Discover the Holidays

Experience gifts are best when nature is the experience.

When it comes to having a green holidays, I've already talked about finding gifts that connect children with nature and cutting back on consumption. The children's gifts include experience gifts, and you can give gifts that let adults experience nature too.

In Washington state, you can buy Discover Passes from the Department of Natural Resources. These passes give people vehicle access to state-managed recreation lands. In addition, the $35 for each pass help support the DNR's management of lands at a time when the state budget is stretched thin.

It's a win-win-win situation. People get to experience the beauties of Washington's nature, resources are conserved, and the DNR is supported. Those sound like great reasons for a happy holiday season.

For information about how to purchase a Discover Pass, click here.

Not-So-Lonesome Prairie

As spring takes hold, the opportunities for connecting with nature increase. Hopefully, some of you had the chance to visit the Grays Harbor Shorebird Festival this weekend. In two weeks, on May 14, you can take part in the Glacial Heritage Prairie Appreciation Day.

The Glacial Heritage Preserve is 1000+ acres of land south of Olympia, Washington, where people have worked to remove invasive plants such as Scotch broom and plant native species like the Indian paintbrush. (The camas you see in the picture doesn't need much help as far as planting goes, but it appreciates the cleared ground.) Although it is usually closed to visitors, once a year, the preserve opens to the public to celebrate the work being done there.

Plenty of activities are planned. If you want, you can walk one of the two paths that cut through the preserve. This will give you a chance to take in the native flowers that are beginning to open. You can also spend some time pulling Scotch broom, learning to garden with native plants, and getting information about the plants, animals, and history of the Puget Sound prairies, which are dwindling away because of development. Plenty of other activities will take place as well.

The event goes from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., and a similar event will happen just up the road at the Washington State Department of Natural Resources Mima Mounds Natural Area.

For more information, click here and here.