Sustainability in Prisons Project

Summer Newsletter 2015

SPP’s New
Co-Director:
Steve
Sinclairby Joslyn Rose Trivett,
SPP Netw ork Manager
Steve Sinclair has
replaced Dan Pacholkeas the Assistant
Secretary for the
Prisons Division w ith
the W ashington State
Department ofCorrections. W ith thenew position, he has

Just before taking the reigns as SPP's new co-director, Steve
Sinclair, co-led SPP's tw o day statew ide summit. Photos by Joslyn
Rose Trivett (top) and Karissa Carlson (above).

graciously accepted
serving as Co-Director for the Sustainability in Prisons Project (SPP). Steve has already show nhimself to be a know ledgeable and capable leader for SPP, and w e are thrilled to have him on
board.
Steve takes over as Co-Director for SPP from his esteemed predecessor, Dan Pacholke. Dan w as
one of the founders of SPP, and his inspiration and creativity have helped make SPP w hat it istoday. W e have no doubt that Stephen w ill continue to rally W DOC’s sustainability culture; he isdedicated to a more humane and sustainable w ay of operating prisons.
W e w ould like to take this opportunity to thank Dan Pacholke for his tireless years of service
and dedication to SPP —see an appreciation of Dan later in this new sletter. W e w armly w elcome
Steve Sinclair to his new role as Co-Director for SPP. Thank you to you both!

Dr. Carri LeRoy talks about river and salmon ecology to a class in the Intensive Management
Unit (IMU) at Monroe Correctional Complex. This w as SPP's first lecture in a maximum security
unit. Photo by Tiffany W ebb.

SPP Science in Science, and in the IMU
by Joslyn Rose Trivett, SPP Netw ork
Manager
In recent months, SPP's Director for
Evergreen and member of the faculty
Dr. Carri LeRoy has brought scienceand SPP to new places. In May, aletter from Dr. LeRoy w as featured in
Science, one of the best-regarded
scientific journals in the w orld! Shedescribes her experience presenting anature draw ing w orkshop toincarcerated students. She ends w ith:
"Enhancing scientific literacy insociety requires us to crossboundaries and serve newaudiences. In my case, that meant
literally crossing the most impermeableboundary in U.S. society. My biggest
surprise w as that physical boundaries
are just those—talking about sciencetransforms us from people on theinside versus the outside to justpeople talking about ideas."

Dr. LeRoy's piece on SPP's lecture series was in

In July, Dr. LeRoy gave SPP's first

May's issue of Science; her piece was in thesection "Outside the Tower", meaning beyond theregular/priveleged world of academics.

lecture in an Intensive Management
Unit (IMU; also know n as
segregation). Dr. LeRoy's presentation
on rivers and salmon had thestudents' full attention for an hour and a half; they asked questions throughout, and w anted toknow w hen w e w ould be back for more. To meet their interest, w e hope to establish an ongoing
lecture series in the IMU. Offering science in an IMU means crossing an even more starkboundary, and w e w ant to challenge ourselves by crossing it again and again: talking aboutideas can and should happen everyw here.

W hen given a chance to be students of ecology, these men w ere fully engaged. Photo by
Tiffany W ebb.

Liz Louie w orked as a butterfly technician for more than tw o years, and now is one of the
few butterfly husbandry experts in the w orld. Here she guides an adult Taylor's checkerspot
butterfly to feed from a sugar-soaked Q tip. Photo by Benj Drummond and Sara Joy Steele.

The Taylor's Checkerspot Butterfly Program
Releases Another Butterfly
by Liz Louie, SPP Butterfly Technician
It has been 26 months and three seasons, w ith tw o Sustainability in Prisons Project (SPP)
bosses and three Department of Corrections (DOC) bosses, releasing approximately 8,000
caterpillars and 250 butterflies to the w ild. I have come to the end of an amazing journey. As I
leave Mission Creek and the TCB program, I w ant to say THANK YOU for the experience.
A w riter from Sierra Magazine recently asked w hat I thought about the irony of having abutterfly program in prison; the contrast betw een the delicate, fragile butterfly and the“harshness” of prison life. For me, butterflies are very resilient animals. Their primary habitatw as an artillery range, the aftermath of fire and destruction. Metaphorically, the butterfly
symbolizes re-birth, new life and beginnings. So w ith that said, Mission Creek (prison) makes a
lot of sense for a surrogate habitat.
In fact, there are other parallels betw een the butterflies and prison life. The larvae w ill
sometimes go into second diapause (D2) if they feel conditions are not right. Maybe there’s notenough food, so the larvae w ill go back to sleep. Similar to D2 larvae, w omen come in and outof prison. They may not have gotten w hat they needed from prison the first time, or they lackoutside support to help them be successful. But for me personally, at my age, its good to knowthat the final stage is a butterfly. It means the most beautiful stage of my life is yet to come.
All the other stages have been in preparation for that final one.
This w ill be a time in my life that I w on’t soon forget. The people I’ve met and the w omen I’vew orked w ith, I take aw ay something from each of them. I've learned a lot about myself, both
the good, and the things I need to change. I have a greater appreciation for the simple thingsin life. I w alk aw ay a stronger person and look forw ard to w hatever life holds.

SPP Butterfly Technicians Liz Louie and Samantha Turner hosted visitors from University ofDenver, DOC Headquarters, and SPP; the technicians provided program information for a
proposal to study the social impacts of w orking in SPP's conservation programs. Photo byAndi May.

Future Roots of Success instructors gave their full attention to the day-long training
with program founder Dr. Raquel Pinderhughes. Photo by Joslyn Rose Trivett.

Roots of Success
Marathon Instructor
Training
by Christina Stalnaker, SPP Roots of Success
Program Coordinator
After a rigorous 4-day training event, all 12
prisons in W ashington State have a cadre of

Future Master Trainer Cyril W aldron leads

Roots of Success instructors. Each day, a freshthe discussion on possible characteristics

group of instructor candidates learned theof Roots of Success students. Photo bynecessary skills to teach Roots’ environmental

Joslyn Rose Trivett.

literacy curriculum. In total, w e certified 31 new
instructors representing programs at Clallam Bay Corrections Center, Coyote Ridge Corrections
Center, Larch Corrections Center, Mission Creek Corrections Center for W omen, Olympic
Corrections Center, W ashington Corrections Center, and W ashington Corrections Center for
W omen.

At the same time, 6 of our exemplary and seasoned instructors earned their promotion to
Master Trainer. These Master Trainers now have the credentials to train and certify new
instructors for the program. Certifying Master Trainers is a major accomplishment for
SPP-WA & WDOC; Roots of Success has become nearly self-sustaining. This valuable
education program is gaining momentum, and graduating hundreds of students across thestate.
Congratulations to all the newly certified Roots of Success Master Trainers andInstructors! A giant Thank You goes out to Roots staff, Master Trainers, new instructors,
WDOC staff, and SPP GRAs for helping us take this monumental step forward in our Rootsof Success program!!!

The hoop house at Coyote Ridge Corrections Center brings nature inside the prison with a
new conservation nursery. Photo by Kelli Bush.

Growing Sagebrush inCentral Washington
by Environmental Specialist Dorothy Trainerand SPP Program Manager Kelli Bush
W ith funding support from the Institute for Applied
Ecology (IAE), Coyote Ridge Correction Center(CRCC) has launched a new Sustainability in
Prisons Project (SPP) Sagebrush Steppe
Conservation Nursery Program.

This is what we want! A seedlingsagebrush shows its beauty in the

The new program also includes collaborators fromconservation nursery. Photo by Kelli

Bureau of Land Management (BLM), W ashington

Bush.

Native Plant Society (W NP), W ashington State
University Tri-Cities (W SU TC), and IAE.
Facility staff and Superintendent Uttecht eagerly accepted the opportunity to host this new
program w ith very short notice, resulting in a busy spring and summer at CRCC. It w as
impressive how quickly they built a hoop house, hired an inmate crew , prepared containers forplanting, and planted sagebrush seeds. Plant ecologist and horticulture educator Gretchen
Grabber of W NP and W SU TCAs provides education and hands-on training.
The primary goal of this project is to provide sagebrush for restoration of greater sage-grouse
habitat. Fifty percent of the sagebrush steppe habitat in the United States has been lost tolarge scale fires, conversion to other land uses, invasive cheat grass, and noxious w eeds. All of
the sagebrush plants grow n at CRCC w ill be planted on BLM land in the Palisades Flat Fire
Project area near W enatchee, W ashington.
Thank you to each and every collaborator involved and w e look forw ard to w atching thisprogram grow ! Special thanks to Stacy Moore w ith IAE for bringing this opportunity to CRCC.

