Sustainability in Prisons Project
Newsletter

Summer 2014
Issue 5
We bring
science, nature,and sustainable
practices intoprisons

An Oregon spotted frog morphs from tadpole to adult. Photo by Jose Morales.

The Allisons of Northwest Trek
By SPP Program Manager, Kelli BushSince 2009, SPP has partnered with zoos including Northwest Trek Wildlife Park, Woodland Park Zoo, Point Defiance Zooand Aquarium, and Oregon Zoo to raise Oregon spotted frogs (OSF) at Cedar Creek Corrections Center (CCCC). I would liketo highlight the contributions of two generous staff at Northwest Trek: Ms. Allison Abrahamse and Dr. Allison Case.
As Northwest Trek’s lead naturalist, Allison Abrahamse is responsible for training and scheduling staff, and operating theexcellent education programs for Trek’s visitors. In addition, she is the Communications Coordinator for the Oregon Spotted
Frog Recovery Group. In this role she tracks rearing program statistics, maintains and provides important resources, writes
grants, and ensures effective communication within the large group.
Dr. Allison Case is Northwest Trek’s Park Veterinarian, and the Associate Veterinarian at Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium.
In addition to her roles at these very popular zoos, she provides veterinarian support for the SPP OSF rearing program atCCCC. Over the last several years she has provided expert guidance,
medications, and pathology services for frogs at CCCC. She says, “It
has always been my goal to contribute to conservation through medicine… just one of the small slices in the whole pie of ecosystem andfauna health.”

An OSF in its new habitat after release. Photo by Cyril Ruoso.

SPP’s OSF rearing program lacks the resources commonly found in
most zoo-based programs, and our model relies on help from outsideorganizations. Together we are working toward the common goal ofspecies recovery. We are so grateful to our many partners including
the wonderful Allisons: Thank you Dr. Allison Case and Ms. Allison
Abrahamse.

Zoo Partners Issue
p 2 A Transformative Project: SPP Oregon
and the Oregon Zoo

p 4 Singing the praises of Oregon Zoo
and Karen Lewis

p 3 Director’s corner: Carri LeRoy;
Featured partner: Jenny Pramuk

p 5 SPP‐Ohio and Ohio Wildlife Centerp 6 Mesocosms and Oregon spottedfrogs

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Summer 2014, Issue 5

A Transformative Project
Adapted from an article by Caitlin
FeldmanOriginally published June 12, 2014
in the Portland Tribune
It’s the first day of leaf harvesting for acrew of women at Coffee Creek Corrections Center, and everybody wants to do itright. The women listen attentively toinstructions of volunteers from theOregon Zoo; they explain that one cup ofearly blue violet (Viola adunca) leaves need
to be collected during this session. By
August, the crew will be collecting 100cups a week. In that cup, only tiny leaves
are necessary, because they’ll be fed totiny caterpillars, which will eventually
become Oregon Silverspot butterflies. But, Carl Schaefer, a horticulture volunteer with the Oregon Zoo, watches as Coffee Creek Correc‐
as the caterpillars grow, the size of thetional Facility inmates Bridgette Lewis and Crystal Magana harvest the first blue violet leaves
at the Hoop House at the women's prison in Wilsonville. TIMES PHOTO: JAIME VALDEZ
harvested leaves will grow, too.
The endangered butterflies, which are native to the Oregon coast, are part of a restoration project through the zoo, which has
partnered with Coffee Creek. It is spearheaded by Chad Naugle (SPP-Oregon), who has been in charge of all the prison’ssustainability projects and recently received a Director’s Award through the Oregon Department of Corrections for hisefforts. “This is a project I’m extremely proud of,” he said. For many members of the crew, opportunities like this are what
they look forward to. When they call home, it’s what they discuss. When they write letters, it’s what they mention. Morethan one of the women said it’s these programs and skills that will keep them from returning to a criminal lifestyle once
they’re released.
As the women group together around the plants and help each other snip off only the smallest leaves, a sense of teamwork
and purpose is clear. It’s easy to forget they’re in custody, because that’s not what this is about. It’s about coming together
for a common goal and seeing it through. That’s what they’re here for, and that’s what they’ll take with them. Jennifer Bechtel, 28, an inmate at Coffee Creek who has worked with the violet plants since the beginning, simplified it best. “We’resaving a whole species,” she said. “That’s pretty cool.”
Photo from http://www.oregonzoo.org/conserve/fighting‐extinction‐pacific‐northwest/oregon‐silverspot‐butterfly.

