A Friendly Reminder

When I heard the news that Forterra had helped conserve a Girl Scout camp in Grays Harbor County, I thought to myself, "I know that place!"

Sure enough, Camp Klahanee, for which Forterra recently purchased the conservation easement, is the camp I was invited to visit by my cousin's Girl Scout troop in 2006. The news of the purchase brought back memories of my trip to the camp and why I had been invited there in the first place.

In late 2005, at my cousin's request, my mom and I gave a presentation to the troop about Finland. It was a fun evening as we shared information about the country and our experiences there. The next summer, the troop invited us to Camp Klahanee as thanks for our presentation. Set in a forest, the camp is beautiful and quiet. We had a great time at the troop's picnic.

As the Forterra press release explains, "Klahanee" means "friendship" in the Chinook language. Thus, the news was a friendly reminder of some happy experiences from the past and of the importance of conserved land in providing space for community building. Through a partnership with the Polson Park and Museum Historical Society, Forterra has ensured that Camp Klahanee will continue to serve as such a space.

A reminder that our environment offers us opportunities to grow and connect is a great way to end one year and look ahead to another.

Pieces of Possibility

Executing big ideas can require piece-by-piece action. 

Comprehensive visions of environmental conservation are both vital and exciting. We must think those big thoughts if we are to create a scope of action that operates on the level of ecosystems. Additionally, such expansive goals help us rise to the challenge of major environmental issues like global warming. Very importantly, big plans generate energy and enthusiasm about what's possible. 

Still, when it comes to making possibilities into realities, a different, smaller, and typically more demanding approach takes the wheel. We must prepare to work at issues over a long period of time and take opportunities where we can find them even if they are small and scattered. It's about being meticulous and tenacious and comprehending the long-term commitment necessary for success. Conservation Northwest's Cascades to Olympics program, which I previously blogged about here, is shaping up to be a great example of how we need to piece together major projects. Check out the video below to learn about the program and how people are finding ways to make it happen.

   

I really like how Conservation Northwest has looked for possible options that help provide connectivity for wildlife between the Cascade Mountains and the Olympic Mountains. They have assessed the areas that would maximize connection and then looked for opportunities to make those connections better. Each piece requires its own unique work. For example, on the Satsop River in Grays Harbor County, Conservation Northwest has found a way to make the most of a bridge by clearing space for wildlife to walk under it. By contrast, along Interstate 5, the organization is working with the Veterans' Ecological Trades Collective to perhaps create a wildlife overpass that would provide wildlife with a safe option for crossing the freeway. Put together with other projects over a period of years, the work on the Satsop River and the potential I-5 overpass could produce the kind of connectivity Conservation Northwest desires. 

The dream seems more possible as dedicated and hard work puts pieces in place.

Getting Closer

A special conservation project took a step closer to fulfillment this month.

In late 2019, I blogged about a proposal to expand the Davis Creek Wildlife Area Unit, a piece of Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) land very close to my heart. Happily, the proposal was accepted a few months later, and WDFW began looking for funding to make the land purchases that would support the project.

At its most recent meeting, the Fish and Wildlife Commission approved the purchase of a 94-acre parcel, which represents about a quarter of the total proposed 416-acre addition to the Davis Creek Unit. Additional parcels will need to be purchased before the entire project is complete, but the acquisition of this piece is great news. The exciting vision of preserving this area now feels closer to reality.

Any conservation effort is important to me. However, because of the close connections I talked about in the 2019 post, adding to the Davis Creek Unit touches me just a little more. It's also a special experience to see this project develop from a proposal to the acquisition phase.

I would like to thank the Fish and Wildlife Commission for allowing the expansion of the Davis Creek Unit to move forward.

Dreams on the River of Restoration

The conservation dreams about the Chehalis River in southwestern Washington state continue to grow bigger with more and more groups and organizations supporting preservation and restoration projects in the river's basin.

At first, conservation projects on the river popped up piece by piece. For instance, I previously blogged about the plan by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) to purchase the Davis Creek Addition, which sits along a portion of the Chehalis in eastern Grays Harbor County. Then, a larger conservation framework began to develop in the form of initiatives like Conservation Northwest's Cascades to the Olympics program.

Another part of the framework is taking shape under the restoration program orchestrated by Pacific Northwest conservation group Forterra. By specifically focusing on the Chehalis River Basin, Forterra is bringing the river to the forefront of Washington's conservation efforts. A recent announcement of the organization's purchase of a 23-acre property along the Satsop River, a tributary of the Chehalis, demonstrates the far-reaching nature of the dreams to protect and restore the latter river. What these conservation groups are doing goes well beyond the banks of the Chehalis, linking the river to mountains and other streams in the watershed.