Dan Pacholke stands in front of the “Con-post” shed at Cedar Creek Corrections Center inthe earliest days of SPP.

In Appreciation of
Dan Pacholke:
SPP Co-founder and Champion
by SPP staff at Evergreen
In 2003, Dan Pacholke w as Superintendent of
Cedar Creek Corrections Center, a small prison
south of Olympia that became the birthplace of SPP.
Dan w as looking for w ays to save the institution
some money and offer green jobs training toinmates at the same time. He started composting
and w ater catchment programs. He w elcomed ascientist from The Evergreen State College, Nalini

Dan Pacholke and Dr. Carri LeRoy co-

Nadkarni, w ho engaged inmates in research

directed SPP from 2011 to 2015; undergrow ing mosses and quantifying reductions intheir shared leadership, SPP-

w aste. Sustainable operations, green jobs training,

W ashington grew three-fold. Photo by

and bringing science and nature to prisons proved a

Guinnevere Shuster.

w inning combination that later became SPP.
Dan’s inspiration and creativity have helped grow SPP into an internationally recognizedorganization. We give him credit for changing the culture of Washington State’s DOC. He
has rallied every prison to take on sustainability programs, to meet ever-more ambitious
sustainability goals. He has been a tireless advocate for a more humane prison environment,
for the sake of both inmates and staff. He pursues an ambitious and practical vision for the
future of prisons.
In 2015, Dan passed his SPP Directorship to his successor as Assistant Secretary of Prisons,
Stephen Sinclair, an appointment that ensures SPP programs w ill continue to thrive. Dan w ill
continue his commitment to SPP, now as a Senior Advisor. W e are grateful to him for more thana decade of service and leadership.

Sustainability in Prisons Project (SPP) is a partnership founded by WA Department ofCorrections and The Evergreen State College. Photo by Sadie Gilliom.

We bring
science andnature into
prisons.

Contact us and learn more.
sustainabilityinprisons.org
bushk@evergreen.edu
trivettj@evergreen.edu

Sha r e this e m a il:

Manage your preferences | Opt out using TrueRemove™
Got this as a forward? Sign up to receive our future emails.
View this email online.
The Evergreen State College, Lab 2 2257, 2700 Evergreen Parkway NW
Olympia, WA | 98505 US
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Sustainability in Prisons Project

Summer Newsletter 2015

SPP’s New
Co-Director:
Steve
Sinclairby Joslyn Rose Trivett,
SPP Netw ork Manager
Steve Sinclair has
replaced Dan Pacholkeas the Assistant
Secretary for the
Prisons Division w ith
the W ashington State
Department ofCorrections. W ith thenew position, he has

Just before taking the reigns as SPP's new co-director, Steve
Sinclair, co-led SPP's tw o day statew ide summit. Photos by Joslyn
Rose Trivett (top) and Karissa Carlson (above).

graciously accepted
serving as Co-Director for the Sustainability in Prisons Project (SPP). Steve has already show nhimself to be a know ledgeable and capable leader for SPP, and w e are thrilled to have him on
board.
Steve takes over as Co-Director for SPP from his esteemed predecessor, Dan Pacholke. Dan w as
one of the founders of SPP, and his inspiration and creativity have helped make SPP w hat it istoday. W e have no doubt that Stephen w ill continue to rally W DOC’s sustainability culture; he isdedicated to a more humane and sustainable w ay of operating prisons.
W e w ould like to take this opportunity to thank Dan Pacholke for his tireless years of service
and dedication to SPP —see an appreciation of Dan later in this new sletter. W e w armly w elcome
Steve Sinclair to his new role as Co-Director for SPP. Thank you to you both!

Dr. Carri LeRoy talks about river and salmon ecology to a class in the Intensive Management
Unit (IMU) at Monroe Correctional Complex. This w as SPP's first lecture in a maximum security
unit. Photo by Tiffany W ebb.

SPP Science in Science, and in the IMU
by Joslyn Rose Trivett, SPP Netw ork
Manager
In recent months, SPP's Director for
Evergreen and member of the faculty
Dr. Carri LeRoy has brought scienceand SPP to new places. In May, aletter from Dr. LeRoy w as featured in
Science, one of the best-regarded
scientific journals in the w orld! Shedescribes her experience presenting anature draw ing w orkshop toincarcerated students. She ends w ith:
"Enhancing scientific literacy insociety requires us to crossboundaries and serve newaudiences. In my case, that meant
literally crossing the most impermeableboundary in U.S. society. My biggest
surprise w as that physical boundaries
are just those—talking about sciencetransforms us from people on theinside versus the outside to justpeople talking about ideas."

Dr. LeRoy's piece on SPP's lecture series was in

In July, Dr. LeRoy gave SPP's first

May's issue of Science; her piece was in thesection "Outside the Tower", meaning beyond theregular/priveleged world of academics.

lecture in an Intensive Management
Unit (IMU; also know n as
segregation). Dr. LeRoy's presentation
on rivers and salmon had thestudents' full attention for an hour and a half; they asked questions throughout, and w anted toknow w hen w e w ould be back for more. To meet their interest, w e hope to establish an ongoing
lecture series in the IMU. Offering science in an IMU means crossing an even more starkboundary, and w e w ant to challenge ourselves by crossing it again and again: talking aboutideas can and should happen everyw here.

W hen given a chance to be students of ecology, these men w ere fully engaged. Photo by
Tiffany W ebb.

Liz Louie w orked as a butterfly technician for more than tw o years, and now is one of the
few butterfly husbandry experts in the w orld. Here she guides an adult Taylor's checkerspot
butterfly to feed from a sugar-soaked Q tip. Photo by Benj Drummond and Sara Joy Steele.

The Taylor's Checkerspot Butterfly Program
Releases Another Butterfly
by Liz Louie, SPP Butterfly Technician
It has been 26 months and three seasons, w ith tw o Sustainability in Prisons Project (SPP)
bosses and three Department of Corrections (DOC) bosses, releasing approximately 8,000
caterpillars and 250 butterflies to the w ild. I have come to the end of an amazing journey. As I
leave Mission Creek and the TCB program, I w ant to say THANK YOU for the experience.
A w riter from Sierra Magazine recently asked w hat I thought about the irony of having abutterfly program in prison; the contrast betw een the delicate, fragile butterfly and the“harshness” of prison life. For me, butterflies are very resilient animals. Their primary habitatw as an artillery range, the aftermath of fire and destruction. Metaphorically, the butterfly
symbolizes re-birth, new life and beginnings. So w ith that said, Mission Creek (prison) makes a
lot of sense for a surrogate habitat.
In fact, there are other parallels betw een the butterflies and prison life. The larvae w ill
sometimes go into second diapause (D2) if they feel conditions are not right. Maybe there’s notenough food, so the larvae w ill go back to sleep. Similar to D2 larvae, w omen come in and outof prison. They may not have gotten w hat they needed from prison the first time, or they lackoutside support to help them be successful. But for me personally, at my age, its good to knowthat the final stage is a butterfly. It means the most beautiful stage of my life is yet to come.
All the other stages have been in preparation for that final one.
This w ill be a time in my life that I w on’t soon forget. The people I’ve met and the w omen I’vew orked w ith, I take aw ay something from each of them. I've learned a lot about myself, both
the good, and the things I need to change. I have a greater appreciation for the simple thingsin life. I w alk aw ay a stronger person and look forw ard to w hatever life holds.

SPP Butterfly Technicians Liz Louie and Samantha Turner hosted visitors from University ofDenver, DOC Headquarters, and SPP; the technicians provided program information for a
proposal to study the social impacts of w orking in SPP's conservation programs. Photo byAndi May.

