Methow Valley Fellowship provides pathways to sustainability, personal growth and lifelong friendships

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Methow Valley Fellowship provides pathways to sustainability, personal growth and lifelong friendships

Paid summer fellowship cohort focuses on sustainability and environmental stewardship

November 14, 2024

By Emily Davis

2024 Sustainability Pathways Communication Fellow

With spring quarter just barely in the rearview mirror, the adventure began. Western Washington University students rushed to pack their things to drive through the North Cascades, around Diablo Lake, past beautiful trees and epic mountains to arrive in the Methow Valley. Everyone with different backgrounds, majors, academic interests, and career goals all came together to embark on new and unique experiences.  

Eager to start their Sustainability Pathways fellowship in the Methow Valley, with provided housing and a paid practicum, students arrived on their first day to meet the rest of the cohort and learn where everyone was placed in based on their interests and career goals.  

Sustainability Pathways is a multi-faceted, place-based, immersive fellowship program that blends real-world work experience with academic learning. The 11-week program is based in the rural Methow Valley in north-central Washington, and combines paid practicum work, opportunities to participate in local field trips, and course work involving a community-based project. 

Joshua Porter, director of Sustainability Pathways, who resides in the Methow Valley year-round, has forged relationships with local organizations and businesses, creating opportunities for students in a wide range of sustainability sectors. These include economic access and vitality, ecological quality, social equity and justice, human and public health, outreach and education, and planning and policy. In addition to these community partners, Sustainability Pathways also works closely with Western's College of the Environment and the Sustainability Engagement Institute's Climate Leadership Certificate program. 

The first week, students spent time getting to know one another and getting oriented in their new community. They played games, discussed wildfire protocol, discovered the best swimming holes, shared goals and expectations, learned of the Indigenous history of the Methow, and met their practicum supervisors. Everyone arrived barely knowing anyone, but quickly established a fun and supportive cohort learning experience. The following week, students began their individual journeys. During the program, students have jam-packed schedules engaging, experiencing, working with, and collaborating with members of the Methow community. Their scheduled time includes practicum work, field trips, and class work.  

Aside from the 240 practicum hours, students can go on two field trips a week. Field trips allow students to experience a small glimpse of different practicum positions, learn the trades of local farmers, explore the area with local biologists, and further immerse themselves in the community. This gives students a more intimate connection with the Methow Valley by offering their service, learning about the area from residents, engaging with different areas of sustainability, and getting a deeper understanding of why people call the Methow Valley home.  

In addition to the field trips, students attend a Sustainability Planning Studio class where local organizations pitch sustainability-based projects, and students, working in interdisciplinary groups, choose the top three they would like to work on.

These community-focused projects provide students with hands-on learning experience by helping address a sustainability initiative that sponsoring organizations need help with. At the end of their projects, students gain practice confidently proposing recommendations, developing project management skills, and deepening their knowledge of the community and sustainable practices. Projects range from ecological restoration to food insecurity needs in the county, all of which leave a lasting impact on the community.  

Here is just a small glimpse of what the 2024 Sustainability Pathways cohort was up to this past summer:  

Practicum  

Youth Corps 

Annika Weber was this year's Sustainability Youth Corps leader. Her role was to create a curriculum for the students of Liberty Bell High School and the Independent Learning Center about ecological restoration, environmental science, biology, and trail building. She spent her practicum at Loup Canyon with the four high school students, where they experienced place-based learning in the field. She provided technical skills on trail building and land restoration, showed students how to log findings and observations, guided students in plant and animal identification, practiced construction skills through bridge building and trail maintenance, and taught leadership and team building skills. 

Town of Twisp  

Maaya Watanabe, an exchange student from Akita International University in Japan, was the Planning Technician Fellow at the Town of Twisp. She helped with the town planning by making map data of the town on GIS. She had opportunities to learn and think about solutions to Twisp's housing crisis.

"It was the best summer ever, surrounded by the beautiful nature of Methow and the nicest cohorts," Watanabe said. "Experiencing real town planning by local government in rural America and learning about the issues they face was an invaluable opportunity, especially as an international exchange student." 

Classroom in Bloom 

Davis Hatton was a teacher at Classroom in Bloom and Maria Hines' research assistant at Blue Sky Minds. Davis spent her days teaching the kids at Classroom in Bloom how to connect with nature and have a reciprocal relationship with the land through games and activities. Classroom in Bloom is a one-acre student-led garden that was created to inspire children to live a healthy lifestyle and make healthy choices. The kids spend their day planting seeds, learning about the fruits and vegetables that grow there, developing an understanding of food systems, and much more.

"I feel like, presently, thinking about what I'm building for myself in a sustainability career, this program has been really crucial for that because it has allowed me to really have an immersive experience where I'm creating tangible connections with the nature around me but also connections with the people and community," Hatton said. "I feel like I never knew that a paid internship that gave me free housing would give me such an immersive opportunity where people are so interested in what I'm interested in. The cohort itself has been really amazing for me." 

Conservation Northwest 

Ellie Carney, Conservation Northwest fellow, helps plant native plants with her supervisor, Keith Watson, on July 25, 2024. Photo by Emily Davis.

Ellie Carney was the Sage-Steppe Habitat Conservation Advocate with Conservation Northwest (CNW). CNW's mission is to protect, connect, and restore wildlands and wildlife from the Washington Coast to the British Columbia Rockies. In her position, Ellie worked to increase public understanding of conservation projects. Over the summer, she created informational material for social media, conferences, and classrooms that explains the state of different species across Washington and what CNW is doing to increase connectivity.  

