Monthly Archives: July 2015

Griffin Area Schools

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Griffin School wideEducation is now provided in the Griffin area by the Griffin School District, the Steamboat Island Cooperative Preschool, and home education.

Historically, a number of different public school districts have educated children in the Griffin area. These school districts were created by Thurston County in the early years of Washington Territory and statehood.

Initially, the Griffin community was included the Olympia School District which was created by the first Board of County Commissioners for all of Thurston County. Although this school district was countywide, its schoolhouse was constructed in Olympia and probably only the few white school children living in that town attended the school.

Thurston County soon created additional school districts throughout the county as settlers moved throughout Thurston County. More and more school districts were created as settlers moved to more remote areas. Mud Bay School District was formed around 1870 and served all of the northwestern portion of the county, including the Griffin community. The primary schoolhouse was located on John McLane’s claim off of what now is known as Delphi Road. However, it appears that the school district operated a school in the late 1870’s at the log cabin of John and Ella Olson, which was located in what is now called the Holiday Valley Estates. Schneider’s Prairie School District was created in 1881, occupying all of what was then known as the Griffin peninsula. The Summit Lake School was also created in 1881, occupying the area around Summit Lake.Read More→

Help Us to Monitor Our Beaches for Invasive Green Crabs – July 14

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Igreen_crabnvasive European Green Crabs could be coming to a beach near you!

The Stream Team is partnering with South Sound Estuary Association (SSEA) and a team from Washington Sea Grant and the University of Washington who are seeking volunteers to help monitor for invasive green crabs at sites throughout Puget Sound. If you are interested in monitoring local pocket estuaries this workshop is for you! The workshop will cover green crab life history, threats to Puget Sound, crab identification and instruction on monitoring protocol.

Tuesday, July 14th
6:00 – 9:00 p.m.
Olympia City Hall, 601 E. 4th Ave., Olympia

To register for this workshop, visit www.streamteam.info and click on “register”. For more information, contact Michelle at mstevie@ci.olympia.wa.us  or crabteam@uw.edu

green_crab_imageIn 2012, an established population of the globally invasive crab was discovered in Sooke Inlet, BC, on the Strait of Juan de Fuca – the first time this species has been found in the Salish Sea. The presence of this invasive crab within the Salish Sea increases the chances that European Green Crabs could invade further into inland Puget Sound shorelines, where habitat is plentiful for green crabs to thrive.

Volunteers will be trained to conduct monthly (July-August) trapping and/or molt surveys for green crabs, and the other crabs and fish that live at select sites. All necessary equipment and training will be provided. Your observations will contribute not only to the conservation of Washington shorelines, but also contribute to research on our diverse pocket estuary habitats. Curious about whether your favorite shoreline might be good green crab habitat? Click here to see priority shoreline sites, including those on our own Steamboat Peninsula.