Couve Scoop

AUGUST 2022

Check Out Washington

Provides Adventure Pack and Access to State Lands

Your library card is your key to exploring Washington’s great outdoors. Fort Vancouver Regional Library and Camas Public Library cardholders can now borrow a special adventure pack that includes a Discover Pass through the Check Out Washington (COWA) program, which launched as a pilot program in 2019 and has since expanded to all public library systems in Washington. Discover Passes provide day-use access to state lands

Cape Disappointment. Photo by Joshua Jones Deception Pass. Photo courtesy COWA

managed by Washington State Parks, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) and Washington Department of Natural Resources (DNR). Other elements of the adventure pack include binoculars, educational materials and a set of pocket guides about Washington trees, wildlife and birds. Without the special library pass, a one-day Discover Pass costs $10, and an annual pass costs $30 (plus transaction fees). Visit your nearest library branch to check out a pass and pack.

Go to VancouverFamilyMagazine.com/couve-scoop-august-2022 for a link to a list of Washington State Parks that can be accessed with a Discover Pass, plus a list of fee-free days at Washington State Lands.

COWA Corgie, Hubert.

Photo by Allison Lu

Archaeological Dig

at Fort Vancouver Explores Site of Historic School and Church

Throughout the month of July, Fort Vancouver National Historic Site’s Public Archaeology Field School Program invited students and professional archaeologists from Portland State University and Washington State University to an archaeological dig to explore an important portion of the Fort’s historic community. In partnership with the National Park Service (NPS), they surveyed the site of the school where children of fur trade families studied in the early 1800s. “The former site of the Hudson’s Bay Company’s schoolhouses is one of the most important but little-known places in Fort Vancouver,” said National Park Service regional archaeologist Dr. Doug Wilson. “Education at Fort Vancouver was progressive in some ways but also designed to ‘civilize’ children that came from mixed and Indigenous backgrounds.” One of the structures studied this summer also served as the “Owhyhee Church” for Native Hawaiian workers of the Hudson’s Bay Company as well as being the location of the first (1838) Roman Catholic mass in the Pacific Northwest. Additionally, the Kids Digs program invited children ages 8-12 to the Fort for a mock excavation where they learned excavation, screening, recording and interpreting techniques, inspiring them to learn more about their local history. Above, top: Melody Midkiff (l) and Amelia Curtis (r) at the Fort Vancouver dig site. Above, below: Archaeologists work at the Fort Vancouver dig site.

Photos by Sarah Mortensen.

In this painting by Richard Schlect, the schoolhouses built in 1844 can be seen in the center foreground. They are the two two-story wooden buildings on the north side of what is now E 5th Street.

Below: Penrose Pt. SP Seashore Girls.

Photo courtesy COWA

Steamboat Rock. Photo by Luisa Faucher

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New Mobile Night Crisis Team Reaching Those in Need

Columbia River Mental Health Services (CRMHS) recently introduced a new service designed to provide more direct mental health counseling and treatment to vulnerable individuals, and relieve law enforcement and emergency service personnel from the need to respond to mental health and substance use crises overnight. The new Columbia River Night Crisis Team, which launched in May, will operate from 10 pm to 8 am, overlapping with similar services offered through SeaMar Community Services Northwest that run from 8 am to midnight, effectively extending mobile crisis response in Clark County to 24/7.

Dawn Tec Yah of the Night Crisis team explained, “Residents facing a mental health crisis at night often have few options for intervention and end up in the emergency room or police station for non-life-threatening conditions.”

Columbia River Night Crisis Team seeks to reduce these hospitalizations while increasing assistance and resources for individuals experiencing behavioral health crises. If you or someone you know is experiencing a mental health or substance use crisis, you can reach the mobile teams in Clark County by calling the 24/7 Crisis Connections line at 800-626-8137.