2026 Community Action Training School
Are you ready to make real change in your watershed? Do you feel more knowledge on key environmental issues would allow you to focus your passions on habitat restoration and ecosystem protections and resilience for salmon, wildlife, and humans?
Join us for our upcoming Community Action Training School! No prior experience or background in course topics necessary. This year CATS will take place September – November 2026. Applications will be open July 1, 2026.
CATS empowers community members to become change makers in their communities. This free, continuing education program will guide participants through a robust series of classes and field experiences focusing on scientific, social, cultural, and political issues important to watershed health and salmon recovery. We will hear from community members, non-profit organizations, and local and Tribal governments to learn about the work they are doing throughout the watersheds. Participants will be supported in designing and implementing a stewardship action project that helps make a difference for salmon in their watershed.
Community Action Training School is designed for residents of Watershed Resource Inventory Areas (WRIA) 8 (the Lake Washington/Cedar/Sammamish Watershed).
Application
2025 Course Schedule and Themes
CATS has 7 virtual classroom sessions (Wednesday evenings from 6:00 – 7:30 pm) with guest speakers; 1 in-person evening outing (Wednesday, 6pm – 8:30pm,); 3 field excursions (Saturdays, 9am – 2:30pm) guided by local ecologists and restoration professionals; & a Stewardship Action Project.
CATS classrooms sessions and field excursions will be held September 24 – November 15, 2025, with graduation shortly after the last field excursion.
Your Commitment
We ask for your commitment to attend at least 80% of the sessions, and complete a minimum of 32 hours toward a Stewardship Action Project. Stewardship Action Project hours can be logged for the duration of the program and may, for some people, be ongoing beyond the end of the program depending on their project and how it is structured. Projects can either be self-created with guidance from Mid Sound Staff, or volunteering on specific projects with partners at restoration or conservation sites within WRIA 8.
Stewardship Action Projects
Frequently Asked Questions
Applications for Fall 2026 will open July 1, 2026.
Notifications will be sent out on a rolling basis through a date announced when applications opens.
Yes! Space allowing, we will review applications through the first week of the program start date. Please apply even if you’ve missed the deadline. We would love to meet you!
CATS is FREE! We ask for your commitment to attend at least 80% of the sessions and complete a minimum of 32 hours toward a Stewardship Action Project.
We will host virtual classroom sessions via Zoom. Field experiences are in person and located around the Central Puget Sound region.
You’ll hear from local educators, activists, policy makers, and people who have worked in the restoration field for decades. We’ll have scientists who are experts in their fields cover a variety of topics like how rain flowing off roads adds up to a water quality crisis affecting our Southern Resident Killer Whales. You’ll meet community members like you who have been in the trenches fighting to restore salmon in their communities. And we’ll pull together tangible actions you can champion in your own community.
Sometimes giving back takes support! We mentor you through the development and execution of a Stewardship Action Project that will make a meaningful difference for salmon. Past Stewardship Action Projects have included creating the Student Salmon Stewards program at a high school in Edmonds, developing a virtual field trip of a Puget Sound dive excursion with a live stream to a local classroom, conducting a forage fish survey of a local beach, and revegetating several local parks and public spaces. Stewardship Action Projects will be introduced during the course; you can join one that we have pre-seeded with our partners, or you can create one of your own. Projects can be done as individuals, as groups with other participants, and/or in partnership with local organizations. Our staff will be available to help you in various ways, including helping you make connections with people in your field of interest, setting you on a good path, coming up with ideas for funding, or connecting youth local organizations in need of support.
Thanks to generous funding from the King County Flood Control District and WRIA 8 Salmon Recovery Board we are able to offer CATS as a free course. All we ask in return is your commitment to attend at least 80% of the sessions and complete a minimum of 32 hours toward your Stewardship Action Project. Our ultimate hope and dream (and goal!) is that you remain active in making your community a better place–for people, for habitats, for wildlife, and for salmon.
Currently auditing is only available as professional development to groups from local and partner organizations. Please contact us to learn more.
Still have more questions?
Great! We would love to answer them! Please contact us with any questions.
Community Action Training School is funded by the King County Flood Control District as directed by the WRIA 8 Salmon Recovery Council. We are grateful for their generous support!.
