Native of the Month: Lodgepole pine
Lodgepole pine - Pinus contortaThe Lodgepole Pine (Pinus contorta) has mastered the art of regeneration through flames. Found across a range of landscapes, from coastal regions to mountain slopes, Lodgepole Pine has evolved to thrive in fire-prone ecosystems. Its...
Welcome Isabella!
Greetings everyone! My name is Isabella Boparai, and I am the newest intern at SHADOW Lake Nature Preserve. I am currently entering my senior year at Bellevue High School and plan to major in political science. Some of my interests include food, food, and more food....
Know Your ‘Why’
Know your why in July and be inspired all year long! There are many catch phrases out there about finding out what drives or inspires you, one that I have most recently heard and relate to is “Know Your Why.” We start our lives asking lots of whys, much to the chagrin...
Plastic pollution has emerged as a global crisis, severely affecting our natural and built ecosystems and human health. Plastic-Free July is an annual initiative that encourages individuals and communities to refuse single-use plastics and adopt sustainable...
Native of the Month: Moth-er of all Lepidopterans: the Mighty Moths
Moths evolved long before butterflies; fossils of moths have been dated back 200 million years. Some scientists believe that moths evolved with flowering plants. But new studies suggest that they first developed their long tongue, or proboscis, to lap up sweet...
Farewell Nathan!
It is with mixed emotions that we announce the departure of Education and Restoration Lead, Nathan LeClear, from SHADOW Lake Nature Preserve. Since joining the preserve in January of 2022, Nathan has excelled in his role. He has a kind soul and his love of the natural...
Native of the Month: Salamanders
Axolotl Questions About Our Native Salamanders Frogs are our most vocal amphibians, and we have a number of species here in Washington. But our diversity of wetlands and streams, from lowlands to mountains also provide a multitude of habitats for our other big...
Spotlight: Board Member: Walt Szklarski
2023 is Walt’s 20th year as a board member! Walt helped establish the partnership between SHADOW Lake Nature Preserve and the Tahoma School District, where he was first a science teacher and then the Instructional Technology Coordinator. With a BS in Biology and MEd...
No Mow May
In the PNW, April showers bring May showers. Our rainy springs play a vital role for our ecology, and as the days get longer and warmer, the grass starts to not so much crawl as leap up from the ground. (Queue the sound of thousands of roaring lawn...
The science of spring
One of the most iconic phenomena in nature is the arrival of Spring. In temperate climates many species of plants lose their leaves in the fall (the season is named for just that reason), and then in spring leaves and flowers re-emerge. But why, and HOW? In answering...
Native of the month: Frogs
The smallest frog in western Washington is also our most prolific, and has the widest distribution throughout the state. The Pacific Tree Frog, Psudacris regilla, is the only native frog species found in every county! This little frog is so abundant that it was made...
Highlighting volunteer projects
As a not-for-profit organization, SHADOW operates with a small staff. But keeping your neighborhood nature preserve operating smoothly and available to the public is dependent on additional help from our volunteers. Many hands make light work, as the saying goes! The...
SHADOW Spotlight: Board Member Alison Webb
Alison Webb completed her Ph.D. in Biology at Utah State University and worked as a graduate fellow with the National Science Foundation to bring academia level research into K-12 classrooms. She moved to Washington in 2018 and started Pacific Northwest Biology as a...
How does language shape our view of reality?
There is an interesting field of study known as psycholinguistics which concerns itself with, among other things, the interplay between spoken language and cognition. As with most interesting scientific phenomena, the notion that language dictates cognition has a long...
Happy Black History Month
There are a lot of ways to spend Black History Month. Often times, the only focus is on past civil rights movements. This history is integral to understanding the context and significance of our current racial society, but Black communities are...
Bogfoot and the Goblins Gold for Tell a Fairy Tale Day
Peat bogs are mysterious worlds where curious events regularly take place. It’s well known that, much like a mushroom faerie ring, time passes much more rapidly than outside it. Step inside, and it may be decades or centuries before one may tumble out again, a very...
Valentine’s Chocolate for Forestation
This year make sure the chocolates you give your sweetheart won’t be the unintentional source of heartbreak. Much of the world’s chocolate supply is grown to fuel conflict, employ slave labor, or degrade the environment; leaving more of a bitter aftertaste than what...
Native of the Month: Lichens
After the first meeting, if the fungus and algae are compatible, they can make a lichen body (thallus). This means that only certain algae and certain fungi can get together to form a lichen. Lichens are a symbiotic partnership of two or more separate lifeforms, a...
Native of the Month: Rabbits
You may have heard that 2023 is the Year of the Rabbit. Like the other members of the Chinese zodiac, the Year of the Rabbit comes once every 12 years. In Chinese culture, the rabbit waits for the ideal moment and leaps into action, and is considered quite lucky,...
SHADOW Spotlight: Shelley Pasco
Shelley (she/her) grew up on the forested Olympic Peninsula and found her passion for nature as a teenager in the woods, diving her time between a stream-fed wetland and a peat bog. Since 1998, she has operated a CSA at Whistling Train Farm in the Kent Valley. While...
Happy 2023!
We’ve returned from our holiday break and the Nature Preserve is once again open to visitors. Please note that we are continuing to use our reservation system, so sign up and pay us a visit! What a winter we have had so far: ice storms and wind brought down many...