Elaine believed in the importance of education in transforming lives. She worked tirelessly alongside Mike, her husband, to create the Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association (NSEA) in the late 1980s. Throughout the 1990s she gathered school groups and led field trips to local creeks, especially Whatcom Creek, to teach the students about salmon, salmon habitat and stewardship. She almost always included a service component to the field trips, which improved the habitat along the creek and gave participants a personal investment in the watershed. NSEA’s education programming continues to be inspired by the values that Elaine taught us and the legacy that she created. Her legacy lives on in the people she inspired and the trees that she planted.
