When EarthCorps geared up on Bainbridge Island last spring, Daisy Torres built trails on Blakely Hill and rooted out blackberries at Blakely Harbor. 

When she returned this week with an all-new crew, Torres looked forward to more of the same – especially the trail building, which she quite enjoyed. The heavy equipment was fun.

The new assignment, though, came as a surprise, and a welcome one: restoration work at the Exclusion Memorial at Pritchard Park, on the eve of the 80-year observance of the forced wartime incarceration of Japanese Americans.

“I’d been wanting to come to this place, and I didn’t think we’d actually be working here,” Torres said. “It feels really meaningful and purposeful to be doing this right before the 80th anniversary, and being a small part of that for people.” 

The Parks Foundation is partnering with the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial Association on a documentary film and stewardship events at the park, centered around the 80th-year exclusion observance on March 30. 

EarthCorps was hired for a week to support volunteer efforts, supported by a grant from the City of Bainbridge Island’s Civic improvement (LTAC) Fund. The team is tackling ivy, blackberry and other nuisance weeds and vines that have crept in at the edges of the memorial site. 

A community volunteer cleanup will be held this Saturday, Feb. 19, from 10 a.m. to noon. 

“I happened by the Memorial forgetting that EarthCorps would be working,” said Val Tollefson, BIJAEMA board president, on the second day of work. “I was blown away by the wonderful cleanup they had accomplished in a very difficult area near our new Departure Deck.“

Modeled on the Depression-era Civilian Conservation Corps, EarthCorps is a training and green-jobs that “develops the next generation of environmental leaders.” The Seattle-based nonprofit sends small teams throughout the Puget Sound region to work on public-benefit projects – invasive plant removal, replanting, trail building, and stewardship of forests and shorelines. 

EarthCorps on the island

EarthCorps has become a familiar presence in Bainbridge parks, serving two or three weeks per year with funding from the Parks Foundation and Bainbridge Metro Parks. Crews are billeted at Prue’s House cabin at Hilltop during the colder months, and camp out at Fay Bainbridge Park when sunny weather returns. 

Last year, Torres came as a crew member. This time, she leads a newly minted six-person team doing its very first fieldwork.

Typical of the program, team members hail from around the country. Torres is a Connecticut native, by way of Southern California. Others include Silas Bowen, an island native late of Woodstock, Vt.; Jade Greene, of Tallahassee, Fla.; Shanice Snyder of Tacoma; Peter Forte of Berkeley, Calif.;  and Karina Fiscal of Los Angeles, Calif., who wears a Dodgers cap under her hardhat and has been to more World Series games than you. 

Snyder volunteered with EarthCorps several times before signing on for the 10-month paid program. 

“You’re actually doing some change instead of just talking about it,” Snyder said, while rooting out a patch of noxious Herb Robert (colloquially: “Stinky Bob”) under a footbridge. “You’re actually getting down on your hands and knees and knowing that you’re making the area a little healthier than it was before. I know we might not see it for a couple years, but just knowing that you did something is enough for me.” 

Silas Bowen holds distinction as a second-generation EarthCorps member. The Seattle native moved east with his family at age 3, but found his way back here through the program.

“My parents both worked for EarthCorps and were really involved in the organization,” he said. “I’ve been doing restoration work in Vermont for a while and wanted to come back west, so this was the perfect combination.”

It’s also a crash course in the local flora, the natives versus the invasives – which takes a trained eye when you’re talking about genus Rubus, i.e. blackberries – and how to pronounce “salal.” On this at least, Peter Forte, a UC Berkeley graduate, was unfazed.

“Salal’s pretty common in California too, on the coast,” he said. “I was, ‘woah, I know this one.’” 

EarthCorps returns to Bainbridge Island in early March, when a different team will work at Blakely Harbor or Moritani Preserve. Several members of Torres’ team from last year are themselves crew leaders now, so look for another familiar face, perhaps. 

Whichever park they’re working in, Torres said, they get a warm welcome on Bainbridge. 

“Everyone is so nice,” Torres said. “Everyone is thanking us for the work that we do, and that just feels like they care, and that always makes the work feel worth it.” 

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Support environmental restoration work like EarthCorps with a gift through the Bainbridge Island Parks Foundation’s general fund, www.biparksfoundation.org/support 

DAISY TORRES, Lakeville, Conn.

“I really appreciate the variety and uniqueness of these projects, they feel really intentional for the island, for the community who really care about preserving nature. That’s really special. That’s cool.”

SILAS BOWEN, Woodstock, Vt.

“My parents both worked for EarthCorps and were really involved in the organization. I’ve been doing restoration work in Vermont for a while and wanted to come back west, so this was the perfect combination… It aligns with me, and what I morally believe in. It feels good to be doing it.” 

SHANICE SNYDER, Tacoma, Wash.

“You’re actually doing some change instead of just talking about it. You’re actually getting down on your hands and knees and knowing that you’re making the area a little healthier than it was before. I know we might not see it for a couple years, but just knowing that you did something is enough for me.”

KARINA FISCAL, Los Angeles, Calif.

“We’re giving back to the environment, and obviously we’re learning throughout the process so it’s kind of great. I can take this and do it once I get back to my hometown. It’s pretty inspiring.”

JADE GREENE, Tallahassee, Fla.

“I’m really interested in conservation and environmentalism, giving back to the beauty of  nature and making sure it stays beautiful for my benefit and for future generations. EarthCorps respects the people who came before us, and wants to continue the mission of bettering the environment.” 

PETER FORTE, Berkeley, Calif.

“EarthCorps pays very close attention to our training, to be mindful of how we use our bodies and how we interact with the surroundings. They’re trying to up our plant and animal knowledge, to be just a little bit more aware, if we’re not from the area, about the things around us.”