Note from Jen Pennington: If you have property in Washington, learning from our local foresters is a great way to really understand your land and how to manage trees, wildlife, and even take advantage of tax incentives. Having taken the course a few years ago, (see the article,”Becoming a forest steward“) this was the best, most inexpensive class with knowledge that will last you a lifetime. The classes don’t come to Whidbey that often, so take advantage of it now.

Wind Damage Workshop

November is here. This means it’s time for our annual parade of late fall storms, some of which can pack some powerful and destructive winds. We are offering a workshop for woodland owners on how to reduce the risk of wind damage to trees and properly clean-up tree damage after a storm to prevent further problems.

The workshop will be held from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm on Wednesday, November 16th at the Pacific Rim Institute near Coupeville on Whidbey Island. Topics covered will include trees and power lines, management techniques for wind-firm forests, forest health issues with wind, and how to properly care for trees both before and after the storm. The workshop will be taught by experts from WSU Extension, the Washington Department of Natural Resources, and Puget Sound Energy.

Cost is $20 per person or $25 per couple. Registration information is available at http://snohomish.wsu.edu/forestry/wind11.htm or by calling 425-357-6017. Space is limited, and pre-registration is requested.

Forest Stewardship Coached Planning

The flagship, popular and powerful program is coming to Whidbey Island in January. This 10-session practical, hands-on course will guide you through the development of your own stewardship plan with “coaching” from the top natural resource professionals in the state. In the process of creating a forest plan unique to your property and objectives, you’ll go in depth with us both in the classroom and in the field covering a wide range of forestry topics. Things we’ll cover in detail include ecology, silvics, soils, wildlife, forest health, fire, applied silviculture, water resources, aesthetics, regulations, special forest products, working with contractors, and more. The class includes nine evening classroom sessions, a Saturday field trip, a personal site visit to your property from a professional forester and/or wildlife biologist, and a forest stewardship notebook packed with information.

Your completed forest stewardship plan may qualify you for significant property tax reductions, as well as qualify you for a whole range of cost share and other assistance programs. It will also provide you with a road map for maximizing your enjoyment of your land and minimizing the costs of ownership. The class is open to all, regardless of how many acres you own or what your ownership objectives are. Space is limited, and registration is open for both classes:

The class will be on Wednesday evenings starting January 18th at the Pacific Rim Institute near Coupeville. Registration is open and the class is already beginning to fill. Details and registration information are available at http://snohomish.wsu.edu/forestry/CP12Coupeville.htm or by calling 425-357-6017. This class is made possible in part by a grant from the Whidbey Island Conservation District.

2012 Native Plant Sales

Whidbey Island:
March 2 and 3, 2012
Pre-Order 11/15/2011 – 1/30/2012
http://whidbeycd.org/plantsale.aspx
360-678-4708

Photos by Robert J. Pennington

Song Sparrow nestlings

Is your swallow nest box being used by House sparrows?

 Your purple martin house taken over by European starlings? You may have design flaws in the housing you’ve provided that allows these aggressive, non-native birds to thrive and our native birds to decline.

 Some ready-made bird houses may look cute but are not necessarily designed to keep the bullies of the bird world out.

 Perches, for example, aren’t needed by birds but attract house sparrows and starlings.

 Design and construction of bird houses need to be species specific.

The most important part is the entrance hole. If the hole is too small, the desired bird won’t be able to enter. If it’s too big (and this is more likely) undesirable wildlife – like non-native sparrows and starlings, and uninvited squirrels, can get in and harm, evict, or kill the desired bird.

 As a rule, house sparrows can’t enter a nest box if the entrance hole is less than 1-1/8 inches in diameter. Starlings can’t enter if the hole is less than 1-1/2 inches in diameter.

Information in the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW)  ”Woodworking Projects for Backyard Wildlife,” specifies entrance hole sizes to exclude these birds wherever possible.  Even if you don’t want to make your own nest boxes, it’s a good resource for making better decisions when you purchase bird houses.

Bird houses often have to be maintained on a yearly basis to stick to these specs. You’ll need to patch or restore the entrance holes after squirrels or woodpeckers have tried to enlarge them. There are many ways to do this, from attaching wooden extensions or “donuts” over the holes to fortifying them with metal washers.

If you still have problems with aggressive non-native species even when you follow the standards, there are also design alternatives.

