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
For entire issue, go to https://www.realchangenews.org/2007/04/04/apr-4-2007-entire-issue