Future Roots of Success instructors gave their full attention to the day-long training
with program founder Dr. Raquel Pinderhughes. Photo by Joslyn Rose Trivett.

Roots of Success
Marathon Instructor
Training
by Christina Stalnaker, SPP Roots of Success
Program Coordinator
After a rigorous 4-day training event, all 12
prisons in W ashington State have a cadre of

Future Master Trainer Cyril W aldron leads

Roots of Success instructors. Each day, a freshthe discussion on possible characteristics

group of instructor candidates learned theof Roots of Success students. Photo bynecessary skills to teach Roots’ environmental

Joslyn Rose Trivett.

literacy curriculum. In total, w e certified 31 new
instructors representing programs at Clallam Bay Corrections Center, Coyote Ridge Corrections
Center, Larch Corrections Center, Mission Creek Corrections Center for W omen, Olympic
Corrections Center, W ashington Corrections Center, and W ashington Corrections Center for
W omen.

At the same time, 6 of our exemplary and seasoned instructors earned their promotion to
Master Trainer. These Master Trainers now have the credentials to train and certify new
instructors for the program. Certifying Master Trainers is a major accomplishment for
SPP-WA & WDOC; Roots of Success has become nearly self-sustaining. This valuable
education program is gaining momentum, and graduating hundreds of students across thestate.
Congratulations to all the newly certified Roots of Success Master Trainers andInstructors! A giant Thank You goes out to Roots staff, Master Trainers, new instructors,
WDOC staff, and SPP GRAs for helping us take this monumental step forward in our Rootsof Success program!!!

The hoop house at Coyote Ridge Corrections Center brings nature inside the prison with a
new conservation nursery. Photo by Kelli Bush.

Growing Sagebrush inCentral Washington
by Environmental Specialist Dorothy Trainerand SPP Program Manager Kelli Bush
W ith funding support from the Institute for Applied
Ecology (IAE), Coyote Ridge Correction Center(CRCC) has launched a new Sustainability in
Prisons Project (SPP) Sagebrush Steppe
Conservation Nursery Program.

This is what we want! A seedlingsagebrush shows its beauty in the

The new program also includes collaborators fromconservation nursery. Photo by Kelli

Bureau of Land Management (BLM), W ashington

Bush.

Native Plant Society (W NP), W ashington State
University Tri-Cities (W SU TC), and IAE.
Facility staff and Superintendent Uttecht eagerly accepted the opportunity to host this new
program w ith very short notice, resulting in a busy spring and summer at CRCC. It w as
impressive how quickly they built a hoop house, hired an inmate crew , prepared containers forplanting, and planted sagebrush seeds. Plant ecologist and horticulture educator Gretchen
Grabber of W NP and W SU TCAs provides education and hands-on training.
The primary goal of this project is to provide sagebrush for restoration of greater sage-grouse
habitat. Fifty percent of the sagebrush steppe habitat in the United States has been lost tolarge scale fires, conversion to other land uses, invasive cheat grass, and noxious w eeds. All of
the sagebrush plants grow n at CRCC w ill be planted on BLM land in the Palisades Flat Fire
Project area near W enatchee, W ashington.
Thank you to each and every collaborator involved and w e look forw ard to w atching thisprogram grow ! Special thanks to Stacy Moore w ith IAE for bringing this opportunity to CRCC.

Dan Pacholke stands in front of the “Con-post” shed at Cedar Creek Corrections Center inthe earliest days of SPP.

In Appreciation of
Dan Pacholke:
SPP Co-founder and Champion
by SPP staff at Evergreen
In 2003, Dan Pacholke w as Superintendent of
Cedar Creek Corrections Center, a small prison
south of Olympia that became the birthplace of SPP.
Dan w as looking for w ays to save the institution
some money and offer green jobs training toinmates at the same time. He started composting
and w ater catchment programs. He w elcomed ascientist from The Evergreen State College, Nalini

Dan Pacholke and Dr. Carri LeRoy co-

Nadkarni, w ho engaged inmates in research

directed SPP from 2011 to 2015; undergrow ing mosses and quantifying reductions intheir shared leadership, SPP-

w aste. Sustainable operations, green jobs training,

W ashington grew three-fold. Photo by

and bringing science and nature to prisons proved a

Guinnevere Shuster.

w inning combination that later became SPP.
Dan’s inspiration and creativity have helped grow SPP into an internationally recognizedorganization. We give him credit for changing the culture of Washington State’s DOC. He
has rallied every prison to take on sustainability programs, to meet ever-more ambitious
sustainability goals. He has been a tireless advocate for a more humane prison environment,
for the sake of both inmates and staff. He pursues an ambitious and practical vision for the
future of prisons.
In 2015, Dan passed his SPP Directorship to his successor as Assistant Secretary of Prisons,
Stephen Sinclair, an appointment that ensures SPP programs w ill continue to thrive. Dan w ill
continue his commitment to SPP, now as a Senior Advisor. W e are grateful to him for more thana decade of service and leadership.

Sustainability in Prisons Project (SPP) is a partnership founded by WA Department ofCorrections and The Evergreen State College. Photo by Sadie Gilliom.

We bring
science andnature into
prisons.

Contact us and learn more.
sustainabilityinprisons.org
bushk@evergreen.edu
trivettj@evergreen.edu

Sha r e this e m a il:

Manage your preferences | Opt out using TrueRemove™
Got this as a forward? Sign up to receive our future emails.
View this email online.
The Evergreen State College, Lab 2 2257, 2700 Evergreen Parkway NW
Olympia, WA | 98505 US
This email was sent to .
To continue receiving our emails, add us to your address book.

Sustainability in Prisons Project

Summer Newsletter 2015

SPP’s New
Co-Director:
Steve
Sinclairby Joslyn Rose Trivett,
SPP Netw ork Manager
Steve Sinclair has
replaced Dan Pacholkeas the Assistant
Secretary for the
Prisons Division w ith
the W ashington State
Department ofCorrections. W ith thenew position, he has

Just before taking the reigns as SPP's new co-director, Steve
Sinclair, co-led SPP's tw o day statew ide summit. Photos by Joslyn
Rose Trivett (top) and Karissa Carlson (above).

graciously accepted
serving as Co-Director for the Sustainability in Prisons Project (SPP). Steve has already show nhimself to be a know ledgeable and capable leader for SPP, and w e are thrilled to have him on
board.
Steve takes over as Co-Director for SPP from his esteemed predecessor, Dan Pacholke. Dan w as
one of the founders of SPP, and his inspiration and creativity have helped make SPP w hat it istoday. W e have no doubt that Stephen w ill continue to rally W DOC’s sustainability culture; he isdedicated to a more humane and sustainable w ay of operating prisons.
W e w ould like to take this opportunity to thank Dan Pacholke for his tireless years of service
and dedication to SPP —see an appreciation of Dan later in this new sletter. W e w armly w elcome
Steve Sinclair to his new role as Co-Director for SPP. Thank you to you both!

Dr. Carri LeRoy talks about river and salmon ecology to a class in the Intensive Management
Unit (IMU) at Monroe Correctional Complex. This w as SPP's first lecture in a maximum security
unit. Photo by Tiffany W ebb.

SPP Science in Science, and in the IMU
by Joslyn Rose Trivett, SPP Netw ork
Manager
In recent months, SPP's Director for
Evergreen and member of the faculty
Dr. Carri LeRoy has brought scienceand SPP to new places. In May, aletter from Dr. LeRoy w as featured in
Science, one of the best-regarded
scientific journals in the w orld! Shedescribes her experience presenting anature draw ing w orkshop toincarcerated students. She ends w ith:
"Enhancing scientific literacy insociety requires us to crossboundaries and serve newaudiences. In my case, that meant
literally crossing the most impermeableboundary in U.S. society. My biggest
surprise w as that physical boundaries
are just those—talking about sciencetransforms us from people on theinside versus the outside to justpeople talking about ideas."