A diamond-shaped entrance hole that is no more than 7/8-inch deep and up to 3-1/2 inches wide, will exclude house sparrows and starlings.  To accommodate the slightly bigger violet-green swallow, file down the area inside of the entry hole by just a quarter inch. See these specs. at.

Anacortes bird enthusiast Gene Derig came up with that diamond design but recently told us about an even simpler way to accommodate and protect not only violet-green swallows, but also chickadees, nuthatches, and other native species.

”Try using a ≤-inch high slot configuration,” Gene said. “The slot is made by drilling three consecutive horizontal holes with a ≤-inch drill bit, and then just shaving out what’s left. It’s especially good for urban areas where there are more house sparrows.”

The purple martin is a species that could really use help with suitable nest sites within its range in western Washington, since its numbers seem to be declining. In fact, it’s a candidate for state protective listing, in part because of competition from sparrows and starlings.

WDFW biologist Chris Anderson notes that purple martins are colony nesters, but those attractive “multiple apartment complex” bird houses designed for them can be a problem in urban areas where starlings and house sparrows are numerous.

”A cluster of gourds drilled with holes seems to be much less preferred by starlings and house sparrows and the martins love them,” Anderson said.

 Another way to help is to be more strategic with placement of bird nest boxes.

Martins, like all swallows, feed on insects, mostly on the wing, often over water where insects concentrate. Hanging a gourd collection over water makes it that much more enticing to martins and less inviting to sparrows and starlings.

Sparrows and starlings usually won’t nest within ten feet of the ground. Placing nest boxes four to five feet off the ground and in brushy areas will discourage these birds, and will readily be used by many native species, from bluebirds to wrens. Nest boxes at this height, however, are vulnerable to predators such as cats.

If you want to get rid of house sparrows or European starlings nesting in a bird house, it is legal to remove their nests and destroy the eggs. Unlike most birds, these non-native, introduced species are not protected by state or federal law. Nests may have to be removed five to six times before sparrows or starlings finally abandon the house.

Sometimes the best thing to do if your area is plagued by starlings or house sparrows, and you can’t actively manage them, is to simply not use bird nest boxes at all.

There are many other resources to help you address bird house issues in addition to WDFW’s “Living With Wildlife” webpages. Some of the best information is available on the Sialis website, developed for people interested in helping bluebirds (which are in the genus Sialia) and other native cavity-nesting birds. For starling problems, see http://www.sialis.org/starlingbio.htm and for House sparrow problems see http://www.sialis.org/hosp.htm.  Another good site is http://www.treeswallowprojects.com/index.html.

From the WASHINGTON DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND WILDLIFE “Crossing Paths” news notes

Often when you see people giving donations to plant trees, or saving a forest sometimes it’s never really as close or as significant when it’s right in your own backyard. This is the case with Trillium Forest located on Whidbey Island in Washington. The 664-acre property is the largest piece of privately owned property in Island County. Before it went into foreclosure it was originally divided into 124 plots and approved for development. This property is literally less than 3 miles from where my husband and I are in Greenbank, and just north of Freeland. In a rural setting, this is your backyard.

A nine-inch Northwestern Salamander on a Red Alder log. Whidbey Is. Photo by Robert J. Pennington.

Earlier this year the Whidbey Camano Land Trust was given the option to purchase the property and raise $4.2 Million. If successful, the WCLT would work to turn it back into recreational trails for hikers, birders, horseback riders, etc., and help restore the health and wildlife of a forest that had been logged back in 1988.

If the funds cannot be raised, the property will be divided and sold privately. Originally the Land Trust had until June 10th to raise the funds. As luck would have it they received an extension until September 10th.

So here we are on September 1st, just ten days away and I feel like I’m watching a horse race between thousands of people trying to save a forest and a financial institution. (I promised myself, I wouldn’t go there). Because I am familiar with the work the Whidbey Camano Land Trust does, it boggles my mind to see them spearhead what would seemingly be an impossible mission. As of this writing they need just $900,000. $300,000 has already been promised, leaving $600,000 left. From their newsletter posting today, “To help raise the remaining $600,000, an existing donor has made a pledge to match, dollar for dollar, the first person to donate $100,000 between now and September 10. After the Land Trust raises $600,000, a second anonymous donor will contribute the remaining $300,000 needed to complete the campaign.” That’s not much considering where they started, but it’s a still a big stretch in 10 days.

