By Susan Christopher, Butterfly Technician, Mission Creek Corrections Center for Women
On his last day in the program, Seth holds a thank you card from the butterfly technicians. Photo by Keegan Curry.
The butterfly technicians from Mission Creek Corrections Center for Women (MCCCW) would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to our departing program coordinator, Mr. Seth Dorman.
Mr. Dorman was with the program for about a year and a half. During that time his dedication and work ethic inspired us to be the best workers, students, and scientists we could be.
Seth and butterfly technicians carefully work through “spring wake-up,” the time when the caterpillars come out of winter dormancy. Photo by a technician.
He was both an excellent student and teacher. He learned very quickly about DOC policies and SPP’s butterfly program. He treated us with respect, encouraged us to think outside the box and to step outside our comfort zone and share those ideas. He displayed tremendous patience and a great sense of humor, even while trying to explain the concept of a “null hypothesis” to us.
Mr. Dorman’s coordination efforts produced, for the first time ever, the opportunity for two technicians to join a butterfly release. Also due to his efforts, all four technicians attended the Taylor’s checkerspot butterfly working group meeting, where we had input on region-wide efforts to protect and recover the endangered species.
We consider ourselves fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with Mr. Dorman: Thank you, Seth; we wish you the utmost success in all your future endeavors.
By Emily Passarelli, SPP Green Track Coordinator, and Joslyn Rose Trivett, SPP Education and Outreach Manager
A WSP Beekeeper gets geared up and ready to check on the hives. Photo by Ricky Osborne.
You might think that beekeeping in prisons is a nice idea, but not a big idea: maybe it’s a small, fanciful project that would crop up here or there. Not the case!
In Washington State prisons alone, we already have seven beekeeping programs up and running, and at least three more are in the works. Beekeeping is also in the prison at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, and many corrections facilities nationwide, including Georgia, Maryland, Illinois, Oregon,Florida, Nebraska, and LA County. Beekeeping programs can also be found in foreign prisons like England, New Zealand, Italy, and France. We’ve been contacted by prisons interested in beekeeping in Massachusetts, Albania, and Canada!
Three Maryland facilities host honeybee programs to provide training for inmates and boost the local population of pollinators. These hives are at Maryland Correctional Institution for Women. Photo by Anthony DePanise of Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services.
Outside of prison, reentry programs, like Sweet Beginnings in Chicago, offer meaningful work experience. The founding executive director of Sweet Beginnings, Brenda Palms Barber, found that “Fewer than 4% of Sweet Beginnings participants go back into the criminal justice system, compared with the national average of more than 65% and the Illinois average of 55%.” How amazing is that?
Adding to the honeybee focus are countless prison gardens that are accessible to many types of pollinators: beds of flowers and herbs, small-scale vegetable production, and full-scale farms. Corrections facilities typically don’t use any chemical pesticides, so don’t contain the systemic poisons that threaten foraging pollinators; prison plantings are helping to rebuild pollinator habitat by offering a safe food supply. Some prisons add habitat structures for native pollinators, such as mason bee boxes at Coyote Ridge Corrections Center (see photo) and a literal-log delivered to the retention pond at Airway Heights Corrections Center.
A home for mason bees, a native pollinator, at Coyote Ridge Corrections Center. Photo by Ricky Osborne.
These programs tap into the many therapeutic benefits of working with nature, which has been widely documented in scientific research. Working with honeybees is particularly soothing; it’s impossible to get good results with bees without calming down. Both inmates and staff sorely need relief from prison stresses, and nature programs can be a place of refuge and recharge.
Also these programs provide a way for inmates to “give back ” to communities and the environment. In recent decades, pollinators have been dying at a frightening rate, putting our food sources in jeopardy: we depend on pollinators for more than 30% of human food and drink. Generally, nearly all plants with flowers need pollinators; 85% depend on insects for their reproduction! We need healthy hives to conserve and restore bee populations. In 2015, pollinator health was declared a national priority; as a hobby or career, beekeeping is has societal recognition and value. This is no fanciful endeavor—weneed bees to thrive so thatwecan thrive.
A professional beekeeper devoted her summer vacation to teaching about bees in a prison; how cool is that. Photo by Ricky Osborne.
In Washington, we are ramping up to a full-day Summit for Beekeeping in Prisons, to be hosted by Washington Corrections Center for Woman on March 3rd. More than 100 people are registered, and they will come from all 12 Washington prisons, the Evergreen State College, various non-profits and community groups, and multiple beekeeping associations, including the statewide association that oversees beekeeping certification. A major bonus of holding the summit inside a prison is that incarcerated beekeepers will be able to participate. All partners will share best practices, future prison beekeeping plans, safety ideas, community outreach plans, and pollinator health knowledge. We can’t wait to hear what great ideas and thoughts come from our many, fantastic partners!
