The idea for the Students for Ecological Restoration Club originated in spring 2024, when students Caleb Barville and his friend Bruce Cudkowicz realized Western Washington University didn’t have an ecological restoration club. With environmental science professor James Helfield as their faculty advisor, the club began hosting activities in the fall with Barville as director.
Western also has a group called Learning, Environment, Action, Diversity (LEAD), a restoration effort run by graduate students that has been in practice for over 25 years. LEAD recently completed an intensive restoration project near campus where they used the Miyawaki method, a process that encourages faster forest regeneration by planting a dense mix of native vegetation.
LEAD and the Students for Ecological Restoration have now worked together on several restoration projects, most recently at a work party in the arboretum on March 14.
“Our overarching goal is to restore the landscape biodiversity,” Barville said. “The arboretum sounds like an area with natural native plants, but there's a lot of non-native plants in it.”
Work parties are typically held on Friday afternoons, with an average of 17 volunteers at each meeting during the winter quarter, Barville said.
The Students for Ecological Restoration Club has a partnership with the City of Bellingham, Western and the Sehome Hill Arboretum Board of Governors. Their main goal is to remove invasive species and replant native species, such as western red cedar trees or salmonberry shrubs.
At the Feb. 21 work party, over 20 volunteers planted 147 trees and shrubs from a dozen native species. They removed three cubic yards of invasive English ivy and English holly from the Jersey Street trailhead, according to the club’s Instagram.
Caleb Barville, lead officer of the Students for Ecological Restoration Club, demonstrates planting technique to volunteer Connor Wolf during a work party in the Sehome Hill Arboretum at Western Washington University in Bellingham, Wash., on Feb. 21, 2025. The surrounding ground should be level with the edges of the potted plant, Barville said. // Photo by Natalie Jones
Club leaders also brought in two cubic yards of mulch to go around and on top of the new plants. Mulch is a layer of protection on top of the soil, usually made of organic material, such as wood chips. It retains nutrients and moisture in soil, as shown in a study about native plant regrowth in the Journal of Applied Ecology.
Rachel Corichi is a club member and environmental science student at Western. Corichi enjoys the social aspect of the work parties and values the experience she has gained for her future career.
“It feels unattainable sometimes because eventually I would love to make a difference, or I would love to be a part of research,” Corichi said. “But with this club, it's a perfect medium ground; you can come to the meetings or the work parties and it’s a good launch into a professional career in ecological restoration.”
Most of the club’s restoration projects fall under the domain of the Sehome Hill Arboretum Board of Governors, an eight-member group composed of city and Western staff members and people appointed by both parties. The board emerged from the land co-ownership agreement between the City of Bellingham and Western that began in 1974.
The board follows the continuously-edited Long Range Master Plan established by both groups, as well as an ecological survey conducted in 2015 by Western alum Dylan Quinn showing non-native species hotspots in the arboretum.
A diagram from Western alum Dylan Quinn’s 2015 ecological survey determining where the invasive species hotspots are located in the Sehome Hill Arboretum. The Sehome Hill Arboretum Board of Governors and the Students for Ecological Restoration Club use this information to decide where to clear out invasive species and bring in new plants. // Graphic courtesy of Dylan Quinn
John Tuxill is an associate professor at Fairhaven College and the chair of the board of governors. Since the board doesn’t have an allocated budget, all trail and restoration work in the arboretum is done by volunteers from local groups and the Washington Trails Association, Tuxill said.
“The ecological restoration club is ideally positioned for students to really participate in accomplishing that important management work at the arboretum and being a focus point for student energy and interest,” Tuxill said.
Over the seven work parties at the Jersey Street trailhead during winter quarter, 55 club members spent 350 hours removing 95% of the invasive species and planting 240 native trees and shrubs at the two acre site. According to the club’s Instagram, they will revisit the site a few times a year for the next two to three years to prevent the invasive plants from growing back.
Barville emphasized giving back to the land through restoration initiatives, especially if you participate in outdoor activities like sports or hiking.
“It’s good to take a look within the scope of what you do, and ask yourself, ‘Am I reciprocating all that nature gives me?’ because a lot of people just take from nature,” Barville said.
Corichi felt positive about the future of ecological restoration and the club after seeing underclassmen join and get more involved in the process.
“The future is looking good and people are psyched, and it’s good to see that there's hope,” Corichi said. “We all have hope.”
A sign placed by the Bellingham Parks Department urges readers not to enter the area in the Sehome Hill Arboretum at Western Washington University in Bellingham, Wash., on Feb. 21, 2025. The area looked like a trail at the time because of the work party’s footprints to and from the mulch pile. // Photo by Natalie Jones
Natalie Jones (she/they) is a campus life reporter for The Front this quarter. She is a third-year visual journalism major. In their free time, they make collage art & jewelry, take too many photos and direct the treble A Cappella club on campus. You can reach her at nataliejones.thefront@gmail.com.
