The mission of Columbia Valley Parks and Recreation District is to improve the quality of life in Columbia Valley by providing the community with access to
diverse parks and recreational opportunities.
Columbia Valley Parks and Recreation District is a local government entity within Whatcom County. Our commissioners are elected from our community by our community and volunteer for this service. Learn more about our commissioners and the work CVPRD is doing on our About page.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Do you worry about protecting your home from wildfires?
Join us for a free workshop on how to prepare and protect your home and family from wildfires. Amanda Knauf, Wildfire Preparedness Specialist from the Whatcom Conservation District, will be conducting this free workshop to help us learn how to be prepared for wildfires. Assistant Fire Chief David Moe of the Kendall Fire Station will be sharing information on evacuation plans as well as other fire preparedness and prevention strategies.
Wildfire Preparedness Workshop
Saturday, April 29, 6.30-7.30pm at the Kendall Fire Station training room (the building in back)
This is a FREE PUBLIC event brought to you by Columbia Valley Parks and Recreation District, Kendall Fire Station and Whatcom Conservation District.
Join us to learn how you can better prepare and protect your home if there is a wildfire in Columbia Valley or the surrounding areas.
Attend in person or via zoom. The link is on the flyer, or scan the QR code to attend by zoom.
For more information or questions, contact us by email at cvparksandrec@gmail.com, or call 360.656.6771.
Spring Activities in and Around Columbia Valley
A bit of hail, a few snowflakes, and of course those April showers can make it difficult to plan outdoor activities this time of year, but here in the Pacific Northwest most of us are accustomed to sunny at 11am and raining at 11:02am, and sometimes raining and sunny at the same time. But, with the weather warming up everyone is eager to get outside!
Below are several child-oriented activites that offer ways for kids and adults to grow together, for making connections with the natural world, cultivating environmental awareness, building self-confidence and learning problem-solving skills.
One of my favorite activities with kids is finding a small pond (aka large puddle) and looking for tadpoles. Kids love watching a jar of tadpoles turn into frogs and it’s a great natural history lesson.
Taking walks, or just playing in the backyard when you have a magnifying glass in your hand gives a whole new perspective on the natural world. From examining how flowers are designed to counting all the legs on that mystery bug, handing kids a magnifying glass (while you keep google handy for answering questions), is a great way to introduce children to the microcosms in our environment.
Another activity my kids loved was making mud castles; it’s a bit messy but tremedous fun! You make mud castles just like you would sand castles. It does take half your kitchen bowls and utensils for kids to make mud castles, but what’s a little mud if they’re having fun. One of the lessons that can be learned from this activity is the impermanance of natural materials. The next rainy day will slowly erode the castle features back to the ground helping kids understand natural cycles and processes. It also helps children develop spatial reasoning while working on fine motor skills, and best of all, it allows them to be creative.
You don’t have to be a gardner to do this project with kids: take some dried beans (any type of dried bean will work), a little potting soil, a few paper cups and kids. Have the kids fill the paper cups with soil, moisten the soil slightly, then poke a few holes in the soil and push a bean into each hole. Keep the soil slightly moist by misting it with a spray bottle and in a few days you’ll have bean popping their little heads up! When they have at least 2 sets of leaves, and the ground has warmed to at least 55 degrees, have the kids transplant them to the garden, or into pots. Beans do quite well grown in pots and look nice. As summer progresses the kids can harvest their beans which can turn into other activities in the kitchen learning how to prepare and cook them.
Kids also love building worm beds. Worms increase nutrient availability, create better drainage, and help stabilize soil structure, all of which help improve our soil. They feed on plant debris (dead roots, leaves, grasses, manure) and soil. To learn how to build a worm bed with your kids click here. Teaching kids about beneficial creatures like worms helps them develop a better understanding of the natural world.
All of these activities encourage and foster self-confidence, self-esteem, self-reliance, creativity and learning through science.
The first wildflowers will be popping out pretty soon and it’s always fun to take a walk with the kids, or by yourself, and learn to identify local flora. Here are links to tree and flower identification in our area.
Other Outdoor Activities
We have a wide variety of animal life also looking forward to spring. Kids love spotting animal tracks in the mud and trying to figure out what animal they belong to. Here’s a great guide to animal tracks you and your kids can have fun with.
Another great guide is this one to identify animal poo. This one is a big hit with most kids!
Wildfire Preparedness Workshop
Saturday, April 29, 6.30-7.30pm at the Kendall Fire Station training room (the building in back)
This is a FREE PUBLIC event brought to you by Columbia Valley Parks and Recreation District, Kendall Fire Station and Whatcom Conservation District.
Join us to learn how you can better prepare and protect your home if there is a wildfire in Columbia Valley or the surrounding areas.
Attend in person or via zoom. The link is on the flyer, or scan the QR code to attend by zoom.
Please note: parking is available at the library or at Kendall Elementary school. Do not park in the fire hall lot.
For more information or questions, contact Columbia Valley Parks and Recreation District by email at cvparksandrec@gmail.com, or call 360.656.6771.
Be careful out there!
We share our environment with a number of predators including bears, cougar and coyotes and must always be alert to the possibility of their presence.
It won’t be long now before the bears begin waking up and stretching their legs in search of a good meal after the long winter. It is advisable to always carry bear spray and to make plenty of noise when you’re out walking, even in areas you think you don’t need to. Keep your dog on a good leash to prevent harm to both the dog and bear, and possibly you. Don’t let children run ahead or wander away from you.
Here’s a good article on how to practice bear safety.
Recent bear sitings in our neighborhoods and on Kendall Highway are testament to how we are impacting bear territories around us, and it means we can never be sure one isn’t napping under that next bush.
Upcoming Activities from Columbia Valley Parks District
Coming Soon! Park improvement work days.
As soon as the weather stops sending winter weather we will be scheduling workdays in the Santa Fe Trail park to build fences, do some landscaping and begin adding benches and tables, play equipment and more.
Keep an eye on our website and our Facebook account.
If you’re interested in helping out, email us at cvparksandrec@gmail.com.
We’d love to have you join us in making this park beautiful and welcoming!
Free Self-Defense Classes
The self-defense classes were a big hit; everyone learned a lot of useful safety skills and had tremendous fun doing it. We will be bringing the instructors back for more trainings in home invasion, self-defense for Elders and disabled, an 8-hr intensive self-defense class, and more!
Join our mailing list here ~ Like us on Facebook!
We hope you will spend some time exploring our website and learning more about the Columbia Valley Park and Recreation District (CVPRD) in Whatcom County, Washington.
Columbia Valley Parks Future
With the purchase of our first park property earlier this year, we began fulfilling our goal of developing several parks throughout Columbia Valley. Our intent is to provide a park within walking distance of every home in our district (see map below).
There have been many studies that demonstrate how easy access to parks helps people stay mentally and physically healthy, increases awareness of the environment and its care, and helps develop a deeper connection with the natural world, just to name a few benefits.
Part of Columbia Valley Parks and Recreation District’s objectives are to improve health and wellbeing within our community, but also to provide places where people can gather for activities, events, or to just sit on a bench visiting with a neighbor.
If you would like to learn more about the benefits of having local parks, click on the following link: Parks page.
Join Us! We’d love to have your input in the planning and development of our park system!
Please join us at one of our monthly public meetings. To learn more, visit our Public Meetings page.
To get in touch with us, visit our Contact page, call us at 360.656.6771 or email us at cvparksandrec@gmail.com.
We welcome your ideas and comments!
Below is a map showing the boundaries of the Columbia Valley Parks and Recreation District.
Columbia Valley Park & Recreation District 