Learn and Serve Environmental Anthropology (LEAF)
Community-based Anthropology
The LEAF School partners with tribes, government agencies, non-profits, and businesses to engage students through service-learning and community-based research in the hands-on application of traditional environmental knowledge and anthropological research methods to modern sustainability challenges. At the core of the program are summer field courses and year-around community-based activities linked to anthropology courses throughout the academic year. Typical projects include supporting sustainable food production, tribal canoe journey, ethnobotany, wildlife tracking, green infrastructure, and archaeological surveys and excavations. In addition to the field courses and activities undergraduate research supported by external grants and contracts gives students first-hand experience in ethnographic, ecological, and archaeological methods.
Archaeological Field School, Summer 2025
Edmonds College ran a successful archaeological field school in 2012 at Japanese Gulch in Mukilteo, Wash., and will be returning to this site in July 2025 for an exciting new season. Japanese Gulch developed alongside the Mukilteo Lumber Company, which began hiring Japanese workers in 1903. The community grew from 35 residents in 1903 to 100 by 1909, expanding further after the Crown Lumber Company purchased the mill. Japanese-American workers were vital to industries across the Pacific Northwest, including lumber, farming, and railroads (NWAA 2009, 14). Ethnographic accounts and archaeological evidence reveal a vibrant community with single-story family homes, a dormitory for 45 single men, a playground, a community hall, and a boys’ club (SWCA 2011, 13–14). Residents sourced goods from Japan or local merchants, utilized nearby resources, and shopped at the Crown Company Store (NWAA 2009, 55–56). However, the late 1920s economic downturn led to the Crown Lumber Company’s closure in 1930, causing residents to leave in search of work and marking the decline of Japanese Gulch.
Join us in July to uncover more details about this community and their everyday lives. You will learn and practice standard archaeological field and lab skills necessary to work in cultural resources management careers.
Fish, Wildlife, and Green Infrastructure
The LEAF School partners with the Center for Service-Learning to host fish and wildlife monitoring projects for the City of Mukilteo and Snohomish County and green infrastructure projects with the Cities of Edmonds and Lynnwood, Snohomish Conservation District, and Puget Sound Partnership. Students can sign up to participate in these projects through the Center for Service-Learning. Reports from previous projects are available at Dr. Thomas Murphy's profile page on Academia.edu.
Public Events
In addition to summer field courses and activities throughout the year, the LEAF School
and Center for Service-Learning support large public events open to the community.
Join us for events at q’wәld’ali (Place of the Cooking Fire) Cultural Kitchen Campus Community Farm, and stәĺĵxwáli (Place-of-Medicine) Ethnobotanicall Garden. Help the powwow committee and our Native Student Association host an annual Powwow on the first weekend of May. Sign up for these and similar projects through the Center for Service-Learning.