Dr. LeRoy's piece on SPP's lecture series was in

In July, Dr. LeRoy gave SPP's first

May's issue of Science; her piece was in thesection "Outside the Tower", meaning beyond theregular/priveleged world of academics.

lecture in an Intensive Management
Unit (IMU; also know n as
segregation). Dr. LeRoy's presentation
on rivers and salmon had thestudents' full attention for an hour and a half; they asked questions throughout, and w anted toknow w hen w e w ould be back for more. To meet their interest, w e hope to establish an ongoing
lecture series in the IMU. Offering science in an IMU means crossing an even more starkboundary, and w e w ant to challenge ourselves by crossing it again and again: talking aboutideas can and should happen everyw here.

W hen given a chance to be students of ecology, these men w ere fully engaged. Photo by
Tiffany W ebb.

Liz Louie w orked as a butterfly technician for more than tw o years, and now is one of the
few butterfly husbandry experts in the w orld. Here she guides an adult Taylor's checkerspot
butterfly to feed from a sugar-soaked Q tip. Photo by Benj Drummond and Sara Joy Steele.

The Taylor's Checkerspot Butterfly Program
Releases Another Butterfly
by Liz Louie, SPP Butterfly Technician
It has been 26 months and three seasons, w ith tw o Sustainability in Prisons Project (SPP)
bosses and three Department of Corrections (DOC) bosses, releasing approximately 8,000
caterpillars and 250 butterflies to the w ild. I have come to the end of an amazing journey. As I
leave Mission Creek and the TCB program, I w ant to say THANK YOU for the experience.
A w riter from Sierra Magazine recently asked w hat I thought about the irony of having abutterfly program in prison; the contrast betw een the delicate, fragile butterfly and the“harshness” of prison life. For me, butterflies are very resilient animals. Their primary habitatw as an artillery range, the aftermath of fire and destruction. Metaphorically, the butterfly
symbolizes re-birth, new life and beginnings. So w ith that said, Mission Creek (prison) makes a
lot of sense for a surrogate habitat.
In fact, there are other parallels betw een the butterflies and prison life. The larvae w ill
sometimes go into second diapause (D2) if they feel conditions are not right. Maybe there’s notenough food, so the larvae w ill go back to sleep. Similar to D2 larvae, w omen come in and outof prison. They may not have gotten w hat they needed from prison the first time, or they lackoutside support to help them be successful. But for me personally, at my age, its good to knowthat the final stage is a butterfly. It means the most beautiful stage of my life is yet to come.
All the other stages have been in preparation for that final one.
This w ill be a time in my life that I w on’t soon forget. The people I’ve met and the w omen I’vew orked w ith, I take aw ay something from each of them. I've learned a lot about myself, both
the good, and the things I need to change. I have a greater appreciation for the simple thingsin life. I w alk aw ay a stronger person and look forw ard to w hatever life holds.

SPP Butterfly Technicians Liz Louie and Samantha Turner hosted visitors from University ofDenver, DOC Headquarters, and SPP; the technicians provided program information for a
proposal to study the social impacts of w orking in SPP's conservation programs. Photo byAndi May.

Future Roots of Success instructors gave their full attention to the day-long training
with program founder Dr. Raquel Pinderhughes. Photo by Joslyn Rose Trivett.

Roots of Success
Marathon Instructor
Training
by Christina Stalnaker, SPP Roots of Success
Program Coordinator
After a rigorous 4-day training event, all 12
prisons in W ashington State have a cadre of

Future Master Trainer Cyril W aldron leads

Roots of Success instructors. Each day, a freshthe discussion on possible characteristics

group of instructor candidates learned theof Roots of Success students. Photo bynecessary skills to teach Roots’ environmental

Joslyn Rose Trivett.

literacy curriculum. In total, w e certified 31 new
instructors representing programs at Clallam Bay Corrections Center, Coyote Ridge Corrections
Center, Larch Corrections Center, Mission Creek Corrections Center for W omen, Olympic
Corrections Center, W ashington Corrections Center, and W ashington Corrections Center for
W omen.

At the same time, 6 of our exemplary and seasoned instructors earned their promotion to
Master Trainer. These Master Trainers now have the credentials to train and certify new
instructors for the program. Certifying Master Trainers is a major accomplishment for
SPP-WA & WDOC; Roots of Success has become nearly self-sustaining. This valuable
education program is gaining momentum, and graduating hundreds of students across thestate.
Congratulations to all the newly certified Roots of Success Master Trainers andInstructors! A giant Thank You goes out to Roots staff, Master Trainers, new instructors,
WDOC staff, and SPP GRAs for helping us take this monumental step forward in our Rootsof Success program!!!

The hoop house at Coyote Ridge Corrections Center brings nature inside the prison with a
new conservation nursery. Photo by Kelli Bush.

Growing Sagebrush inCentral Washington
by Environmental Specialist Dorothy Trainerand SPP Program Manager Kelli Bush
W ith funding support from the Institute for Applied
Ecology (IAE), Coyote Ridge Correction Center(CRCC) has launched a new Sustainability in
Prisons Project (SPP) Sagebrush Steppe
Conservation Nursery Program.

This is what we want! A seedlingsagebrush shows its beauty in the

The new program also includes collaborators fromconservation nursery. Photo by Kelli

Bureau of Land Management (BLM), W ashington

Bush.

Native Plant Society (W NP), W ashington State
University Tri-Cities (W SU TC), and IAE.
Facility staff and Superintendent Uttecht eagerly accepted the opportunity to host this new
program w ith very short notice, resulting in a busy spring and summer at CRCC. It w as
impressive how quickly they built a hoop house, hired an inmate crew , prepared containers forplanting, and planted sagebrush seeds. Plant ecologist and horticulture educator Gretchen
Grabber of W NP and W SU TCAs provides education and hands-on training.
The primary goal of this project is to provide sagebrush for restoration of greater sage-grouse
habitat. Fifty percent of the sagebrush steppe habitat in the United States has been lost tolarge scale fires, conversion to other land uses, invasive cheat grass, and noxious w eeds. All of
the sagebrush plants grow n at CRCC w ill be planted on BLM land in the Palisades Flat Fire
Project area near W enatchee, W ashington.
Thank you to each and every collaborator involved and w e look forw ard to w atching thisprogram grow ! Special thanks to Stacy Moore w ith IAE for bringing this opportunity to CRCC.

Dan Pacholke stands in front of the “Con-post” shed at Cedar Creek Corrections Center inthe earliest days of SPP.

In Appreciation of
Dan Pacholke:
SPP Co-founder and Champion
by SPP staff at Evergreen
In 2003, Dan Pacholke w as Superintendent of
Cedar Creek Corrections Center, a small prison
south of Olympia that became the birthplace of SPP.
Dan w as looking for w ays to save the institution
some money and offer green jobs training toinmates at the same time. He started composting
and w ater catchment programs. He w elcomed ascientist from The Evergreen State College, Nalini

Dan Pacholke and Dr. Carri LeRoy co-

Nadkarni, w ho engaged inmates in research

directed SPP from 2011 to 2015; undergrow ing mosses and quantifying reductions intheir shared leadership, SPP-

w aste. Sustainable operations, green jobs training,

W ashington grew three-fold. Photo by

and bringing science and nature to prisons proved a

Guinnevere Shuster.

w inning combination that later became SPP.
Dan’s inspiration and creativity have helped grow SPP into an internationally recognizedorganization. We give him credit for changing the culture of Washington State’s DOC. He
has rallied every prison to take on sustainability programs, to meet ever-more ambitious
sustainability goals. He has been a tireless advocate for a more humane prison environment,
for the sake of both inmates and staff. He pursues an ambitious and practical vision for the
future of prisons.
In 2015, Dan passed his SPP Directorship to his successor as Assistant Secretary of Prisons,
Stephen Sinclair, an appointment that ensures SPP programs w ill continue to thrive. Dan w ill
continue his commitment to SPP, now as a Senior Advisor. W e are grateful to him for more thana decade of service and leadership.

Sustainability in Prisons Project (SPP) is a partnership founded by WA Department ofCorrections and The Evergreen State College. Photo by Sadie Gilliom.

We bring
science andnature into
prisons.

Contact us and learn more.
sustainabilityinprisons.org
bushk@evergreen.edu
trivettj@evergreen.edu

Sha r e this e m a il:

Manage your preferences | Opt out using TrueRemove™
Got this as a forward? Sign up to receive our future emails.
View this email online.
The Evergreen State College, Lab 2 2257, 2700 Evergreen Parkway NW
Olympia, WA | 98505 US
This email was sent to .
To continue receiving our emails, add us to your address book.