2The tiny blue violet leaf is the size inmates at Coffee Creek Correc‐tional Facility harvest for caterpillars at the Oregon Zoo. TIMESPHOTO: JAIME VALDEZSustainability in Prisons ProjectSummer 2014, Issue 5

Director’s Corner
Dr. Carri LeRoyIn March, I had the pleasure of presenting at an inprison TEDx event hosted by Monroe Correctional
Complex outside of Seattle, WA. TED (Technology,Entertainment and Design) is a nonprofit devoted tospreading ideas, in the form of a series of short talks.
The event was only the second TEDx ever to be held
in-prison, and the range and depth of topics wereinspiring and illuminating. You can read about theevent (http://www.ted.com/tedx/events/11190)
and watch all of the talks at http://goo.gl/ojqut8.
Dan Pacholke, my partner in directing SPP and now
Deputy Secretary for Washington State Departmentof Corrections, shared his compelling vision for theA Taylor’s checkerspot transforms into a butterfly. Photo by Rod Gilbert.

future of prisons. I described how the power of nature can transform the prison experience. Watching caterpillars transform intobutterflies, eggs into frogs, and seeds into plants can provide opportunities for inmates to witness metamorphoses in nature, potentiallyencouraging internal transformations and definitely changing theface of prisons today.
I am grateful to the many zoo partners that make SPP’s conservation programs possible. Without their help, our programs would not
be as successful, and we certainly could not have endangered
animals in prison. Our partnerships with scientists at zoos, stateagencies and non-profits are critical to the success of our programs.
TEDx events are meant to activate deep conversation and connections at the local level, and this one re-energized my commitment tothis work and all of our partners in the effort to restore endangered
species to healthy habitats.

Partner Profile
In her current position as a curator at Woodland Park Zoo, Jennifer
Pramuk oversees their endangered Oregon spotted frog and western
pond turtle rearing (“headstarting”) and release programs. Jenny iswell versed on issues particular to reintroduction of endangered
species, including disease mitigation and political and medical
concerns. It comes as no surprise when Jenny says, “By the time I
was six years old, I knew that I wanted to be a herpetologist(although I didn’t know that this is what a reptile and amphibian
specialist was called).”Jenny is also a partner in SPP’s Oregon spotted frog rearing
program. Jenny says about her experience with SPP, “My mostmemorable moment was seeing the frogs from Cedar Creek Correctional Center being released for my first time. Their frogs are always
beautiful.” We value our collaboration with Jenny and look forward to more work with her in the future.

Jennifer Pramuk is a Curator at Woodland Park Zoo.
Photo by Ron Gagliardo.

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Sustainability in Prisons Project

Summer 2014, Issue 5

Singing the Praises of the Oregon Zoo
By Lindsey Hamilton, SPP Taylor’s checkerspot program coordinator
Founded in 1888, the Oregon Zoo (ORZ), located in Portland, is the oldest zoo west of the Mississippi. Having growntremendously from housing just one grizzly bear, ORZ currently cares for over 2000 individual animals, including 21
endangered species. ORZ actively works to restore populations of native species in the Pacific Northwest ranging from tinybutterflies to the continent’s largest bird, the California condor. Since 2007, the zoo has worked with conservation partners,
including SPP, to restore Oregon spotted frog
populations. ORZ is part of the effort that has
released more than 3000 frogs into the wild.
ORZ also breeds and releases the endangered Taylor’s checkerspot butterfly to build populations andrestore the butterfly to the remaining habitat available in its historic range. A captive rearing program established at ORZ has made tremendous
progress in developing captive rearing protocols,
which has led to large numbers of Taylor’s checkerspot caterpillars returned to the wild.
Taylor’s checkerspot larva feeding on plantain in SPP’s rearing program which

Support from ORZ has been crucial to the successof SPP’s Taylor’s checkerspot captive rearing program. Butterfly staff continually provide training and guidance on husbandry protocol, data management, and problem
solving. This includes making trips out to Mission Creek Corrections Center for Women (MCCCW) several times a year,
helping with needed supplies and answering endless phone calls and emails. This generous and consistent support willcontinue to be critical to the success of SPP’s rearing program as student coordinators graduate and inmate technicians arereleased, creating a two year turnover. Over the past three years, the ORZ and SPP programs jointly have released over
11,000 checkerspots at various life stages from egg to pupa on sites both on and off of Joint Base Lewis-McChord.
has flourished with help from the Oregon Zoo. Photo by SPP staff.

