Learning a love for the land

Southside Elementary class spends time in nature with Kinnikinnick Native Plant Society

By Ben Olson Reader Staff

There is nothing quite so magical as another season of growth shooting through the forest floor each spring. What began as a sapling might eventually grow into a towering tree providing shade for future generations, which then drops its seeds to the ground to start the cycle all over again. It’s hard to imagine a large tree originating from such humble beginnings, but it happens every spring to our shared delight.

It’s much the same with humans when we return to the locations where we were raised. I was fortunate to spend the afternoon of May 4 at my own beloved Southside Elementary School with Kinnikinnick Native Plant Society volunteers Bonnie Jakubos, John Hastings and Preston Andrews as they guided Terese Luikens’ fourth-grade class on a nature trail behind the school.

Jan Vann’s fifth-grade class built the

Southside School Nature Trail in 1992. I know because I was part of that class and remember establishing the half-mile long trail with guideposts built along the way to point out key landscape features. When Jakubos sent an image of a trail booklet with a handwritten entry by my younger self, a flood of fond memories came back about those early days when I learned to love and appreciate the natural world, thanks to teachers and other educators who took the time to pass down their love and knowledge.

The KNPS outing aimed to instruct the young students about the unique quality of our forests in this region. Specifically, KNPS volunteers talked to the students about the fact that we are surrounded by the Pacific Northwest Inland Temperate Rainforest.

“We’re special here and so many people don’t know that,” Jakubos told the Reader while navigating the nearly 30-year-old trail leading up a small hill overlooking the school grounds and back down again on the other side of a creek.

Jakubos told Mrs. Luikens’ students about the roughly 700-mile-long rainforest that stretches all the way into northern British Columbia.

KNPS split the class into three groups, with each studying a different aspect of the environment as seen from the trail.

In one group, Andrews led the students along a small, dry creek bed to point out different species of trees to the students — emphasizing the fact that multiple species thrived in that particular location because of the proximity of a water source.

In Jakubos’ group, students sat in a hut erected alongside the trail with a pile of pine cones and local foliage next to them as they attempted to identify and draw each piece.

Finally, Hastings led his group with tape measures and yardsticks to gather transects, which are straight lines that cut through a landscape to make observations, take measurements and document data — in this case, about vegetation growth in a particular area.

“When we take transects, it’s looking at the arrival of spring,” Hastings told the students. “This is a common way for scientists to collect data to share with others.”

This project was just one of the many ways KNPS reaches out to local students to help spread awareness and love for the natural world that surrounds us.

Speaking personally, it was a treat seeing the work I did with my classmates nearly 30 years ago is still being enjoyed by future stewards of our environment.

To learn more about KNPS, visit nativeplantsociety.org.

‘Cornhole for a Cause’ features downtown tournaments benefiting youth baseball

By Reader Staff

7B Baggers Cornhole will host its first-ever “Cornhole for a Cause,” inviting kids and adults alike to take part in a slate of tournaments Saturday, May 13 in downtown Sandpoint.

Benefiting Sandpoint Sasquatch Baseball, the bags fly at 10 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. at MickDuff’s Beer Hall (202 Cedar St.), with all-ages singles tournaments for both experienced and beginning baggers starting at 10 a.m. Following that will be a Switcholio tournament format — a blind draw round robin for new partners in each game — and, if enough players are left in the beginners bracket, a beginners switch.

Pre-register online using the Scoreholio app or on the day of, with more info available at the 7B Baggers Cornhole Official Facebook page. Cost to participate is $20 per adult player, and $10 per player for kids, to be paid at the event.

An “Airmail Challenge” of 16 bags for $5 will go throughout the tournament, with the top two scorers winning cash from the total buy-in money. In addition will be a silent auction and 50/50 raffle, featuring prizes provided by a wide range of busi- nesses and organizations.

“We are very excited to be a part of this fundraiser, to not only give back to our community but also hopefully inspire new people — kids and adults — to want to get into playing the game we all love so much,” 7B Baggers stated in a Facebook post.

Sandpoint Sasquatch Baseball is a youth travel baseball program that fields baseball teams for players 10 and under and 14 and under, which compete against other club teams across the Inland Northwest. The 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization’s mission “is to provide a fun and competitive baseball environment in which all of our players develop the highest level of skill, confidence and a winning attitude on and off the field.”

Participating businesses include: MickDuff’s Brewing Co. and Beer Hall, Stylebar Beauty Bar, The Hydra Steakhouse, Refined Aesthetics Med Spa, Papillon Beauty Boutique, The Pickled Kitchen, Sweet Lou’s, Lewis & Hawn Dentistry, Loop and Tie, Panhandle Driving School, Glamour +Grace, Panhandle Cone & Coffee, Pack River Store, RH Portrait Photography, Jalapeno’s Mexican Restaurant and Pend Oreille Veterinary Service.