Hands-on history
JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 6 months AGO
The Youth Heritage Project, a free four-day historical and cultural exploration for high school-age students, will take place in Ellensburg this year. The Washington Trust for Historical Preservation, which sponsors the event, is accepting applications until May 6.
COURTESY PHOTO/WASHINGTON TRUST FOR HISTORICAL PRESERVATION
Students learn to braid a rug with traditional materials at last year’s Youth Heritage Project. This year’s project will explore alternative energy and history in the Ellensburg area.
Students give their presentations at the Washington Trust for Historical Preservation’s Youth Heritage Project last year.
Joel Martin has been with the Columbia Basin Herald for more than 25 years in a variety of roles and is the most-tenured employee in the building. Martin is a married father of eight and enjoys spending time with his children and his wife, Christina. He is passionate about the paper’s mission of informing the people of the Columbia Basin because he knows it is important to record the history of the communities the publication serves. | April 15, 2026 3:20 AM
MOSES LAKE — Some students in the Columbia Basin will get a chance to experience history at close range this summer. The Washington Trust for Historic Preservation is accepting applications for its four-day Youth Heritage Project, which will be July 13-16 in Ellensburg this year.
“We go to different places in the state every year … and do a deep dive into a place,” said Moira Nadal, director of preservation for the WTHP. “We … want the students to have a chance to get to know a place. They could be in a classroom anywhere, (but) walking around, spending time in a place, doing site visits, those are really important.”
The Youth Heritage Project is free of charge; the Foundation provides lodging, meals and transportation to the sites. With volunteer teachers serving as guides and mentors, they’ll learn about the relationship between historic and cultural preservation and alternative energy, according to an announcement from the Foundation, and visit museums and a wind farm. They’ll also have time to explore Ellensburg itself.
“(There) may be a walking tour, or an architectural tour,” Nadal said. “In past years we’ve attended events that have been hosted by the local Main Street community. Every year is a little different.”
Last year, the Youth Heritage Project explored the Mountains to Sound Greenway in the North Bend and Snoqualmie areas, according to the WTHP. They visited Snoqualmie Falls and learned about the Snoqualmie Tribe’s history and culture, toured a hydroelectric museum, visited the site of a town drowned by a dam and went through the Northwest Railway Museum. This year’s itinerary is still being hammered out, Nadal said.
The learning isn’t all passive. The students do projects and give presentations on what they’ve learned.
“We give them practice working in groups and public speaking, which are things that they’re going to need either in higher education or in the working world,” Nadal said. “(They) go up on stage and present their final projects at a town hall, and everyone has to have a speaking part … It’s low-stakes practice doing a deep dive and synthesizing a lot of different types of information.”
Over the course of the four days, Nadal said students learn to appreciate history and possibly even consider a career in it.
“(There’s) a lot of exposure to potential career paths in cultural resources,” Nadal said. “You realize you can work at a museum, you can be an archivist, you could be an archaeologist, you could be a historian. A lot of kids don’t necessarily know that.”
The Youth Heritage Project is open to all high school-age students, whether public, private or home school, at no charge. Information and applications can be found at https://bit.ly/YouthHeritage2026.
Students learn to braid a rug with traditional materials at last year’s Youth Heritage Project. This year’s project will explore alternative energy and history in the Ellensburg area.
Students give their presentations at the Washington Trust for Historical Preservation’s Youth Heritage Project last year.ARTICLES BY JOEL MARTIN
Endless battle
Noxious Weed Control Board works to keep invasive plants under control
MOSES LAKE — Some of the nastiest plants in Grant County were the topic of a class led by Jay Johnson, a consultant with the Grant County Noxious Weed Control Board, Tuesday. The Noxious Weed Control Board, as its name would suggest, is tasked with keeping weeds under control in Grant County. That’s not a small job; the board’s website lists 129 species of noxious weeds that are found around Grant County. A noxious weed is defined as an invasive, non-native plant that threatens agricultural crops, local ecosystems or fish and wildlife habitat, according to the Noxious Weed Control Board. Washington state law requires that these weeds be identified and their spread kept to a minimum, if not completely eradicated. “We’re one of those agencies a lot of people don’t really understand,” Johnson said. “We’re a county office and … our funding is tax-based assessment. When you get your tax bill and you look down at all the expenses that you pay for, there we are.”
BASIN EVENTS: Oct. 16-24
COLUMBIA BASIN — Whether you feel like shopping, crafting, learning or seeing a show, there’s something happening for you this week in the Basin. Oct. 16 ‘My Family (Mi Familia)’ screening Spanning three generations, “My Family (Mi Familia)” is a heartfelt drama that follows the Sánchez family as they build their lives in East Los Angeles. Through love, hardship, triumph, and sacrifice, the film explores the immigrant experience, the strength of family bonds, and the traditions that connect one generation to the next. Lowrider show and taco truck before the screening. Sponsored by Columbia Basin Allied Arts, EDUBS C/S and the Moses Lake Creative District. $12 per person. Doors open at 6 p.m., film begins at 7 p.m. at the Moses Lake Civic Center Auditorium, 401 S. Balsam St. Tickets and info: www.cba-arts.org.
Moses Lake author encourages women to look beyond church culture norms
MOSES LAKE — A Moses Lake author’s book, “A Christian Woman Striving to Live Her Faith in a Man-Controlled World,” takes aim at the role to which many churches relegate the female half of their congregations. “It’s to encourage women in the faith,” Linda Curran said. “A lot of churches say, ‘Teach Sunday school, do this, do that, but don’t (evangelize.)’" In her book, Curran recounts a time when she moved to a new community and joined a church there. She was surprised to learn that, as a new female member, she had been automatically assigned church cleaning duties. When she questioned it, she wrote, she was met with condescension and her objections were brushed aside. In other churches, she said, women who were capable of teaching were relegated to “women’s ministry.”