For LGBTQIA+ youth ages 16 to 22

Includes a hike/walk

Treasure hunt

Games

Creative costume contest

Fabooo..lous food and prizes

FLSSP will be returning to our Tibbetts Creek site this October!

Join us as we plant more native species, grub out invasive blackberries, and sweat a little to care for our salmon-bearing streams!

FLSSP wants to thank all the volunteers who have contributed to one of our most successful years yet! Whether you are joining us in the morning to volunteer, you helped us put on a community event, you picked up litter with us, or you were one of the first volunteers to remove blackberry at our Tibbetts Creek Restoration site last year, we hope you will join us for lunch!

To say thank you, we invite all our volunteers to a Volunteer Appreciation Picnic on September 28th. After you enjoy a lovely lunch, FLSSP board members will be on hand to lead salmon and restoration tours to appreciate all the amazing volunteer work that has happened and the impact it has on our park and wildlife.

To celebrate National Public Lands Day and kick off our fall volunteer restoration events, FLSSP is planning a day full of fun for our volunteers! Join us in the morning to work on one of a few projects, old and new, at the park, and then stay for a Volunteer Appreciation Lunch and activities. Prizes for our

#keepyoureyeontherootball contest will be awarded!

Join us for volunteering, lunch and activities, or one or the other!

Volunteers will have the opportunity to help us with invasive species removal, landscaping improvements, and litter pickup. Our two work sites include:

Tibbetts Creek Restoration Area: help us continue to remove invasive species and protect our young native plants by installing protective caging. Participants who take part in grubbing out blackberry rootballs will have a chance to win a "day-of" prize in our #keepyoureyeontherootball contest!

Front Entrance Landscaping Improvements: help us replant the garden at the front entrance to the park, transforming it into a year-round sight to behold!

After volunteering, head over to the Meadow Shelter for lunch, courtesy of FLSSP and our partner, Tasty Z's! We will award prizes in our #keepyoureyeontherootball contest and offer short salmon and restoration tours afterwards. Learn more about the picnic and activities here

Alright, let’s try this again!

Saturday, July 13th, 2024

Join City of Issaquah Urban Forest Supervisor and FLSSP board member Dan Hintz to learn about the native species used in restoration efforts at Lake Sammamish State Park. Participants will tour multiple FLSSP restoration sites along Tibbetts Creek and learn to identify the common native trees and shrubs used to restore riparian habitat. The hike will start at Tibbetts Beach and will follow established trails on level ground for approximately 1 mile round trip.

Friends of Lake Sammamish State Park (FLSSP) invites you to join us in celebrating the installation of six custom art acoustic panels in the Meadow Shelter! Join us Monday, July 8th at 6pm at the Meadow Shelter for a reception to view these captivating and functional art pieces; light refreshments will be served.

Please RSVP by Friday, July 5th.

Thanks to generous funding from the City of Issaquah Arts Commission, and in partnership with Washington State Parks, FLSSP sought artists to create custom artwork for functional panels that could address acoustic issues within the renovated Meadow Shelter. Bethany Fackrell and Austin Picinich, two celebrated local artists from East King County, were selected to create six pieces of art for this space. The artwork represents iconic wildlife that resides in the park, the heritage of Lake Sammamish, and the ability for our diverse communities to coexist with each other and with our natural environment. Bethany, a Snoqualmie Tribe member and Navy veteran, creates art in the Coast Salish Indigenous style; Austin, a local student and founder of the Save Our Salmon (SOS) Mural Series initiative, uses vibrant colors to spark joy. Both artists, inspired by the natural world around them, actively work to restore the threatened native Kokanee salmon population in Lake Sammamish.

Learn more about the Meadow Shelter, the artists, and this project here

Saturday, June 15th, 2024

Join City of Issaquah Urban Forest Supervisor and FLSSP board member Dan Hintz to learn about the native species used in restoration efforts at Lake Sammamish State Park. Participants will tour multiple FLSSP restoration sites along Tibbetts Creek and learn to identify the common native trees and shrubs used to restore riparian habitat. The hike will start at Tibbetts Beach and will follow established trails on level ground for approximately 1 mile round trip.