Although these different projects and programs come from various organizations and have some unique objectives, they also have the potential to combine for a massive and profound conservation effort. Each piece helps, and the gathering momentum points toward a lot more possibilities in the future. It's the kind of scale on which all dreams of conservation must be executed.

Perhaps the best part of this work is that it's no longer just a dream. The reality is beginning to match the visionary ideal.

Ends to an End

Exciting conservation news came from both the east and west ends of Grays Harbor County in Washington state this year.

Part of the proposed Davis Creek Addition.

First, in February, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) announced that the Davis Creek Addition has successfully moved from the public-review phase to the funding phase. Last year, I wrote about the public review of this project in eastern Grays Harbor County and called on others to support it, so I am very happy to see it accepted for the next phase, which, according to WDFW, involves seeking grants to pay for the acquisition.

Further welcome news came this summer from Grays Harbor County's coast. As the Washington State Recreation and Conservation Office announced via Instagram, Ducks Unlimited secured the full purchase of the Elk River Unit, which will be added to the Johns River Wildlife Area and managed by WDFW. Full of diverse and vital habitat, these newly protected 1,670 acres offer much for humans and wildlife.

The announcements about the Davis Creek Addition and the Elk River Unit have importance beyond their individual achievements. Since both constitute additions to existing protected areas, they represent the next step in conserving and connecting important habitat. Furthermore, these east-west bookends set a model for future efforts all over Grays Harbor County.

In the end, each piece adds up to a big conservation effort.

Close to My Heart

Naturally, we want to protect the things closest to our hearts, so I am asking for help in conserving a piece of nature close to mine.

Wetlands at the Davis Creek Wildlife Area Unit.

Two weeks ago, the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife (WSDFW) announced a set of land-acquisition projects for 2020. Of course, all of these projects are important to expanding the department's conservation and wildlife efforts, and I support each of them, but tucked in amongst the others, you'll find one of special value to me.

The Davis Creek Addition represents the only piece of Grays Harbor County to make the list of possible acquisitions. It would add 416 acres to the existing 535-acre Davis Creek Wildlife Area Unit and would provide key habitat for many bird species. Those are all great reasons to support this proposed acquisition if you have never visited this out-of-the-way pocket of southwest Washington, but I have personal reasons as well.

An old farm provided the land for the existing wildlife area.
Now, WSDFW has an opportunity to add to the unit with the
acquisition of land both north and south of it.

Protecting the land on the Davis Creek Addition feels like protecting a part of myself. I've felt similar feelings for other conservation efforts before, but this part of me resides right in my core because that property sits so close to where I was raised. I've driven by it hundreds of times. Friends from childhood lived within walking distance of it. I remember playing on the prairie just across the road. So when I visited the Davis Creek Unit a few days ago, the importance of protecting and expanding it enveloped me. I felt intimately connected to it, and I realized that conserving it means safeguarding a piece of my heart.

WSDFW will take comments on the 2020 acquisition projects until January 3. You can e-mail your comments to lands@dfw.wa.gov or mail them to: Real Estate Services, PO Box 43158, Olympia, WA 98504.

With all my heart, I hope you'll join me in asking WSDFW to purchase the Davis Creek Addition.

The Art of Me

I am not an artist, but that didn't stop me from recognizing a big part of myself in the art of Elton Bennett.

Sea Birds Cry by Elton Bennett.

For a while, I've wanted to put some art of the Pacific Northwest on my wall, so some prints of Bennett's work caught my eye as I ate lunch at the Ocean Crest Resort on a recent trip to the beach at Moclips, Washington. They presented familiar scenes of the Washington coast in the soft, shadowy colors so common in the PNW.

Alone, the scenes in Bennett's work would have supplied me with enough interest for further research, but they also possessed a quality I knew I liked. After returning home and starting my investigation, I learned that Bennett had been a native of the Grays Harbor area in Washington, growing up and living not far from my hometown. That certainly struck a chord with me. The area had inspired much of his work, and I saw the care he had for some of the same things and places I grew up loving.

My photograph of a clam tide on January 2, 2015.

It wasn't just that Bennett's art portrayed a place I cared about though. As I examined his pieces in more detail, I discovered some of my own perspective in them. Many of his works emphasize the natural scene over human figures. Some contain no people at all. In those where people are present, the scenery often dwarfs the human, or the shadows or half-light blur them into the setting. I take photographs in much the same way. In fact, his piece Sea Birds Cry, which depicts the silhouettes of people digging clams against the blue-gray of the ocean and sky, recalled to mind some clam-tide pictures I took in 2015.

