Trees in Review: What We Planted and Grew in 2020
Trees in Review: What We Planted and Grew in 2020
If you’re reading this--give yourself a big hug! We’ve almost made it through 2020, and that’s something to celebrate. This was one long, wild year filled with unexpected challenges and strange glimmering moments of joy. For us at Tacoma Tree Foundation, this year pressed us to stretch our creativity, in order to keep planting trees, building community, and advocating for a greener, healthier, and more connected Tacoma.
In spite of the challenges, we think we did a pretty good job of meeting our mission statement. We created new partnerships and strengthened existing ones. We created new programming for accessible nature education, already tough but more important than ever as most schools have moved online and access to outdoor playtime has become limited. This year we also started two different online webinar series to have important conversations about race, equity, and justice as they relate to environmentalism, as well as to share skills and tips for hands-on projects. We’ve also grown as a team, bringing in both new staff and board members to help us with our work of community forestry, advocacy, and equitable outreach. It has been a very full year.
Gratitude for our Partners
Our work at Tacoma Tree Foundation doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Partnerships are essential to almost everything we do. This year, our partners were incredible assets in getting trees into the hands of community members to plant. We had a lot of trees and plants to give away and several limits on how we could do so. However, our partners helped make those giveaways possible.
MetroParks Tacoma, Pierce County Parks, Pierce Conservation District, VT Radio Universal, and Orcas Love Raingardens all helped give away trees for planting this fall at their COVID-safe events. NW Trek helped provide a temporary home for thousands of seedlings, and TTF staff members connected local landowners who could give those trees a permanent home (NW Trek also gave us a peek at their cool animals when we were there working one day!). We worked with many of these same partners, including the City of Tacoma, The Nature Conservancy, Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium, and the Puyallup Watershed Initiative, on the Earth Day South Sound Partnership and Green Tacoma Days. While both celebrations had to move online, we all worked together to promote planting, restoration, and environmental stewardship in our local community. This year we also continued working with the City of Tacoma on their Grit City Trees program to provide residents with free street trees for their right of ways.
We’re also grateful for everyone who donated to Tacoma Tree Foundation this year--everything we accomplished was done with your support.
New Programs
Edison students planting peas in the school garden.
Tacoma Tree Foundation was awarded a Tacoma Creates grant earlier in the spring to bring nature education to several Tacoma elementary schools. We believe that nature education is critical for fostering creativity, wonder, empathy, and curiosity, and we also believe that access to nature education shouldn’t be defined by zip code or income level. Our programming necessarily had to be moved online--and while it’s not the same experience it would have been, it now has a much broader reach. All students in the area, no matter their school, now have access to Nature Explorers. Nature Explorers is built around a monthly theme, with several supporting activities to help students learn about and interact with the nature around them. The website, natureexplorers253.com, is updated monthly with the new lesson. There’s also an accompanying zine that is mailed out to registered students, which includes activities and prompts for crafting, observation, journaling, and more.
This year we also launched two monthly webinar series, Growing Skills and Intersections in Environmental Justice. Growing Skills is where we bring in experts to talk about various topics of practical interest to attendees, with topics ranging from organic lawncare to how to get a job in the environmental sector. Intersections in Environmental Justice was created as a place to have frank conversations about the way environmentalism has previously failed communities, as well as what we can do about it. Past webinars can be viewed on our YouTube channel, also created this year.
Opportunities for Optimism
We won’t even begin to try and predict what 2021 will bring, but we do have hope for a few things.
People are looking at nature this year--and that excites us. There’s more attention on what’s outside our front doors as our worlds have shrunk. Biking, walking, and visiting parks was up across Tacoma, as well as nationwide. More people are realizing that parks and other green public spaces are incredible assets, ones that should be protected and even expanded. We like that more people are getting as excited about the outdoors as we are. We have hopes that this passion will be sustained and grown, and that there are more advocates for bringing more nature into our urban public spaces.
Potting up trees at NW Trek was a long process--but hundreds of these trees all have homes now!
There are so many parks and green spaces in Tacoma that need to be cared for--that need invasive plants removed, natives planted, trash cleaned up. When we’re allowed to gather again, we hope that work parties organized by MetroParks, Pierce County Parks, Pierce Conservation District, and other organizations will have no shortage of volunteers. There’s a pent-up desire on the part of many people to do something to help--and so many areas of our city that could use some TLC.
While 2020 had some devastating wildfires, it also brought renewed attention back to indigenous practices of land management--several of which have been practiced here in Washington for thousands of years. Indigenous tribes successfully stewarded forests for a long time, and their wisdom is nothing to be neglected. As the conversation around fire management changes, we see hope that indigenous practices will be further incorporated by state and federal agencies.
Thousands of Douglas fir saplings still need a forever home. We’d like nothing more than to help those trees find a home with you or your neighbors--and if Douglas firs aren’t the tree for you, we might be able to help you find the tree that is.
We feel hopeful that there are opportunities to come back stronger post-COVID, to press for a vision of the future that is more just, healthier, and provides greater access to nature for everyone. We also feel hopeful that we can continue doing this work, and that we’ll see you soon.