Please join us in welcoming our partner group Outdoors for All to Lake Sammamish State Park!

Join us for the Outdoors for All Lake Sammamish Grand Opening Party on June 15th, 12-3pm at Lake Sammamish State Park – Sunset Beach. Come and witness the inauguration of our newest location dedicated to promoting inclusivity and accessibility on the Eastside. The afternoon will include a cycling parade, ribbon cutting ceremony, kayaking, live music, light refreshments, and a chance for us to connect with our new neighbors. In addition to hosting an exciting cycling parade, we will be attempting to set a new world record for the longest chain of 24 connected trikes! Help us celebrate this milestone and support our mission by working to make adaptive recreation accessible to all.

We look forward to celebrating with you!

FLSSP will be hosting our next restoration event on June 15th from 10 am – noon. We will continue work on the Tibbetts Creek site grubbing out blackberry, mulching, and weeding. You might even dig up an entry for our #KeepYourEyeOnTheRootBall contest! (Learn more here: Blackberry at Lake Sammamish State Park: Show Us Your “Heart” — Friends of Lake Sammamish State Park Website | Support, Enhance and Promote Lake Sammamish State Park (lakesammamishfriends.org))

Also, don’t forget to #KeepYourEyeOnTheRootBall when at a FLSSP event or working in the garden!

Join Friends of Lake Sammamish State Park as we learn how to find art while walking…even if you don’t think you’re an artist!

Led by local fiber artist and author Janice King, this easy walk will explore both natural and man-made elements for art images. You will see familiar things in new ways and make new discoveries that will increase your enjoyment of any nature walk.

Suitable for adults and children age 10 and older. No experience required; just bring your curiosity. Capture interesting visuals with your phone camera or a quick sketch (limited sketching supplies available). We won’t have time to finish any art, but a group show and share of inspirations at the walk’s end will help everyone see the range of artistic possibilities.

Walk leader Janice King is a fiber artist whose work focuses on the natural elements of the Pacific Northwest, especially our native trees. She is also author of the local guidebook Eastside Seattle Walks, which covers easy walking routes in each Eastside community that feature nature, history and public art.

Space is limited; reserve your spot now!

To be added to the waitlist, please email operations@flssp.org

FLSSP will be hosting our next restoration event on May 18th from 10 am – noon. We will continue work on the Tibbetts Creek site grubbing out blackberry, mulching, and weeding. You might even dig up an entry for our #KeepYourEyeOnTheRootBall contest! (Learn more here: Blackberry at Lake Sammamish State Park: Show Us Your “Heart” — Friends of Lake Sammamish State Park Website | Support, Enhance and Promote Lake Sammamish State Park (lakesammamishfriends.org))

Want to adopt one of our recently planted trees at this site? For each $25 (or more!) donation made during GiveBIG, we will put your name on a tree here and welcome you to come find your tree between May 18th and June 15th! Friends of Lake Sammamish State Park | Washington Gives (wagives.org)

Also, don’t forget to #KeepYourEyeOnTheRootBall when at a FLSSP event or working in the garden!

FLSSP is excited to host our 8th annual Walk n Wag event – the largest dog party on the Eastside! This year will be a fun event for the whole family with a 3K walk, Doggie Village with vendors and activities, performances by Seattle Fly Dogs and Rainier Agility, the Banner Bank pet show, food trucks, music from Warm 106.9 and more. We can't wait to see all the wonderful dogs and their friends and families at Walk ‘n’ Wag!