After conducting my research, I knew Bennett's art was the kind I wanted on my wall. I bought a print of Around the Cape, which beautifully expresses the essence of the coast on Washington's Olympic Peninsula. For more information about Bennett and his art, click here.

Although I could not have produced Bennett's art, its subject matter and perspective at least make me feel like it was created for me.

Like Bottles on the Beach

View of Grays Harbor from Bottle Beach State Park.

You can try all you want to make something become what it isn't, but the secret is knowing it for what it really is.

I know Grays Harbor pretty well. I grew up in the surrounding area, made plenty of stops in the cities of Aberdeen and Hoquiam, and drove through many times to points beyond like Grayland, Ocean Shores, and the Olympic Peninsula. However, two weeks ago, I found two parts of the harbor I hadn't previously discovered. They were right under my nose, and they gave me a new appreciation for an area that has disappointed many people's attempts to make it more than it is.

For this summer's adventure list, I slotted exploring the Grays Harbor National Wildlife Refuge into the leadoff spot. Best known for its annual shorebird festival, the refuge is otherwise largely overlooked. In fact, I'd driven past it many times, but until May 17, my knowledge of its location had remained vague. As it turned out, the refuge wasn't hard to find.

Migrating shorebirds typically move through Grays Harbor in late April and early May, so I knew I was a little late for them (mostly, I wanted to explore the refuge), but even without many of its star attractions, the refuge didn't disappoint. Sandpiper Trail, a boardwalk path running through the refuge, revealed a diverse ecosystem with tidal areas and thickets of alder, willow, salmonberry, and elderberry. Many of the shorebirds had already moved north, but the songbirds, including cliff swallows, marsh wrens, and goldfinches came out in force. My mom and I also ran into two members of the refuge management team, and they showed us some Caspian terns and a black-bellied plover. One of the women suggested we go to Bottle Beach State Park on the south side of the harbor, saying we might see more birds there.

Although seeing shorebirds hadn't been the main goal of the trip, we decided to find Bottle Beach. Like the wildlife refuge, the state park wasn't difficult to find--right of the highway in plain sight. Despite that, neither of us had even known it existed prior to our conversation with the refuge manager. The beach soon showed itself to be a hidden treasure. Empty of people and nestled into the cove near Ocosta, the beach contained an active group of shorebirds, including more black-bellied plovers and a host of red knots, as well as a spectacular view of the Olympic Mountains. My mom and I capped the trip with lunch, ice cream, and saltwater taffy in Westport, and we left the harbor with the feeling that we'd come to know this familiar body of water much better.

At one of the informative sites on Bottle Beach, we learned that Grays Harbor had once been earmarked as a port site that could rival San Francisco. The silty harbor had other ideas though. While it does a fair amount of shipping business, it isn't deep enough to be a major port. I wouldn't trade things like Bottle Beach or the Grays Harbor National Wildlife Refuge for that anyway. They are much more true to what the area is.

Recently, some have tried to turn Grays Harbor into a main coal and oil shipping terminal, but those efforts have met fierce resistance from the local communities, and the fight against the projects makes perfect sense when you really know the harbor.

Traditions of the Tree

My family still has its Christmas tree--from each of the last six years.

In 2007, we started a new tradition of retiring our trees to the wooded area of my parents' property. This allows the trees to become part of the habitat, provide shelter for animals, and break down into the ground. (Currently, the trees from past years are serving as a trellis for blackberry vines.) Keeping the trees also lets them remain part of our lives.

Of course, not everyone has the space to provide permanent homes for their Christmas trees. However, disposing of them in a proper way is still important. (I cringe to see them tossed on the side of the road.) Fortunately, many local governments have options for recycling the trees.

In Washington state's Grays Harbor County, members of the Boy Scouts will collect and recycle the trees for free (donations are welcomed). For more information on this program, click here. Residents of Washington's King County can get information about their tree recycling program here. If you do not live in either of those counties, check the Web site of your county or city government to see if they have a program.

Recycling or reusing your tree is definitely one of the most important Christmas traditions.

Watch the Birdie

Those of you who will be in the Grays Harbor region of Washington state next weekend should consider attending the Grays Harbor Shorebird Festival, April 29-May1.

The festival takes place at various locations, including the Grays Harbor National Wildlife Refuge, Ocean Shores, Westport, and Lake Quinault. Events include lectures, guided walks, and, of course, bird-watching (birding), and they range in focus for skill level from beginning to advanced. Even those who are just curious about the possibility of becoming birders will find activities fit for them.

At the very least, it's a great opportunity to get out and experience nature and see some cool birds.

For more information about the festival, click here.