Sustainability in Prisons Project

Summer Newsletter 2015

SPP’s New
Co-Director:
Steve
Sinclairby Joslyn Rose Trivett,
SPP Netw ork Manager
Steve Sinclair has
replaced Dan Pacholkeas the Assistant
Secretary for the
Prisons Division w ith
the W ashington State
Department ofCorrections. W ith thenew position, he has

Just before taking the reigns as SPP's new co-director, Steve
Sinclair, co-led SPP's tw o day statew ide summit. Photos by Joslyn
Rose Trivett (top) and Karissa Carlson (above).

graciously accepted
serving as Co-Director for the Sustainability in Prisons Project (SPP). Steve has already show nhimself to be a know ledgeable and capable leader for SPP, and w e are thrilled to have him on
board.
Steve takes over as Co-Director for SPP from his esteemed predecessor, Dan Pacholke. Dan w as
one of the founders of SPP, and his inspiration and creativity have helped make SPP w hat it istoday. W e have no doubt that Stephen w ill continue to rally W DOC’s sustainability culture; he isdedicated to a more humane and sustainable w ay of operating prisons.
W e w ould like to take this opportunity to thank Dan Pacholke for his tireless years of service
and dedication to SPP —see an appreciation of Dan later in this new sletter. W e w armly w elcome
Steve Sinclair to his new role as Co-Director for SPP. Thank you to you both!

Dr. Carri LeRoy talks about river and salmon ecology to a class in the Intensive Management
Unit (IMU) at Monroe Correctional Complex. This w as SPP's first lecture in a maximum security
unit. Photo by Tiffany W ebb.

SPP Science in Science, and in the IMU
by Joslyn Rose Trivett, SPP Netw ork
Manager
In recent months, SPP's Director for
Evergreen and member of the faculty
Dr. Carri LeRoy has brought scienceand SPP to new places. In May, aletter from Dr. LeRoy w as featured in
Science, one of the best-regarded
scientific journals in the w orld! Shedescribes her experience presenting anature draw ing w orkshop toincarcerated students. She ends w ith:
"Enhancing scientific literacy insociety requires us to crossboundaries and serve newaudiences. In my case, that meant
literally crossing the most impermeableboundary in U.S. society. My biggest
surprise w as that physical boundaries
are just those—talking about sciencetransforms us from people on theinside versus the outside to justpeople talking about ideas."

Dr. LeRoy's piece on SPP's lecture series was in

In July, Dr. LeRoy gave SPP's first

May's issue of Science; her piece was in thesection "Outside the Tower", meaning beyond theregular/priveleged world of academics.

lecture in an Intensive Management
Unit (IMU; also know n as
segregation). Dr. LeRoy's presentation
on rivers and salmon had thestudents' full attention for an hour and a half; they asked questions throughout, and w anted toknow w hen w e w ould be back for more. To meet their interest, w e hope to establish an ongoing
lecture series in the IMU. Offering science in an IMU means crossing an even more starkboundary, and w e w ant to challenge ourselves by crossing it again and again: talking aboutideas can and should happen everyw here.

W hen given a chance to be students of ecology, these men w ere fully engaged. Photo by
Tiffany W ebb.

Liz Louie w orked as a butterfly technician for more than tw o years, and now is one of the
few butterfly husbandry experts in the w orld. Here she guides an adult Taylor's checkerspot
butterfly to feed from a sugar-soaked Q tip. Photo by Benj Drummond and Sara Joy Steele.

The Taylor's Checkerspot Butterfly Program
Releases Another Butterfly
by Liz Louie, SPP Butterfly Technician
It has been 26 months and three seasons, w ith tw o Sustainability in Prisons Project (SPP)
bosses and three Department of Corrections (DOC) bosses, releasing approximately 8,000
caterpillars and 250 butterflies to the w ild. I have come to the end of an amazing journey. As I
leave Mission Creek and the TCB program, I w ant to say THANK YOU for the experience.
A w riter from Sierra Magazine recently asked w hat I thought about the irony of having abutterfly program in prison; the contrast betw een the delicate, fragile butterfly and the“harshness” of prison life. For me, butterflies are very resilient animals. Their primary habitatw as an artillery range, the aftermath of fire and destruction. Metaphorically, the butterfly
symbolizes re-birth, new life and beginnings. So w ith that said, Mission Creek (prison) makes a
lot of sense for a surrogate habitat.
In fact, there are other parallels betw een the butterflies and prison life. The larvae w ill
sometimes go into second diapause (D2) if they feel conditions are not right. Maybe there’s notenough food, so the larvae w ill go back to sleep. Similar to D2 larvae, w omen come in and outof prison. They may not have gotten w hat they needed from prison the first time, or they lackoutside support to help them be successful. But for me personally, at my age, its good to knowthat the final stage is a butterfly. It means the most beautiful stage of my life is yet to come.
All the other stages have been in preparation for that final one.
This w ill be a time in my life that I w on’t soon forget. The people I’ve met and the w omen I’vew orked w ith, I take aw ay something from each of them. I've learned a lot about myself, both
the good, and the things I need to change. I have a greater appreciation for the simple thingsin life. I w alk aw ay a stronger person and look forw ard to w hatever life holds.

SPP Butterfly Technicians Liz Louie and Samantha Turner hosted visitors from University ofDenver, DOC Headquarters, and SPP; the technicians provided program information for a
proposal to study the social impacts of w orking in SPP's conservation programs. Photo byAndi May.

Future Roots of Success instructors gave their full attention to the day-long training
with program founder Dr. Raquel Pinderhughes. Photo by Joslyn Rose Trivett.

Roots of Success
Marathon Instructor
Training
by Christina Stalnaker, SPP Roots of Success
Program Coordinator
After a rigorous 4-day training event, all 12
prisons in W ashington State have a cadre of

Future Master Trainer Cyril W aldron leads

Roots of Success instructors. Each day, a freshthe discussion on possible characteristics

group of instructor candidates learned theof Roots of Success students. Photo bynecessary skills to teach Roots’ environmental

Joslyn Rose Trivett.

literacy curriculum. In total, w e certified 31 new
instructors representing programs at Clallam Bay Corrections Center, Coyote Ridge Corrections
Center, Larch Corrections Center, Mission Creek Corrections Center for W omen, Olympic
Corrections Center, W ashington Corrections Center, and W ashington Corrections Center for
W omen.

At the same time, 6 of our exemplary and seasoned instructors earned their promotion to
Master Trainer. These Master Trainers now have the credentials to train and certify new
instructors for the program. Certifying Master Trainers is a major accomplishment for
SPP-WA & WDOC; Roots of Success has become nearly self-sustaining. This valuable
education program is gaining momentum, and graduating hundreds of students across thestate.
Congratulations to all the newly certified Roots of Success Master Trainers andInstructors! A giant Thank You goes out to Roots staff, Master Trainers, new instructors,
WDOC staff, and SPP GRAs for helping us take this monumental step forward in our Rootsof Success program!!!

The hoop house at Coyote Ridge Corrections Center brings nature inside the prison with a
new conservation nursery. Photo by Kelli Bush.

Growing Sagebrush inCentral Washington
by Environmental Specialist Dorothy Trainerand SPP Program Manager Kelli Bush
W ith funding support from the Institute for Applied
Ecology (IAE), Coyote Ridge Correction Center(CRCC) has launched a new Sustainability in
Prisons Project (SPP) Sagebrush Steppe
Conservation Nursery Program.

This is what we want! A seedlingsagebrush shows its beauty in the

The new program also includes collaborators fromconservation nursery. Photo by Kelli

Bureau of Land Management (BLM), W ashington

Bush.