Each program depends on partnerships among incarcerated individuals, corrections staff, and expert beekeepers. They are united in learning about and tending to something beautiful, complex, and a little bit scary…until it becomes second nature.
Text and photos by Sadie Gilliom, current SPP Western Pond Turtle Program Coordinator and previous Northwest Trek employee
The worm bin built for Northwest Trek with the team who created it.
Inside the three rows of razor wire, Monroe Correctional Complex houses more than incarcerated people. A partnership between an incarcerated individual and a correctional staff member initiated a waste reduction program that now is home for millions of thriving earthworms. Under the supervision of an officer, and with support from SPP-Evergreen, Nick Hackney—now a world renowned worm expert—and his team grew 200 worms into more than 10 million that process up to 40,000 lbs of food waste per month! The worm farm’s success has inspired addition of other programs; all are housed within a larger Sustainable Practices Lab. All the lab’s program have the benefit of coordination and oversite provided by Officer Jeff Swan.
This program has been around for over 6 years now, and the worm technicians have been spreading their worm wealth. Most recently, the crew came built a heated outdoor worm bin for Northwest Trek Wildlife Park (Trek). Trek plans to use the worm bin as a public engagement tool and will feed the worms with the scraps from the staff lunchroom.
Mr. Hackney shows Rachael Mueller how to use Trek’s new worm bin.
I had the privilege of coordinating the delivery and escorting a member of Trek’s conservation team, Rachael Mueller, up to Monroe for a tour and pick up of the finished product. I was present as two unlikely sustainability partners came together. It was a beautiful moment!
Mr. Juan shows how they use Bokashi bran to ferment meat before feeding it to the worms.
A few of the vermiculture techs helped load the bin into the truck.
Vermiculture Tech’s, Sadie Gilliom and Rachael Mueller pose at the end of the worm program tour.
The worm team at Monroe gave Trek a well-designed worm bin, shared their knowledge on how to maintain it and gave them a sample of black soldier fly larvae from a pilot program to see if they would want to use them as animal feed. Northwest Trek will be sharing the knowledge and story of the worm team’s impact on sustainability practices with hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. I would call that a great partnership!
Mr. Hackney and Rachael Mueller shake hands after the exchange
Thank you to Northwest Trek—especially the Conservation and Education Curator Jessica Moore—for being open to the idea. A big thank to the Monroe worm team and Officer Swan for donating their knowledge and a beautiful worm bin to Trek and their generations of visitors to come!
These turtles just finished their treatments at PAWS wildlife rehabilitation center and the Oregon Zoo and moved on to the prisons to be cared for and monitored by the trained turtle technicians at the prisons.
Technician Eldridge holding a new turtle at Cedar Creek
Speaking of turtle technicians, we would like to welcome two new technicians who joined the Larch program at the same time the turtles arrived. A big salutations to Mr. Gonzalez and Mr. Larson! They are getting some great training from current lead technician, Mr. Goff, before he moves on to try out the new dog program at Larch.
Two new turtle technicians at Larch posing with new turtles
Here’s to new turtles, new technicians, and to the future release of these turtles back into the wild!
Seed collectors take turns viewing sagebrush seeds through a scope.
For the Saddle Mountain collection, many local native plant society members volunteered, and we were joined by a Juvenile Justice Center work crew. For both collections we had great weather. We enjoyed being outside learning about partnership efforts to restore shrub-steppe habitat for the continued existence of the imperiled greater-sage grouse.
We gathered seed from a subspecies of big sagebrush, called Wyoming big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata subsp. wyomingensis). The seeds will be shipped and cleaned at the Seeds of Success seed cleaning facility in Bend, Oregon. Then it will sent back to Washington State to be used to grow next year’s crop of 60,000 Wyoming big sagebrush plugs in Coyote Ridge’s Sagebrush Nursery. We collected enough seed to create a reserve supply for the program, and share with other programs for research and conservation purposes.
Seed collectors smile from the field, surrounded by mature sagebrush.