EVENT SCHEDULE

10:00-2:00 Registration and Doggie Village open

10:30-11:00 3k Walk in the Park

11:00-2:00 Beer Garden / Food Vendors open

11:00-11:30 Seattle Fly Dogs

12:00-12:30 Banner Bank Pet Show (5 Categories: Best Personality (AKA Ugliest Dog), Waggiest “Tail”, Dog/Owner Look Alike, Best Trick, Best Costume)

12:30-1:15 Rainier Agility

1:30-2:00 Seattle Fly Dogs

Thank you to our sponsors, Alpine Animal Hospital, Michael’s Subaru of Bellevue, and Pet Pros by Earthwise Pet; our Pet Show sponsor, Banner Bank; our media sponsor, Warm 106.9; and our Prize sponsors, All the Best and Pickles Playland, for their support of this event!

PARTICIPANT REGISTRATION: Got the zoomies and can't wait to register? Registration is open now through May 3rd! Each $20 “Bark Pass” includes 3K walk entry for 1 dog and 2 humans (additional humans $5 extra), an entry to the pet show, and your choice of swag item: bandana, Frisbee or collapsible water bowl, as well as giveaways from our partners. All proceeds from Walk n Wag support our work to enhance Lake Sammamish State Park. 

All proceeds from this tail-wagging event go toward the FLSSP general fund to support programming, projects and amenities at Lake Sammamish State Park. Over the course of last year, proceeds from our FLSSP hosted events helped restore 2.5 acres of the park, planting of over 150 trees, replacement of 8 shade trees, and much more. We welcome additional donations at time of registration that will be directed to our Park Improvement Fund specifically allocating monies toward trail maintenance, improving accessibility, and working on restoring Lake Sammamish State Park lands. We are so grateful for our community’s support for FLSSP events through registration. 

Participate in the world-wide 2024 City Nature Challenge by joining City of Issaquah Urban Forest Supervisor Dan Hintz for a walk along Sunset Beach to learn about and identify as many unique species of plants and animals as possible.

The Challenge runs from April 26 to 29, 2024 and your observations will count towards those made from within the wider Seattle-Tacoma Metropolitan Area. This is a friendly competition among cities to see who can identify the most unique species, while helping citizens and scientists alike better understand local biodiversity.

Even if you are not an expert, you can still participate. Dan will be there to help, but by using the iNaturalist app on your smart phone, you can capture and upload images of plants and animals that you maybe can’t identify, but the iNaturalist community can. Every legit observation counts regardless if whether the observer identifies the plant or animal themselves or not.

Prior to arriving for the hike:

• Download the iNaturalist app from the Apple App Store or Google Play on your smart phone. Once that is setup, go into the Projects area in the app and search for and join the “City Nature Challenge 2024: Seattle-Tacoma Metropolitan Area”.

• Click on the Download button to access the list of plants found within the Issaquah Alps as recorded by the Washington Native Plant Society.

Event is full, please join again next year!

FLSSP will be hosting our next restoration event of 2024 on the 20th of April from 10 am – noon. We will continue our work to protect the young trees we planted with wire cages and to apply mulch to the newly planted area. We will also be pulling any sprouting blackberry or other non-native plants. Join us to have some fun and get some work done!

Join us for a night of learning about the bears and coyotes that we share a home with in and around Issaquah. Learning from a panel of professionals and experts we will discuss their biology, role in our local ecosystems, and how city initiatives are influenced by coexistence and empathy. This is a space to provide community members with tips on how best to coexist and engage in the support of carnivores.

FLSSP will host a table at the Issaquah Sustainability Fair at nearby Pickering Barn on Saturday, March 30tth from 10 am – 3 pm. We would love for you to stop by and say hi, pick up a native seed packet, and learn about our restoration projects and other work for 2024. The Issaquah Sustainability Fair is a great place to learn more about sustainability and sustainable living, sign up to volunteer, or just spend an afternoon exploring more about the City of Issaquah. The fair will give you an opportunity to check out local products, participate in an interactive art piece or go on a mini-field trip to see a salmon habitat restoration site. To learn more please visit: issaquahwa.gov/SustainabilityFair. We look forward toseeing you there!