Curled fern. Whidbey Is. Photo by Robert J. Pennington

While it does comes down to money, it’s about so much more than that. It’s about watching people from all over Island County and beyond, work together to save this giant piece of land. You cannot walk into a local store, cafe, or lumberyard without seeing donation jars with “Save the Forest Now” buttons and postcards on them. Hikers, joggers, birders, photographers, horseback riders, and other groups lead talks and rides through the property. Even small schoolchildren are not spared, helping raise funds and teaching people about why we need to Save the Forest Now.

If saved, I have no doubt this forest could become one of the best teaching grounds and case studies in the U.S., both environmentally and socially. It can even provide inspiration for more successful transactions while leaving an important legacy for generations to come. The reach of what happens in the next few days goes far beyond the waters around an island in Puget Sound. If it can happen here, the lessons learned can teach others everywhere not just how to save a piece of land against the odds and in a recession, but how to bring a much larger community together, regardless of politics, religion or economic status.

So now it’s down to the wire and I’ve got my money on “Trillium” comin’ up on the outside, yelling, “Go baby! Go!” A photo finish for the ages.

Offset your carbon footprint! Find out more about this property and how you can donate, check out the status on the Whidbey Camano Land Trust’s site: www.SaveTheForestNow.org

Or contact the WCLT at:

Whidbey Camano Land Trust
765 Wonn Road, Barn C-201
Greenbank, WA 98253

house coloring sketch...one day...

A few months ago, I read an article in DWELL magazine talking about the “slow build movement” happening in this country. Here I thought we were just slow builders, but it turns out we are actually part of a “movement.” While I’m not too sure the “slow build movement’ is going to catch on like wildfire, (mostly because people don’t like to live too long with unfinished projects), we realized the time we’ve been taking to build may have actually led us do a few things right. We know this because we are still married. Pointing out what could have been done differently is a bit too easy, because it hits you like a cast-iron frying pan on the head. So I thought I would note a few things that have made a huge difference on our project.

Study the land. We spent 4 years figuring this out. Making our way through paths of prickly salmonberry bushes, old skidding trails, taking short courses on forest stewardship, coloring the woods with strange looking ribbons, and noting the changes in the position of the sun in the winter and summer. Watching where water pooled or vernal ponds formed. The best money we spent in the very beginning was getting our property surveyed and knowing where our lines and corners were. The architects and I used the PDFs the surveyors gave us to figure out all kinds of things.

Ted Hunter organizes panels on top of the slab.

Surround yourself with great folks and seek the right help. Find people who won’t dismiss you when you tell them you are going to build your house yourself. Architects Tara Romano and Neil Stevenson from Neil Stevenson Architects gave us a great modern house design, with an open floor plan that would allow us some flexibility. Our contractor, Ted Hunter came with his own crane truck and preferred to work alone with owner/builders. Steve Thornton, a friend and designer/builder became our sounding board and offered up great advice along the way.

Build community. When you build on an Island, everyone knows each other. Building suppliers, equipment rental places and landscapers become a big part of your world, so pay your bills on time and it’s amazing how many people will want to work for you.

Getting electrical through the conduit in utility trench.

Utilities first. We first dug a 400 ft. trench and put in all our lines ourselves, leaving the connections to the experts. We carefully hung the water and telephone lines above the propane and electrical conduit. (Care had to be taken with this trench along the driveway as it went through part of our wetland). More important than a toilet (you can rent those), was having access to the internet, electricity (no noisy, gas powered generators) and a wired phone line since cel reception is spotty. Putting in the lines in first also allowed us to build a gravel driveway to accept heavy equipment in Summer. (See video of utility trench).

Design for dual purposes. Instead of wasting space, much of our space does double duty. For example, a larger hallway is not just a corridor but massive storage space allowing my husband to roll out big metal racks that travel down to the living room/photo studio. At the other end of the house, my office contains a recessed wall bed to quickly become a guest room.

Amazing screeders Conner and Jason Chang

Concrete love. Our first floor is all one big 6-inch concrete slab with a radiant floor heating system. Taking great advice from Jason Chang, our fabulous screeder, I designed a joint control pattern (cuts that are no deeper than 2-inches) that connected all interior corners and left no areas more than 100 square ft. Not only effective but very cool looking. As soon as it was done, our contractor Ted had us put 4×8 sheets of masonite on the entire floor to protect it. It has made a huge difference.

