Sustainability in Prisons Project
Newsletter

Spring 2012, Issue 1

Our mission is to bringscience and nature intoprisons

SPP Evaluations Internship Experience
by SPP Spring Quarter Undergraduate Intern Jaal Mann
As an undergraduate intern with theSustainability in Prison Project for
the last 10 weeks, there has been a lot
to learn. I have spent much of mytime analyzing survey responses
from the prison lecture series, and it
has been fascinating and inspiring tosee the positive feedback inmates
return.
Inmates learned about benefits ofshopping locally and pledged to do
so in the future after attending a
lecture about organic agriculture.
After a lecture on energy use andbiofuels, they learned how biofuels
could play a role in solving energy
problems and “would love to see[biofuels] used by our farming
communities to operate theirequipment.”

lecture subject and everyday
sustainability issues.
Many of these lectures have left
inmates with lasting information andskills, such as how to use natural
herbs to treat illnesses, that “not justherbicides will kill plants”, and “tobe mindful of what goes down thedrain.”Evaluation of effectiveness is acomplex subject, but so far it isevident that not only knowledgebased responses are improving
through lectures, but attitudes about
the subjects and sustainability aswell.

The monthly lecture series is able toreach a much broader inmate
population than the frog, butterfly, or
native plant projects. It is SPP’s hopethat the wide variety of inmates
attending sustainability lectures willtake home a different view of the

While our evaluation techniques arestill being improved, when we hearthat attendees have learned “aboutthe importance of balance needed
between our use of land, care forland and the value of butterflies,”
and that “the world is way more
complicated than I ever thought,” ithelps us know that we must be doing
something right.

Inside this Issue:
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SPP Plant Profile: Roemer’s fescue (Festuca roemeri)
Featured Partner: Marc Hayes
Newly arrived Taylor’s checkerspot butterflies thriving at MCCCW
A note from SPP Co-Director Carri LeRoy

DOC Enables Former Frog
Technician to Join in theAnnual OSF Release Event
By Graduate Research Associate
Sarah WeberThe SPP was thrilled to include aformer frog technician inmate at the2011 annual frog release! HarryGreer worked with the Oregon
spotted frog project at Cedar Creek
Corrections Center since theproject’s inception in 2009. During
the 2011 season Harry raised OSF
through July when he was moved towork release. Department ofCorrections staff at CCCC went
above and beyond to accommodate
and clear Harry for attendance at therelease event. Many thanks to DOC
Superintendent Doug Cole, Captain
Charlie Washburn and ClassificationCounselor Marko Anderson. It wasa real joy to see Harry release thefrogs he so carefully raised.

Sustainability in Prisons ProjectFeatured Partner:

Marc Hayes, Ph.D.
Senior Research Scientist
Washington Department of Fishand Wildlife
Dr. Hayes directs a multiyear project tosave the endangered Oregon spotted
frog, a Pacific Northwest species
impacted by habitat destruction,
predation by exotic plants and animals,
and chytrid fungal infections
exacerbated by climate change.
From Olympia, Washington, heoversees a network of field biologists
and rearing institutions such as
Northwest Trek, The Oregon Zoo,
Woodland Park Zoo, and our own teamat the Cedar Creek Corrections Center(CCCC). Captive reared mature frogs
are reintroduced in the fall to nearby
wetlands at Fort Lewis, while immaturefrogs overwinter at CCCC, fattening up
for their release in the spring.
With nearly 40 years in amphibian andreptile studies, Marc coordinates
Washington State’s Agreement for
Adaptive Management Research in
Headwater Streams for Forests andFish. His ecological research has taken
him from the Pacific Northwest to
Arizona, California, Florida, Mexico
and Costa Rica – not to mention hisown backyard, where he snares and tags
tiny alligator lizards darting among therocks walls.

SPP Plant Profile: Roemer’s Fescue(Festuca roemeri)

By Graduate Research Associate Evan Hayduk
Plant Profile:
This is the first installment in a newseries of pieces we are calling ourplant profiles. Over the coming
months we will highlight one of the40 species of prairie or riparianplants that are grown at Stafford
Creek Correctional Facility. This isintended to give you an idea of what
we are growing, focus on theconservation importance of eachspecies, and offer a few fun facts
about each species.
Basic Information:
Roemer’s fescue is a bluish, graygreen tufted bunch grass that grows
from British Columbia (southeasternVancouver Island and the Gulf
Islands), and west of the Cascade
Mountains in Washington, Oregon
and Northern California. Theseareas are typically temperate, withmaritime influence. Roemer’s fescue
grows from sea level to about 2500
ft. The species is also found in thinsoiled windswept shorelines on theislands of the Puget Sound, theStrait of Juan de Fuca and theStraits of Georgia.