Seeds of Success intern Shawna Kelley supported both collections, along with BLM botanist Molly Boyter. Seeds of Success supports BLM’s Native Plant Materials Development Program whose mission is to increase the quality and quantity of native plant materials available for restoring resilient ecosystems. The Wyoming sagebrush plugs will be planted onto fire damaged lands occupied by the greater-sage grouse. The entire seed collection and sharing process ensures the availability of genetically-appropriate seed for the recovery of the greater-sage grouse in Washington State. Funding for the program is provided by BLM in Washington D.C., the Institute for Applied Ecology coordinates programs regionally, and Sustainability in Prisons Project runs the Washington State program.
During seed collection, they discovered a dead lizard atop a spiny hopsage plant; it was probably intended for later eating by a loggerhead shrike (the Cornell laboratory describes the species as “a songbird with a raptor’s habits”).
By Amanda Mintz, Emergent Vegetation Conservation Nursery Coordinator, and Master of Environmental Studies student
Technician Kent Dillard inspects the plants for evidence of pests. Photo by Fawn Harris.
In SPP’s new Emergent Vegetation Conservation Nursery at Stafford Creek Corrections Center, we are growing native wetland plants in coconut fiber mats for wetland restoration projects. The program relies on a team effort from incarcerated technicians, prison maintenance staff, Evergreen’s program coordinators and managers, Joint Base Lewis McChord, the Center for Natural Lands Management, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and the United States Fish and Wildlife. All have done an amazing job meeting the challenges of the innovative program’s technical demands.
DOC’s Jim Snider, technician Brian Bedilion, aquaponics expert Daniel Cherniske and SPP Program Manager Kelli Bush tour the nursery. Photo by Fawn Harris.
Coconut fiber mats, or “coir” mats, are commonly used in restoration for erosion control and suppression of weeds such as reed canarygrass. We are pre-planting them with wetland sedges and rushes, giving those beneficial plants a head start under nursery conditions. These plant types are known as “emergent” for their ability to grow through—emerge from—the water’s surface. Our hope is that the plants will be able to out-compete weeds and provide superior habitat for wildlife, such as the endangered Oregon spotted frog.
To grow the plants, we are using an aquaponics system. Two large fish tanks contain more than 100 koi, which produce waste that the plants use as nutrients. The water from the fish tanks circulates through the plant beds and then back to the fish tanks to pick up additional nutrients. The plants grow directly into the coir mats and do not need soil. By using an aquaponics system, we save water and reduce the need to weed or fertilize the plants.
We installed the first mats at Joint Base Lewis McChord in early November, and plan to have new mats ready in just a couple of months.
Conservation Nursery Manager Carl Elliott prepares to unroll a mat at JBLM. Photo by Amanda Mintz.
The first mats have been installed! Photo by Amanda Mintz.
One particularly adorable turtle who recently arrived at Cedar Creek.
During this waiting period, the turtles received acute care for shell disease, which included antibiotics, antifungal medication and shell surgery. The turtles that have arrived have completed treatments and just need watchful eyes and extra time to heal and wait out the winter months. The technicians provide all of this and more. They were excited to have new turtles to care for and prep for their eventual release back into the wild!
Mr. Hill, a Turtle Technician at Larch, getting ready to put a new turtle in her tank.
Mr. Goff, a Turtle Technician at Larch, getting ready to put a new turtle in her tank.
I delivered the turtles with the help of WDFW biologist, Emily Butler, to Cedar Creek on Monday November 1st and just this Monday Larch received their turtles. We were honored to have Dr. Matt Brooks, a nutritionist from the Oregon Zoo, to help us transport the turtles to Larch. This was Dr. Brooks’ first visit to the turtle program. He is helping us to improve turtle health by increasing the nutritional value of their diets. We are so thankful for his help, as we are always looking for ways to improve the quality of care provided to these endangered turtles. Thank you Dr. Brooks!
Dr. Brooks and the Turtle Technicians posing with a bin full of mealworms. Dr. Brooks took a sample of mealworms back with him to test their nutritional value.
Co-Authored by Western Pond Turtle Technicians Taylour Eldridge and William Anglemyer
On Monday October 3rd, turtle 4176 was released from the Turtle Rehabilitation program at Cedar Creek Corrections Center . She had been there for quite some time—about 4 months, with a month long intermission at PAWS wildlife rehabilitation center in Lynnwood, WA—then back for another 4 months. She had suffered from seizure-like episodes and for awhile it looked like she wouldn’t be deemed releasable back into the wild. We had been worried, as people who have spent time in solitary confinement ourselves, that months in captivity would have a detrimental effect on her. So it was a great relief to finally load her into a container and board a van destined to deliver her to the Lakewood Western Pond Turtle Refuge.
