Native Plant Conservation and Community Engagement Pathway

A photo looking into the Native Plant Garden and the path as well as signage and information about the garden.
New plants that were added to the edge of the Native Plant Garden by CoSEE interns.

This pathway supports community engagement and environmental education at Saint Edward State Park in collaboration with Friends of Saint Edward State Park (FoSESP). Interns help manage and redesign the Native Plant Learning Garden (NPLG), developing the garden as a hands-on educational resource for the broader community.

Interns collaborate with CoSEE staff and FoSESP to design, plant, and maintain the garden while creating informational and educational materials for visitors. The work emphasizes native plant stewardship, community partnership, and place-based learning—extending the impact of conservation efforts both in and beyond the park.

Projects may include:

  • Develop educational materials for NPLG
  • Work with Friends of Saint Edward State Park and attend all meetings
  • Support the development and care of plan for NPLG
  • Watering, weeding, removal of invasives
  • May support Yard by Yard and local community garden initiatives
Ash, a CoSEE intern, discussing information for the Native Plant Work Party near a nurse log.
A group photo of all of the people who showed up to help volunteer working on the Native Plant Garden at CoSEE’s second planting event in 2026.

Past project highlights

Summer & Fall 2025 intern working on garden infrastructure & education

A Summer and Fall 2025 Intern, Newton, helped to strengthen both the physical infrastructure and educational resources of the EERC native plant garden. Their work included building and installing rain barrels to support sustainable garden watering, reducing reliance on traditional water sources. Newton also led the creation of a native plant garden field guide, taking content from CoSEE’s former website and transforming it into a hands-on physical guidebook for visitors and learners to use directly in the garden.

Newton standing next to one of the rain barrels that they helped put together and create during their internship.
During the intern planting day Ash (second left), Newton (right), Ruth (left) and Tiana (back) worked on taking a sword fern from the perimeter trail at Saint Edward State Park where dozens of thriving ferns were populated.

UW Bothell Capstone student working on Native Plant Garden development

A UW Bothell Capstone student, Ruth, played a key role in expanding and sustaining the EERC’s native plant garden. Her project included submitting a grant to support native plant acquisition, coordinating spring planting schedules and locations, and organizing community plant relocation parties. Ruth also collaborated with Washington State Parks to thoughtfully select native plants from around the park for transplanting into the garden, deepening the ecological connection between the EERC site and the surrounding landscape.

Ruth, a Native Plant Intern, pictured with all of the plants that she got with Ash for the Native Plant Garden in Gig Harbor.
Ruth leading a restoration event and giving instructions for moving ferns into the Native Plant Garden.

Blogs on this pathway