till the end of August! View our calendar for more info.
In 2023, District educators interacted with 713 people at Cama Beach State Park. However, our work on Camano Island extended well beyond our Conservation Stations. Our staff provided technical assistance and educational opportunities to Camano Island residents on topics such as living near bluffs and wetlands, choosing native plants, managing cattle pasture, and stewarding forests.
We also engaged residents at the Stanwood-Camano Fair and partnered with Sound Water Stewards to offer watershed education at Camano Island State Park. All together, District staff interacted with over 1,000 Camano Islanders in 2023, to the benefit of the island’s people, landscapes, and species.
Children and adults learned how to identify local salmon species.
Brianna Bjolstad, SCD Outreach & Communications Coordinator, smiles while holding a salmon model at Cama Beach.
A view of Cama beach from SCD’s booth.