Native Plant Society (W NP), W ashington State
University Tri-Cities (W SU TC), and IAE.
Facility staff and Superintendent Uttecht eagerly accepted the opportunity to host this new
program w ith very short notice, resulting in a busy spring and summer at CRCC. It w as
impressive how quickly they built a hoop house, hired an inmate crew , prepared containers forplanting, and planted sagebrush seeds. Plant ecologist and horticulture educator Gretchen
Grabber of W NP and W SU TCAs provides education and hands-on training.
The primary goal of this project is to provide sagebrush for restoration of greater sage-grouse
habitat. Fifty percent of the sagebrush steppe habitat in the United States has been lost tolarge scale fires, conversion to other land uses, invasive cheat grass, and noxious w eeds. All of
the sagebrush plants grow n at CRCC w ill be planted on BLM land in the Palisades Flat Fire
Project area near W enatchee, W ashington.
Thank you to each and every collaborator involved and w e look forw ard to w atching thisprogram grow ! Special thanks to Stacy Moore w ith IAE for bringing this opportunity to CRCC.

Dan Pacholke stands in front of the “Con-post” shed at Cedar Creek Corrections Center inthe earliest days of SPP.

In Appreciation of
Dan Pacholke:
SPP Co-founder and Champion
by SPP staff at Evergreen
In 2003, Dan Pacholke w as Superintendent of
Cedar Creek Corrections Center, a small prison
south of Olympia that became the birthplace of SPP.
Dan w as looking for w ays to save the institution
some money and offer green jobs training toinmates at the same time. He started composting
and w ater catchment programs. He w elcomed ascientist from The Evergreen State College, Nalini

Dan Pacholke and Dr. Carri LeRoy co-

Nadkarni, w ho engaged inmates in research

directed SPP from 2011 to 2015; undergrow ing mosses and quantifying reductions intheir shared leadership, SPP-

w aste. Sustainable operations, green jobs training,

W ashington grew three-fold. Photo by

and bringing science and nature to prisons proved a

Guinnevere Shuster.

w inning combination that later became SPP.
Dan’s inspiration and creativity have helped grow SPP into an internationally recognizedorganization. We give him credit for changing the culture of Washington State’s DOC. He
has rallied every prison to take on sustainability programs, to meet ever-more ambitious
sustainability goals. He has been a tireless advocate for a more humane prison environment,
for the sake of both inmates and staff. He pursues an ambitious and practical vision for the
future of prisons.
In 2015, Dan passed his SPP Directorship to his successor as Assistant Secretary of Prisons,
Stephen Sinclair, an appointment that ensures SPP programs w ill continue to thrive. Dan w ill
continue his commitment to SPP, now as a Senior Advisor. W e are grateful to him for more thana decade of service and leadership.

Sustainability in Prisons Project (SPP) is a partnership founded by WA Department ofCorrections and The Evergreen State College. Photo by Sadie Gilliom.

We bring
science andnature into
prisons.

Contact us and learn more.
sustainabilityinprisons.org
bushk@evergreen.edu
trivettj@evergreen.edu

Sha r e this e m a il:

Manage your preferences | Opt out using TrueRemove™
Got this as a forward? Sign up to receive our future emails.
View this email online.
The Evergreen State College, Lab 2 2257, 2700 Evergreen Parkway NW
Olympia, WA | 98505 US
This email was sent to .
To continue receiving our emails, add us to your address book.

Sustainability in Prisons Project

Summer Newsletter 2015

SPP’s New
Co-Director:
Steve
Sinclairby Joslyn Rose Trivett,
SPP Netw ork Manager
Steve Sinclair has
replaced Dan Pacholkeas the Assistant
Secretary for the
Prisons Division w ith
the W ashington State
Department ofCorrections. W ith thenew position, he has

Just before taking the reigns as SPP's new co-director, Steve
Sinclair, co-led SPP's tw o day statew ide summit. Photos by Joslyn
Rose Trivett (top) and Karissa Carlson (above).

graciously accepted
serving as Co-Director for the Sustainability in Prisons Project (SPP). Steve has already show nhimself to be a know ledgeable and capable leader for SPP, and w e are thrilled to have him on
board.
Steve takes over as Co-Director for SPP from his esteemed predecessor, Dan Pacholke. Dan w as
one of the founders of SPP, and his inspiration and creativity have helped make SPP w hat it istoday. W e have no doubt that Stephen w ill continue to rally W DOC’s sustainability culture; he isdedicated to a more humane and sustainable w ay of operating prisons.
W e w ould like to take this opportunity to thank Dan Pacholke for his tireless years of service
and dedication to SPP —see an appreciation of Dan later in this new sletter. W e w armly w elcome
Steve Sinclair to his new role as Co-Director for SPP. Thank you to you both!

Dr. Carri LeRoy talks about river and salmon ecology to a class in the Intensive Management
Unit (IMU) at Monroe Correctional Complex. This w as SPP's first lecture in a maximum security
unit. Photo by Tiffany W ebb.

SPP Science in Science, and in the IMU
by Joslyn Rose Trivett, SPP Netw ork
Manager
In recent months, SPP's Director for
Evergreen and member of the faculty
Dr. Carri LeRoy has brought scienceand SPP to new places. In May, aletter from Dr. LeRoy w as featured in
Science, one of the best-regarded
scientific journals in the w orld! Shedescribes her experience presenting anature draw ing w orkshop toincarcerated students. She ends w ith:
"Enhancing scientific literacy insociety requires us to crossboundaries and serve newaudiences. In my case, that meant
literally crossing the most impermeableboundary in U.S. society. My biggest
surprise w as that physical boundaries
are just those—talking about sciencetransforms us from people on theinside versus the outside to justpeople talking about ideas."

Dr. LeRoy's piece on SPP's lecture series was in

In July, Dr. LeRoy gave SPP's first

May's issue of Science; her piece was in thesection "Outside the Tower", meaning beyond theregular/priveleged world of academics.

lecture in an Intensive Management
Unit (IMU; also know n as
segregation). Dr. LeRoy's presentation
on rivers and salmon had thestudents' full attention for an hour and a half; they asked questions throughout, and w anted toknow w hen w e w ould be back for more. To meet their interest, w e hope to establish an ongoing
lecture series in the IMU. Offering science in an IMU means crossing an even more starkboundary, and w e w ant to challenge ourselves by crossing it again and again: talking aboutideas can and should happen everyw here.

W hen given a chance to be students of ecology, these men w ere fully engaged. Photo by
Tiffany W ebb.

Liz Louie w orked as a butterfly technician for more than tw o years, and now is one of the
few butterfly husbandry experts in the w orld. Here she guides an adult Taylor's checkerspot
butterfly to feed from a sugar-soaked Q tip. Photo by Benj Drummond and Sara Joy Steele.

The Taylor's Checkerspot Butterfly Program
Releases Another Butterfly
by Liz Louie, SPP Butterfly Technician
It has been 26 months and three seasons, w ith tw o Sustainability in Prisons Project (SPP)
bosses and three Department of Corrections (DOC) bosses, releasing approximately 8,000
caterpillars and 250 butterflies to the w ild. I have come to the end of an amazing journey. As I
leave Mission Creek and the TCB program, I w ant to say THANK YOU for the experience.
A w riter from Sierra Magazine recently asked w hat I thought about the irony of having abutterfly program in prison; the contrast betw een the delicate, fragile butterfly and the“harshness” of prison life. For me, butterflies are very resilient animals. Their primary habitatw as an artillery range, the aftermath of fire and destruction. Metaphorically, the butterfly
symbolizes re-birth, new life and beginnings. So w ith that said, Mission Creek (prison) makes a
lot of sense for a surrogate habitat.
In fact, there are other parallels betw een the butterflies and prison life. The larvae w ill
sometimes go into second diapause (D2) if they feel conditions are not right. Maybe there’s notenough food, so the larvae w ill go back to sleep. Similar to D2 larvae, w omen come in and outof prison. They may not have gotten w hat they needed from prison the first time, or they lackoutside support to help them be successful. But for me personally, at my age, its good to knowthat the final stage is a butterfly. It means the most beautiful stage of my life is yet to come.
All the other stages have been in preparation for that final one.
This w ill be a time in my life that I w on’t soon forget. The people I’ve met and the w omen I’vew orked w ith, I take aw ay something from each of them. I've learned a lot about myself, both
the good, and the things I need to change. I have a greater appreciation for the simple thingsin life. I w alk aw ay a stronger person and look forw ard to w hatever life holds.

