| Some
conservationists look to the sticks for a beautful oxygen-making,
habitat-preserving forest. Not Nancy Whitlock.
Whitlock is at work saving one of Seattle’s largest
contiguous pieces of forestland. The West Duwamish Greenbelt’s
500-some acres are overrun by prickly holly, always-growing
ivy, and well-rooted Himalayan blackberry. Girded with
her first grant to do the work, Whitlock remembers thinking,
“How am I going to do what I said I was going to
do?”
Some years later, 12 of the forest’s acres are under
restoration, planted with 6,275 native conifers and other
local flora. Whitlock’s volunteer crews pull, plant,
and enjoy the company of artists commissioned to perform
for the day — a dancer, say, who wrestles with the
vines — putting creative works in a new venue, before
a new audience.
Whitlock’s organization, the Nature Consortium,
has committed itself to the West Duwamish Greenbelt’s
restoration for as long as it’s around. An urban
forest matters, she says, because “once you lose
it, it’s gone.”
—Adam Hyla |