The second floor goes up on a very cold day.

Prefab is fab. We chose to build with a Structural Insulated Panel System or SIPS. Our design was prefabricated and shipped to us and I am amazed at how little waste we have had on site. We’ve been building for two years, and we are only now about to make our third trip to the dump with a small Toyota Rav and a small 4×8 ft. trailer. Are there things that are a pain about building this way that no one tells you? Oh yeah, but I am beginning to see and feel the benefits. One of which was how easy it was to fit and level the windows and doors.

Bob prepares to install a door in his own unique way.

Don’t scrimp on windows and doors. This was our biggest expense next to the SIPs and I have no regrets. (I can live without that fine Italian couch, Herman Miller desk set and Espresso machine.) Between the SIPs and the windows, we noticed the difference immediately when we were able to heat up an unfinished, enclosed room in the middle of winter in just two hours with a couple of electric heaters.

An organized jobsite is a happy site. I am a piler. It is both an attribute and a fatal flaw. When working with SIPs the panels had to be organized in a certain order so the crane could pick them up in succession. I built a workbench for our little tools, bits, blades, squares, etc., and put it on wheels and put together some of our other wheeled shelving for heavier duty tools. Lumber is still stacked in the big room on dunnage. Garbage cans were laid out for food waste, usable wood trimmings, and recycling. A massive stack in the front of our property divides up the good and bad wood scraps. Folding all visqueen and plastic sheeting scraps, saves tons of room. Sweeping up at the end of every weekend, made it so much easier to work.

Draintile surrounded by gravel and wrapped in groundcloth before burying.

Go with the flow. In the Pacific Northwest, water is a major issue and due to a slope in the back of the house, we have installed three lines of defense against water intrusion against the foundation. The first is actually a FormaDrain footing form. Slits in this recycled plastic channel allow water to flow around the perimeter of the house and collect in an outlet on the SW corner. Meeting up with that is a draintile about 2 feet out from the foundation running around the entire back and sides of the house. (Another is planned later). Against the stemwall foundation we installed a Delta Foundation Drainage system to waterproof the stemwall. We have even purchased metal furring strips from Furring Master for a rainscreen that will provide an airspace between the house siding and the weather wrap. Lastly, a cistern will collect runoff and draintile water and be used as fire protection in summer. In winter any overflow is part of a plan to make the hydrology healthier in our wetland through yet another level-spreading infiltration trench.

Jen Pennington is the owner and designer for Rhizome Design & Images. She lives and works part-time in Seattle while building a green house with her husband, photographer Robert J. Pennington on Whidbey Island.

by Sherrye Wyatt

They say bold moves make history. After a 25-year legacy of successfully pioneering the protection of natural places, working farmlands, and other significant lands, the Whidbey Camano Land Trust is about to make history once more.

The Trillium property from the south © 2010 Veronica von Allwörden

The Land Trust recently purchased an option to buy the largest parcel of forest land under single ownership on Whidbey Island. The group has until June 10, 2010, to raise the $4.2 million required to purchase and permanently protect the 664 acres and has launched a community-wide effort to raise the money. Local organizations and individuals are joining the cause and announcing their support daily as they race to raise enough money in time.

After the property has been purchased, it will be open for use as a community natural area, with the Land Trust holding a conservation easement. A management plan will then be developed that allows reasonable recreation, such as hiking, biking and equestrian use, while taking into account the needs of the forest’s flora and fauna.

“Protecting the 664 acres will allow it to return to a healthy forest that provides wildlife habitat, public recreational opportunities, and a place where current and future generations can experience nature,” says Pat Powell, executive director of the Land Trust.

The forest, often referred to as the Trillium property, has a dramatic and sometimes emotional history. Located on the south end of Whidbey Island, between Freeland and Greenbank, the forest was owned and periodically logged by timber companies for decades, much to the distress of many islanders. Most recently, the property was subdivided into approximately 124 housing lots and soon after fell into foreclosure.

Save the Forest Now Campaign

“This is the last chance to save this remarkable property. If our efforts to raise the money fail, individual lots will be sold and developed over time,” says Powell. “If that happens, our opportunity to protect it will be lost forever. We are looking for key individuals with the financial means to join the community in helping save the forest now.”