SPP Butterfly Technicians Liz Louie and Samantha Turner hosted visitors from University ofDenver, DOC Headquarters, and SPP; the technicians provided program information for a
proposal to study the social impacts of w orking in SPP's conservation programs. Photo byAndi May.

Future Roots of Success instructors gave their full attention to the day-long training
with program founder Dr. Raquel Pinderhughes. Photo by Joslyn Rose Trivett.

Roots of Success
Marathon Instructor
Training
by Christina Stalnaker, SPP Roots of Success
Program Coordinator
After a rigorous 4-day training event, all 12
prisons in W ashington State have a cadre of

Future Master Trainer Cyril W aldron leads

Roots of Success instructors. Each day, a freshthe discussion on possible characteristics

group of instructor candidates learned theof Roots of Success students. Photo bynecessary skills to teach Roots’ environmental

Joslyn Rose Trivett.

literacy curriculum. In total, w e certified 31 new
instructors representing programs at Clallam Bay Corrections Center, Coyote Ridge Corrections
Center, Larch Corrections Center, Mission Creek Corrections Center for W omen, Olympic
Corrections Center, W ashington Corrections Center, and W ashington Corrections Center for
W omen.

At the same time, 6 of our exemplary and seasoned instructors earned their promotion to
Master Trainer. These Master Trainers now have the credentials to train and certify new
instructors for the program. Certifying Master Trainers is a major accomplishment for
SPP-WA & WDOC; Roots of Success has become nearly self-sustaining. This valuable
education program is gaining momentum, and graduating hundreds of students across thestate.
Congratulations to all the newly certified Roots of Success Master Trainers andInstructors! A giant Thank You goes out to Roots staff, Master Trainers, new instructors,
WDOC staff, and SPP GRAs for helping us take this monumental step forward in our Rootsof Success program!!!

The hoop house at Coyote Ridge Corrections Center brings nature inside the prison with a
new conservation nursery. Photo by Kelli Bush.

Growing Sagebrush inCentral Washington
by Environmental Specialist Dorothy Trainerand SPP Program Manager Kelli Bush
W ith funding support from the Institute for Applied
Ecology (IAE), Coyote Ridge Correction Center(CRCC) has launched a new Sustainability in
Prisons Project (SPP) Sagebrush Steppe
Conservation Nursery Program.

This is what we want! A seedlingsagebrush shows its beauty in the

The new program also includes collaborators fromconservation nursery. Photo by Kelli

Bureau of Land Management (BLM), W ashington

Bush.

Native Plant Society (W NP), W ashington State
University Tri-Cities (W SU TC), and IAE.
Facility staff and Superintendent Uttecht eagerly accepted the opportunity to host this new
program w ith very short notice, resulting in a busy spring and summer at CRCC. It w as
impressive how quickly they built a hoop house, hired an inmate crew , prepared containers forplanting, and planted sagebrush seeds. Plant ecologist and horticulture educator Gretchen
Grabber of W NP and W SU TCAs provides education and hands-on training.
The primary goal of this project is to provide sagebrush for restoration of greater sage-grouse
habitat. Fifty percent of the sagebrush steppe habitat in the United States has been lost tolarge scale fires, conversion to other land uses, invasive cheat grass, and noxious w eeds. All of
the sagebrush plants grow n at CRCC w ill be planted on BLM land in the Palisades Flat Fire
Project area near W enatchee, W ashington.
Thank you to each and every collaborator involved and w e look forw ard to w atching thisprogram grow ! Special thanks to Stacy Moore w ith IAE for bringing this opportunity to CRCC.

Dan Pacholke stands in front of the “Con-post” shed at Cedar Creek Corrections Center inthe earliest days of SPP.

In Appreciation of
Dan Pacholke:
SPP Co-founder and Champion
by SPP staff at Evergreen
In 2003, Dan Pacholke w as Superintendent of
Cedar Creek Corrections Center, a small prison
south of Olympia that became the birthplace of SPP.
Dan w as looking for w ays to save the institution
some money and offer green jobs training toinmates at the same time. He started composting
and w ater catchment programs. He w elcomed ascientist from The Evergreen State College, Nalini

Dan Pacholke and Dr. Carri LeRoy co-

Nadkarni, w ho engaged inmates in research

directed SPP from 2011 to 2015; undergrow ing mosses and quantifying reductions intheir shared leadership, SPP-

w aste. Sustainable operations, green jobs training,

W ashington grew three-fold. Photo by

and bringing science and nature to prisons proved a

Guinnevere Shuster.

w inning combination that later became SPP.
Dan’s inspiration and creativity have helped grow SPP into an internationally recognizedorganization. We give him credit for changing the culture of Washington State’s DOC. He
has rallied every prison to take on sustainability programs, to meet ever-more ambitious
sustainability goals. He has been a tireless advocate for a more humane prison environment,
for the sake of both inmates and staff. He pursues an ambitious and practical vision for the
future of prisons.
In 2015, Dan passed his SPP Directorship to his successor as Assistant Secretary of Prisons,
Stephen Sinclair, an appointment that ensures SPP programs w ill continue to thrive. Dan w ill
continue his commitment to SPP, now as a Senior Advisor. W e are grateful to him for more thana decade of service and leadership.

Sustainability in Prisons Project (SPP) is a partnership founded by WA Department ofCorrections and The Evergreen State College. Photo by Sadie Gilliom.

We bring
science andnature into
prisons.

Contact us and learn more.
sustainabilityinprisons.org
bushk@evergreen.edu
trivettj@evergreen.edu

Sha r e this e m a il:

Manage your preferences | Opt out using TrueRemove™
Got this as a forward? Sign up to receive our future emails.
View this email online.
The Evergreen State College, Lab 2 2257, 2700 Evergreen Parkway NW
Olympia, WA | 98505 US
This email was sent to .
To continue receiving our emails, add us to your address book.

Sustainability in Prisons Project

Summer Newsletter 2015

SPP’s New
Co-Director:
Steve
Sinclairby Joslyn Rose Trivett,
SPP Netw ork Manager
Steve Sinclair has
replaced Dan Pacholkeas the Assistant
Secretary for the
Prisons Division w ith
the W ashington State
Department ofCorrections. W ith thenew position, he has

Just before taking the reigns as SPP's new co-director, Steve
Sinclair, co-led SPP's tw o day statew ide summit. Photos by Joslyn
Rose Trivett (top) and Karissa Carlson (above).

graciously accepted
serving as Co-Director for the Sustainability in Prisons Project (SPP). Steve has already show nhimself to be a know ledgeable and capable leader for SPP, and w e are thrilled to have him on
board.
Steve takes over as Co-Director for SPP from his esteemed predecessor, Dan Pacholke. Dan w as
one of the founders of SPP, and his inspiration and creativity have helped make SPP w hat it istoday. W e have no doubt that Stephen w ill continue to rally W DOC’s sustainability culture; he isdedicated to a more humane and sustainable w ay of operating prisons.
W e w ould like to take this opportunity to thank Dan Pacholke for his tireless years of service
and dedication to SPP —see an appreciation of Dan later in this new sletter. W e w armly w elcome
Steve Sinclair to his new role as Co-Director for SPP. Thank you to you both!

Dr. Carri LeRoy talks about river and salmon ecology to a class in the Intensive Management
Unit (IMU) at Monroe Correctional Complex. This w as SPP's first lecture in a maximum security
unit. Photo by Tiffany W ebb.

SPP Science in Science, and in the IMU
by Joslyn Rose Trivett, SPP Netw ork
Manager
In recent months, SPP's Director for
Evergreen and member of the faculty
Dr. Carri LeRoy has brought scienceand SPP to new places. In May, aletter from Dr. LeRoy w as featured in
Science, one of the best-regarded
scientific journals in the w orld! Shedescribes her experience presenting anature draw ing w orkshop toincarcerated students. She ends w ith:
"Enhancing scientific literacy insociety requires us to crossboundaries and serve newaudiences. In my case, that meant
literally crossing the most impermeableboundary in U.S. society. My biggest
surprise w as that physical boundaries
are just those—talking about sciencetransforms us from people on theinside versus the outside to justpeople talking about ideas."