Ecological Importance:
A foundation species of the prairiesof the Pacific Northwest, Roemer’s
fescue is predominately found in theglacial outwash prairies of the SouthSound and those which have ahistory of anthropogenic
burning. Its quick growth makes
this fescue an effective groundcover, but its bunch grass natureallows for the growth of otherimportant prairie species, including
associated species common camas(Camassia quamash), field woodrush(Luzula campestris), spike goldenrod(Solidago spanthulata), early blue
violet (Viola adunca) and prairielupine (Lupinus lepidus) to name afew.
Who is this Roemer guy anyway?
Roemer’s fescue is named for Swiss
physician, professor of botany andentomologist Johann Jakob Roemer(1762-1819). Roemer was best
known for one of the greatest
achievements in the history of Swiss
entomology, the Genera insectorum
Linnaei et Frabricii. Roemer also
published the 16th edition of Carlos
Linnaeus’ Systema Vegetabilium.

Sustainability in Prisons Project

Taylor’s Checkerspot Butterflies Thriving atMCCCW
By Graduate Research Associate Dennis Aubrey
After a year of preparation, thebutterfly program at Mission
Creek Corrections Center for
Women is rearing endangered
butterflies! In early March we
received 755 post diapause
Taylor’s checkerspot larvae from
Mary Jo Andersen at the Oregon
Zoo (OZ). When they emerged
from their cooler, they foundthemselves in caterpillar paradise.
Cool nights, warm bright days,
perfect moisture, fresh leaves
every morning, no predators,
vehicles, or hard freezes; whatmore could a caterpillar ask for?
When the caterpillars arrived, light
conditions in the new facility were
perfect, and they responded
immediately. Of the 755, 600 werereleased a week later onto a Joint
Base Lewis-McChord
reintroduction site and 155
continued to develop at the prison.
Throughout the season inmatesweighed and measured adultbutterflies as they emerged.
Weights are being compared withhistoric averages from the OZ.
One of the original goals of thefacility design was to more closely
mimic natural conditions in orderto produce butterflies as large

as wild-caught individuals. It canbe challenging to rear full sized
adults in captivity.
The four inmates currently
involved with the project aremeticulous in their care of theanimals. They keep detailed
records and observations. Theircareful manner was critical as they
assisted in a research projectexamining which host plants thebutterflies preferred for oviposition(egg laying). This work is anattempt to better understandwhich native prairie plants aremost valuable to the butterfly as aresource in habitat restoration
plots. This critical, relevant
research, also involves a second
endangered species, stateendangered Golden paintbrush(Castilleja levisecta). The outcome
could alter restoration project
management decisions for bothspecies and make both recovery
efforts more synergistic. TheInmates and three students ran atotal of 30 research trials over 4weeks for 5-6 days each week.
Adult butterflies were successfully
mated resulting in over 3000
Taylor’s checkerspot eggs!

Foundation Donations Provide Support for SPP!
By SPP Project Manager Kelli BushThe Sustainability in Prisons Project (SPP) received generous donations fromtwo different family foundations this spring. The first donation will be used tohelp support our evaluation program, efforts to expand SPP to other states, andsome of our general operating costs. The second donation provides muchneeded help with general operating costs such as supplies for our conservation
projects, printed pamphlets describing our work, education materials forincarcerated individuals or transportation to prisons. Both awards are greatly
appreciated and make a significant difference in helping us accomplish ourmission.

Carri J. LeRoy
Co-Director, Sustainability in
Prisons Project
Member of the Faculty, TheEvergreen State College
Hello! It is an honor to address you at
the Co-Director of the Sustainability in
Prisons Project. I came on board in Juneof 2011 and have been immensely
satisfied by my work with the SPP. I am
pleased to note that the SPP has
expanded in terms of staff, students andresearch projects. To that end we would
like to thank our generous donors andgrantors. We continue to reach broad
audiences and have been delighted withrecent media pieces (a French film
documentary titled “Sentinelles de laNature,” and a recent article inConservation Magazine, to mention
two). Together with our amazing
conservation partners, graduate
students, DOC staff and inmates wehave released over 300 Oregon spotted
frogs and raised over 600,000 prairie andriparian plants. We have provided
science lectures to over 2400 inmatesand helped the DOC reduce costs bydiverting from their waste stream 90% offood waste to compost and 89% ofrecyclables statewide. This fantastically“win-win-win-win” project is gaining
speed nationally and we hope to host alarge conference this year and work
toward finalizing an SPP handbook. Asa side note – you may have noticed ourname change – we made this carefully
deliberated minor change to better
address sustainability in prisons.
Thanks to all of you for making the SPP
a successful and inspiring collaboration!

Sustainability in Prisons Project

Sustainability in Prison Projects Vision:
The Sustainability in Prisons Project mission is to 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, andhuman costs of prisons by inspiring and informing sustainable practices. This
union of ideas and activities – and people inside and outside prison walls –creates a collaborative, intellectually stimulating environment in whichincarcerated men and women play key roles in conservation and advancing
scientific knowledge. We encourage teamwork, mutual respect and astewardship ethic among individuals who typically have little or no access tonature or opportunities in science and sustainability.

Sustainability in Prisons ProjectContact Us!
Sustainability in Prisons Project
The Evergreen State College
2700 Evergreen Parkway NW Lab 2
Olympia, WA 98506
Phone- 360-867-6863
Website- www.sustainableprisons.org
www.facebook.com/sustainableprisons

Spring 2012, Issue 1