Methow Trails Collaborative  

Av Donelan, Methow Trails Collaborative technician, digs a small creek at Loup Canyon so water will be able to drain properly on the trail on July 23, 2024. Photo by Emily Davis.

Av Donelan was a Methow Trails Collaborative Technician with the Trails Collaborative. They spent the summer out on the trails doing maintenance to make the trails and nature more accessible and safer for people. Av spent the rest of the time in the office helping write trail reports, doing outreach, and helping build and maintain relationships with the community and other organizations. "My time with the Collaborative was very rewarding as we got to ensure the safety of trail users and make trails more accessible," Donelan said. "It felt like I was making a difference when trail users thanked us for our hard work as they passed through. It was also a good experience to see how a non-profit works, work with and meet so many different people, and learn about sustainable trail practices." 

Field Trips 

In addition to students' internships, students can go on two field trips a week to participate in community service, explore others' practicum positions, engage with different sectors of sustainability, and further immerse themselves in the community.

Foundation for Youth Resiliency and Engagement (FYRE) 

Members of the Sustainability Pathways cohort paint the names of donors on the exterior wall of FYRE on August 16, 2024. Photo by Emily Davis.

Students went to the Foundation for Youth Resiliency (FYRE) in Omak, whose mission is to advocate for equitable opportunities that allow all youth to thrive by offering services to youth ages 12-24. The cohort went to learn about the services they provide, the importance of FYRE's work, and to dive deeper into how everyone can be an advocate for youth no matter what field they're entering. As the Systems Change Program Fellow at FYRE, Meli Bernal developed sustainable procedures for youth empowerment in direct services and MTN, an after-school hang-out space for middle and high schoolers. 

Lucy F. Covington Coville Tribal Government Center in Nespelem

The Sustainability Pathways cohort poses for a photo at the Lucy F. Covington Government Center on July 17, 2024. Photo courtesy of Emily Davis.

The cohort traveled to the Lucy F. Covington Colville Tribal Government Center to learn about Tribal relations, sovereignty, governance, and consultation. They heard from Kamea Pino, curriculum developer of the Youth Development Program, Shandy Abrahamson with the OSPI Office of Native Education, and Doug Marconi with the Colville Tribes Planning Department. This field trip was vital in connecting the dots between sustainability work and tribal sovereignty and consultation to identify ways tribes should be consulted in sustainability policy-making and law-making.  

Beaver Dam Analogs with Colville Tribes Department of Fish and Wildlife 

The Sustainability Pathways cohort learns about Beaver Dam Analogs from a habitat biologist at Beaver Creek on August 7, 2024. Photo by Emily Davis.

The cohort explored Beaver Creek Dam with a Wildlife Biologist from the Department of Fish and Wildlife with the Colville Confederated Tribes. They learned about the beaver dam analogs (BDA) which are human-made structures that mimic form and function of beaver dams. BDAs are important for stream restoration to restore the habitat for beavers and fish.  

Red Shed Farm 

(Left) The Sustainability Pathways cohort pick strawberries at Red Shed Farm on June 28, 2024. (Right) Sophia White holds up a garlic scape that she picked at Red Shed Farm on August 28, 2024. Photos by Emily Davis.

The cohort visited Red Shed Farm, a small farm near Twisp that has been serving their community since 1999. They learned about local farming practices, food systems, and community support systems. They spent the morning weeding the garlic and picking strawberries and were rewarded for their efforts with fresh garlic scapes and strawberries to take home.  

Sustainability Planning Studio Projects 

River to Raven 

(Left) From left, Joshua Porter, Av Donelan, and Elsa Lincoln go out into the field to work on their project, River to Raven, on August 13, 2024. (Right) Av Donelan carries a net out into the field, on August 13, 2024. Photos by Emily Davis.

Four students worked on an educational ecological restoration project called River to Raven. Their project's intention was to provide history and recommendations on how to increase trail systems, incorporate an educational site, restore degraded farmland with native plants, and engage youth in this project. To complete their project, they conducted interviews to determine the educational journey, community, history, and key species of the project. They also surveyed the land and worked with local restoration specialists to determine their restoration plan. In doing so, they created a guide for future students, were able to inform about the history of the land, encouraged educational opportunities, and created a foundation for years of restoration work ahead. 

Helping Before Help is Needed: Crisis Prevention and Self Actualization in Room One's Direct Service  

Davis Hatton, McKenzie Harris, and Meli Bernal take a picture with Room One on August 14, 2024. Photo by Emily Davis.

Three students worked on creating recommendations for Room One, "a community voice, powerfully advocating for the health and well-being of all people living in the Methow Valley." Room One tasked them with giving recommendations on how to shift from crisis response to building client resiliency, self-actualization, and connections with clients that are more relational. After thorough research, they came up with three extremely well-thought-out recommendations, including outreach & engagement, clinical psychology interventions, and food education programming.  

The 2024 Sustainability Pathways cohort poses in front of the Winthrop Library on September 10, 2024. Photo by Joshua Porter.

Sustainability Pathways is more than an internship program. It is a multi-faceted, community-based learning experience where students develop skills in their field of interest, give back to the community, and learn from and connect with a wide range of professionals. The beginning of the program provided a strong foundation for developing a strong and supportive cohort. With immense opportunities for the cohort to bond and share experiences inside and outside the program, lasting friendships beyond the program are guaranteed. 

Emily Davis recently graduated from WWU with a B.A. in Visual Journalism and Wildlife Multimedia Journalism. She specializes in visual storytelling focusing on environmental topics.