Dr. LeRoy's piece on SPP's lecture series was in

In July, Dr. LeRoy gave SPP's first

May's issue of Science; her piece was in thesection "Outside the Tower", meaning beyond theregular/priveleged world of academics.

lecture in an Intensive Management
Unit (IMU; also know n as
segregation). Dr. LeRoy's presentation
on rivers and salmon had thestudents' full attention for an hour and a half; they asked questions throughout, and w anted toknow w hen w e w ould be back for more. To meet their interest, w e hope to establish an ongoing
lecture series in the IMU. Offering science in an IMU means crossing an even more starkboundary, and w e w ant to challenge ourselves by crossing it again and again: talking aboutideas can and should happen everyw here.

W hen given a chance to be students of ecology, these men w ere fully engaged. Photo by
Tiffany W ebb.

Liz Louie w orked as a butterfly technician for more than tw o years, and now is one of the
few butterfly husbandry experts in the w orld. Here she guides an adult Taylor's checkerspot
butterfly to feed from a sugar-soaked Q tip. Photo by Benj Drummond and Sara Joy Steele.

The Taylor's Checkerspot Butterfly Program
Releases Another Butterfly
by Liz Louie, SPP Butterfly Technician
It has been 26 months and three seasons, w ith tw o Sustainability in Prisons Project (SPP)
bosses and three Department of Corrections (DOC) bosses, releasing approximately 8,000
caterpillars and 250 butterflies to the w ild. I have come to the end of an amazing journey. As I
leave Mission Creek and the TCB program, I w ant to say THANK YOU for the experience.
A w riter from Sierra Magazine recently asked w hat I thought about the irony of having abutterfly program in prison; the contrast betw een the delicate, fragile butterfly and the“harshness” of prison life. For me, butterflies are very resilient animals. Their primary habitatw as an artillery range, the aftermath of fire and destruction. Metaphorically, the butterfly
symbolizes re-birth, new life and beginnings. So w ith that said, Mission Creek (prison) makes a
lot of sense for a surrogate habitat.
In fact, there are other parallels betw een the butterflies and prison life. The larvae w ill
sometimes go into second diapause (D2) if they feel conditions are not right. Maybe there’s notenough food, so the larvae w ill go back to sleep. Similar to D2 larvae, w omen come in and outof prison. They may not have gotten w hat they needed from prison the first time, or they lackoutside support to help them be successful. But for me personally, at my age, its good to knowthat the final stage is a butterfly. It means the most beautiful stage of my life is yet to come.
All the other stages have been in preparation for that final one.
This w ill be a time in my life that I w on’t soon forget. The people I’ve met and the w omen I’vew orked w ith, I take aw ay something from each of them. I've learned a lot about myself, both
the good, and the things I need to change. I have a greater appreciation for the simple thingsin life. I w alk aw ay a stronger person and look forw ard to w hatever life holds.

SPP Butterfly Technicians Liz Louie and Samantha Turner hosted visitors from University ofDenver, DOC Headquarters, and SPP; the technicians provided program information for a
proposal to study the social impacts of w orking in SPP's conservation programs. Photo byAndi May.

Future Roots of Success instructors gave their full attention to the day-long training
with program founder Dr. Raquel Pinderhughes. Photo by Joslyn Rose Trivett.

Roots of Success
Marathon Instructor
Training
by Christina Stalnaker, SPP Roots of Success
Program Coordinator
After a rigorous 4-day training event, all 12
prisons in W ashington State have a cadre of

Future Master Trainer Cyril W aldron leads

Roots of Success instructors. Each day, a freshthe discussion on possible characteristics

group of instructor candidates learned theof Roots of Success students. Photo bynecessary skills to teach Roots’ environmental

Joslyn Rose Trivett.

literacy curriculum. In total, w e certified 31 new
instructors representing programs at Clallam Bay Corrections Center, Coyote Ridge Corrections
Center, Larch Corrections Center, Mission Creek Corrections Center for W omen, Olympic
Corrections Center, W ashington Corrections Center, and W ashington Corrections Center for
W omen.

At the same time, 6 of our exemplary and seasoned instructors earned their promotion to
Master Trainer. These Master Trainers now have the credentials to train and certify new
instructors for the program. Certifying Master Trainers is a major accomplishment for
SPP-WA & WDOC; Roots of Success has become nearly self-sustaining. This valuable
education program is gaining momentum, and graduating hundreds of students across thestate.
Congratulations to all the newly certified Roots of Success Master Trainers andInstructors! A giant Thank You goes out to Roots staff, Master Trainers, new instructors,
WDOC staff, and SPP GRAs for helping us take this monumental step forward in our Rootsof Success program!!!

The hoop house at Coyote Ridge Corrections Center brings nature inside the prison with a
new conservation nursery. Photo by Kelli Bush.

Growing Sagebrush inCentral Washington
by Environmental Specialist Dorothy Trainerand SPP Program Manager Kelli Bush
W ith funding support from the Institute for Applied
Ecology (IAE), Coyote Ridge Correction Center(CRCC) has launched a new Sustainability in
Prisons Project (SPP) Sagebrush Steppe
Conservation Nursery Program.

This is what we want! A seedlingsagebrush shows its beauty in the

The new program also includes collaborators fromconservation nursery. Photo by Kelli

Bureau of Land Management (BLM), W ashington

Bush.

Native Plant Society (W NP), W ashington State
University Tri-Cities (W SU TC), and IAE.
Facility staff and Superintendent Uttecht eagerly accepted the opportunity to host this new
program w ith very short notice, resulting in a busy spring and summer at CRCC. It w as
impressive how quickly they built a hoop house, hired an inmate crew , prepared containers forplanting, and planted sagebrush seeds. Plant ecologist and horticulture educator Gretchen
Grabber of W NP and W SU TCAs provides education and hands-on training.
The primary goal of this project is to provide sagebrush for restoration of greater sage-grouse
habitat. Fifty percent of the sagebrush steppe habitat in the United States has been lost tolarge scale fires, conversion to other land uses, invasive cheat grass, and noxious w eeds. All of
the sagebrush plants grow n at CRCC w ill be planted on BLM land in the Palisades Flat Fire
Project area near W enatchee, W ashington.
Thank you to each and every collaborator involved and w e look forw ard to w atching thisprogram grow ! Special thanks to Stacy Moore w ith IAE for bringing this opportunity to CRCC.

Dan Pacholke stands in front of the “Con-post” shed at Cedar Creek Corrections Center inthe earliest days of SPP.

In Appreciation of
Dan Pacholke:
SPP Co-founder and Champion
by SPP staff at Evergreen
In 2003, Dan Pacholke w as Superintendent of
Cedar Creek Corrections Center, a small prison
south of Olympia that became the birthplace of SPP.
Dan w as looking for w ays to save the institution
some money and offer green jobs training toinmates at the same time. He started composting
and w ater catchment programs. He w elcomed ascientist from The Evergreen State College, Nalini

Dan Pacholke and Dr. Carri LeRoy co-

Nadkarni, w ho engaged inmates in research

directed SPP from 2011 to 2015; undergrow ing mosses and quantifying reductions intheir shared leadership, SPP-

w aste. Sustainable operations, green jobs training,

W ashington grew three-fold. Photo by

and bringing science and nature to prisons proved a

Guinnevere Shuster.

w inning combination that later became SPP.
Dan’s inspiration and creativity have helped grow SPP into an internationally recognizedorganization. We give him credit for changing the culture of Washington State’s DOC. He
has rallied every prison to take on sustainability programs, to meet ever-more ambitious
sustainability goals. He has been a tireless advocate for a more humane prison environment,
for the sake of both inmates and staff. He pursues an ambitious and practical vision for the
future of prisons.
In 2015, Dan passed his SPP Directorship to his successor as Assistant Secretary of Prisons,
Stephen Sinclair, an appointment that ensures SPP programs w ill continue to thrive. Dan w ill
continue his commitment to SPP, now as a Senior Advisor. W e are grateful to him for more thana decade of service and leadership.

Sustainability in Prisons Project (SPP) is a partnership founded by WA Department ofCorrections and The Evergreen State College. Photo by Sadie Gilliom.

We bring
science andnature into
prisons.

Contact us and learn more.
sustainabilityinprisons.org
bushk@evergreen.edu
trivettj@evergreen.edu

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