Last summer and this fall, Camp Long has partnered with the Northwest Environmental Education Council (NWEEC), Denny Middle School, and Meany Middle school to carry out parts of Camp Long's pond restoration plan. The overall plan for improving pond habitat for amphibians has included numerous steps, including removing invasive weeds from the pond, re-planting the pond and its edges with a greater diversity of native plant species, and monitoring the water quality and temperature of the pond.

Over the summer, students from Denny's Community Learning Center Out-of-School-Time (OST) program worked to remove invasive Phragmites (a tall reed) from the pond. In order to get them comfortable entering the pond, NWEEC led students in a hip-wader relay race. Work in the pond alternated with environmental education activities at Camp Long presented by the NWEEC.

At Denny Middle School, students constructed planting gabions (baskets) using hardstem bulrush grown at the Denny Wetland Nursery to replace the plants they removed from the pond. OST students also took a field trip to the King Conservation District Wetland Plant Cooperative in Renton, where they banked volunteer hours in exchange for additional plant species. In August, an initial pond planting took place. Students were rewarded for their efforts with an overnight camping trip in the Camp Long cabins.

This fall, NWEEC is working with Meany Middle School students from Christine Kaufman's 6th grade class to plant the edges of the pond. Over a series of three field trips, the sixth graders planted and mulched more than 60 daggerleaf rush and tall mannagrass plants donated by the Center for Urban Horticulture, while learning about planting techniques, soil, and the adaptations of pond animals and plants. Meany students will be back for a picnic and to see how their plants have grown in the spring.

Camp Long's pond restoration is not complete. There are more elements of the pond plan left to implement. We will ask for the awareness and understanding of the public as they view changes to and around the pond.

Kirsten Rohrbach is Steward of the Longfellow Creek Greenspace at Thistle and founder of the Denny Middle School Wetland Plant Nursery.