In-Prison Database for the Butterflies, Thanks to Karen Lewis
The Taylor’s checkerspot butterfly was federally listed as an Endangered Species in October of 2013, which means thatanyone working with this species is held to the highest accountability and rigorous reporting. The trick was figuring out
how to meet new reporting requirements in-prison.
Karen Lewis of the Oregon Zoo created the Access database used for therearing program at the zoo. She worked with SPP to make the same database accessible to our butterfly technicians. A computer containing thedatabase was set up in a common living area within the facility last fall,and as simple as that sounds, it represents a major accomplishment for a
prison environment!
Happily, working with the database is a new training opportunity for thetechnicians at MCCCW. Plus, with two years of back logged data thatneeds to be entered, the technicians will have more to keep them busy thiswinter when our caterpillars are sleeping.

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Summer 2014, Issue 5SPP‐Ohio and the Ohio Wildlife Centerby Kristi Kramlauf and Leah Morgan
Several Ohio prisons are working in tandemwith the Ohio Wildlife Center (OWC) tohelp rear native orphaned wildlife songbirds, rabbits, squirrels, and opossums) andraise mealworms to help offset food costs:
Marysville Ohio Reformatory for Women,
Marion Correctional Institution, London
Correctional Institution, Southeastern
Correctional Institution, and Noble Correctional Institution.
The inmates have received training on
wildlife rehabilitation by Ohio Wildlife
Center staff members, and each institution ishelping to return hundreds of injured andorphaned animals back into their nativehabitats.

An inmate releases sparrows and robins for the wildlife rescue programat the Southeastern Correctional Complex in Lancaster (SCC‐L); the ducks
and squirrel are from the same program. Photos provided by Leah
Morgan, Energy Conservation and Sustainability Administrator for Ohio
Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.

Roughly 1000 animals are given a second chance
thanks to the partnership with these institutions.
OWC is funded solely by donations, and all of theseprograms are supplied through generous donations ofcaring individuals invested in the success of Ohio’s
native wildlife. This project one of many and part ofan overall partnership between Ohio Corrections, theOhio Wildlife Center, the Columbus Zoo, and theWilds.

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Summer 2014, Issue 5

Mesocosms & Oregon spotted frogs
SPP is partnering with Jenny Pramuk (see page 3) and Alyssa Borek atWoodland Park Zoo (WPZ) to investigate the potential for mesocosms as
Oregon spotted frog rearing habitat. Mesocosms are lab-created to resemble a natural environment as closely as possible, while still permitting
controlled conditions and monitoring. These habitats could potentially bea boon for raising the state-endangered frogs in captivity, and SPP is
thrilled to work with Woodland Park Zoo to contribute to the research.
SPP staff member and Evergreen Graduate Student Bri Morningred isworking with Jenny and Alyssa to conduct her thesis research. She iscomparing water quality conditions between mesocosms and traditionalrearing environments. Bri’s results will likely inform better mesocosm
design for the frog rearing programs at Cedar Creek Corrections Centerand area zoos.

The Sustainability in Prisons Project
The Evergreen State College
Environmental Studies, Lab II
2700 Evergreen Parkway NW
Olympia, Washington 98505
bushk@evergreen.edu & trivettj@evergreen.edu
sustainabilityinprisons.org

Sustainability in Prisons
Project Vision
The mission of the Sustainability in Prisons Project isto bring science and nature into prisons. We conduct
ecological research and conserve biodiversity by forging
collaborations with scientists, inmates, prison staff,students, and community partners. Equally important,
we help reduce the environmental, economic, and humancosts of prisons by inspiring and informing sustainable
Western pond turtle at Cedar Creek Corrections Center.
practices.
Photo by Jose Morales
This union of ideas and activities—and people inside and outside prison walls—creates a collaborative, intellectuallystimulating environment in which incarcerated men and women play key roles in conservation and the advancement ofscientific knowledge. We encourage teamwork, mutual respect, and a stewardship ethic among individuals who typicallyhave little or no access to nature or opportunities in science and sustainability. To donate to the project, please go to:
http://goo.gl/jkYHF7.

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