Turtle Technicians, Mr. Anglemyer and Mr. Eldridge, getting ready to release turtle 4176. Photo by Sadie Gilliom.
When we arrived, we were met by Washington State Fish and Wildlife Biologist, Emily Butler. In addition to facilitating the turtle release, Ms. Butler showed us how the radio telemetry transmitters are attached to the turtles. We were then given a training on how to use the radio receivers and Ms. Butler took us to the area where the turtles lay their nests. She had hidden two mock (plastic) turtles with transmitters attached to the shells. We took turns using the radio receiver and the attached antenna to find the plastic turtles. We both found it quite difficult; it’s not even close to easy to use the radio telemetry equipment. But we were eventually successful in locating them–truthfully, we received some visual hints. We have a new-found respect for anyone who has to attempt to find turtle nests in this manner.
Technician, Mr. Eldridge, learning to use the radio telemetry equipment. Photo by Sadie Gilliom.
Apart from the experience making us much more aware of the very difficult work of finding nests, it was a great learning experience which gave us a new found appreciation for the hands-on work that goes on in the field—a part of the program we’d never been privy to before. We learned of the plethora of other activities that the biologists do every day to help with the recovery of this amazing species.
We both feel good about being part of the SPP Western Pond Turtle Rehabilitation Program and we cannot think of a more worthwhile job—especially as people in an incarceration setting. We’re looking forward to helping the next batch of turtles get through their healing process and seeing them released back into the wild. We hope the day will come soon when there are no more turtles that need help healing. Hopefully, the future will bring multitudes of healthy turtles living in their natural habitat.
By Gretchen Graber, Institute for Applied Ecology Contractor
As part of the sustainability lecture series at Coyote Ridge Corrections Center, climate scientist Steve Ghan spoke about the most effective techniques to decrease global carbon emissions. Mr. Ghan thanked us for the opportunity to present his research at Coyote Ridge and said, “I got the best questions I’ve ever been asked at a public presentation. All inmates were fully engaged. The staff are professional and enjoy their work. The facility is new and very impressive.”
The lecture series is funded by Bureau of Land Management, (BLM) in Washington D.C. Along with the BLM, the lectures series is a result of partnerships between Sustainability in Prison Project (Washington State Department of Corrections + The Evergreen State College) and Institute for Applied Ecology.
Thank you to Mr. Ghan and all the volunteer presenters for their time and sharing their scientific knowledge with us!
Climate scientist Steve Ghan said of the students at the prison “I got the best questions I’ve ever been asked at a public presentation.” Photo by Gretchen Graber.
We will end the year with a presentation on the advantages and disadvantages of hydraulic fracking.
Larch Staff and students enjoying the Bee Thinking lecture. Photo by Emily Passarelli.
Inmates and staff who participated were genuinely interested in learning about bees and beekeeping, but were understandably concerned about the potential of being stung by bees. Rebekah Golden and Gabriel Quitslund from Bee Thinking in Portland, Oregon, taught how bee colonies work, which alleviated a lot of the initial fear, and those who participated walked away feeling more educated and comfortable about LCC’s new beekeeping program.
Bee Thinking’s Rebekah Golden teaches a class of staff and incarcerated students about beekeeping. Photo by Emily Passarelli.
“I want to help the offender population think outside the box by showing a variety of employment opportunities available to the offenders upon release,” said Classification Counselor Shawn Piliponis, LCC’s sustainability liaison. “My primary goal for this program is to coordinate with other organizations like SPP and Bee Thinking to provide official Beekeeper Apprentice and Master Beekeeper certifications to the offender population before they release.”
It was a voluntary class, and an instant hit among all who attended. A total of 11 inmates and 11 staff, volunteers, and contractors participated, and already there is demand for more classes from both staff and inmates.
Staff get a closer look at honey comb. Photo by Emily Passarelli.
Shawn Piliponis coordinated with the Sustainability in Prisons Project (SPP)-Evergreen staff Kelli Bush, Emily Passarelli, and Sadie Gilliom to arrange and sponsor the beekeeping class for LCC inmates and staff. The class was taught by Rebekah Golden and Gabriel Quitslund from Bee Thinking in Portland, Oregon. Rebekah has worked with bees for eight years in university research labs, her own apiary, Bee Thinking’s apiaries, and other community organizations. Gabriel is a sales manager for Bee Thinking who has a vast knowledge of bees and issues related to beehives such as disease, colony collapse, and pests.
Bee Thinking’s Rebekah Golden and Gabe Quitslund help CC2 Shawn Piliponis set up Larch’s new beehive. Photo by Emily Passarelli.
