Stillwaters Environmental Education Center Programs
EcoFest is our annual Earth celebration. Every Spring, the North Kitsap community (and beyond) comes out to celebrate and learn about the environment around us. We focus on educational booths but also have vendors with Earth friendly services and products. Although weather dependent, EcoFest regularly attracts 400-500 people. The community has celebrated with Stillwaters since 2000 and has grown, been impressed by and rallied around the knowledge shared and discussed. It is a North Kitsap tradition.
Nature Camps
We believe every child should experience the joy of getting dirty in the woods, muddy on the beach and wet in the stream! For several weeks in the summer, children ages 4 -12 come and do just that. We build habitat huts under the cedars, learn about water quality in Carpenter Creek and dissect owl pellets. Children are exposed to bird watching and nature journalling. They come away with a comfortable sense of Nature and feel strongly about stewardship.
NWEI Discussion Courses
Northwest Earth Institute provides the material and Stillwaters convenes the discussion groups. These classes have been very popular at Stillwaters throughout the years. The classes range in topic from "Voluntary Simplicity" to "Exploring Deep Ecology" to "Hungry for Change: Food, Ethics & Sustainability" and quite a few more. Each class attracts a diverse and interesting group of people.
Recent Successes and Current Challenges
Restoration & Preservation are critical to Stillwaters. Our monthly monitoring programs test water quality in 8 places in our watershed, on the shores of Puget Sound. Our largest restoration project to date is the culvert replacement at the mouth of Carpenter Creek, including the construction of a 90' bridge. This is done in partnership with Kitsap County, Army Corps, and the State.After 10 years of our advocacy, the construction funding was secured and the bridge was completed in 2012.
General funding is always needed and welcomed. Our Capital Campaign is in Phase Two of our campus expansion. In order to accommodate larger groups of adults and children for environmental education, we need to remodel our "Tree House" building and complete some accessibility features. We are also improving our campus trail system which would allow more visitors to learn about and appreciate the Carpenter Creek watershed.