When forest land is converted to residential use, much of the wildlife habitat disappears and never returns. Roads create barriers to wildlife movement and homeowners replace trees and native understory with buildings, lawns, and driveways. Water is then directed to culverts and ditches rather than slowly seeping back into the aquifer.

The property is particularly important because of its size. The larger the tract, the better able it is to provide habitat for species that need large areas. If the area is broken into smaller pieces and houses are built, habitat will be fragmented and will support less wildlife. This ecological disruption is irreversible. If the property is developed, Whidbey Island will lose a large wildlife habitat and corridor with a rich diversity of species.

The forest includes parts of three watersheds. The largest watershed flows into Mutiny Bay. Two smaller watersheds drain to the west, one at Bush Point and one that flows through South Whidbey State Park. There are wetlands and small streams distributed throughout the more than one square mile of land, all critical to support the many wildlife species found there.

“It’s important to plan for smart growth,” says Powell. “Whidbey Island will continue to develop, but we need to focus development in the right places, where infrastructure like roads and utilities are already in place, not in one of the last, best, large, forested properties on the island.”

The site can sustain both human recreation and habitat for wildlife. Narrow trails and quiet recreational use do not disturb small birds and other wildlife in the same way that roads, cars, houses, and lawnmowers do. There is already a limited network of established roads and trails within the boundaries of the property. These can serve as the primary system for trails.

According to local realtors, South Whidbey Island currently has more than four-and-a-half years’ worth of vacant (undeveloped) land on the market. To add up to 124 more lots into this depressed real estate market could drive the prices of the existing lots down even further and is unlikely to result in new construction jobs.

Is the Land Trust worried it might be difficult to raise so much money so quickly, especially during this current economic climate?

“We are actually encouraged by the positive response we’re already getting. People love this place. One reason we all live here is because we still have forests like this one, surrounded by water and mountains. Besides, miracles happen every day, especially on Whidbey Island,” says Powell.

To contribute or to learn more about how to get involved in the campaign, call (360) 222-3310 or visit www.savetheforestnow.org. You may send your donation to the Whidbey Camano Land Trust, Attention: Save the Forest Now, 765 Wonn Road, Barn C-201, Greenbank, WA 98253.

Now that we had that sorted out, it was time to move some dirt around. The back of our house site has a slight grade to it. With the help of Jim Lux, our amazing Bobcat acrobat/landshaper, part of the slope was cut and brought down into the lower areas to flatten out the grade. (See Jim’s Bobcat Ballet video below). Big boulders were delivered, and Jim artfully placed them behind the house for the beginning of a retaining wall. We then got some fill to even it all out and a couple of weekends of renting a JBC front-end loader and dirt compactor from Double R and we did the rest. Most people think we are crazy to do this, and far be it for us to let them think otherwise. This is not for everyone. And most people hire it out which is way smarter. But then again digging is in my husband’s blood and part of his DNA makeup. His father was a mining engineer in West Virginia, Wyoming and Utah. He once made Bob help dig a swimming pool. But that’s another story.

As for me, I got good at the front-end loader. Must have been from watching Jim all those times. Never thought I’d say that or have a reason to. Then Bob and I would switch off and I’d walk around with the dirt compactor. Two-hundred-fifty pounds of a vibrating, shaking plate that compacts dirt in six to eight inch layers. While tedious, it is not that hard. My husband in his own charming way found the only bright spot about me using it had more to do with the jiggling movement of certain upper body parts. “Yeah, keep laughing clown boy, you won’t find many wives that will do this.” But hey, if it keeps him motivated, so be it.

After that was finished, we spent two days measuring out the foundation and setting pins in the ground. Then the batter boards were set in. We even used lime as opposed to spray paint to make our markings. When we were done it looked like some new field game played on a square court. We were now ready for the arrival of Uncle Ted, our builder and setting up the forms for the stemwall.

Above: Images from the foundation pad in progress.

Shoes crunch in the gravel as Harry Case and his grandson Shawn Connor head up the forest road. A hairy woodpecker drums on a nearby Douglas fir, but Harry’s eye has landed on something else: alders sprouting in a strip of bare earth on the road shoulder.

He’s pleased, but points out, “I didn’t plant those.” Harry and his grandson did plant some 700 other trees they are babying in wire cages for deer protection. “Those alders are just coming in every place,” he says. “I won’t discourage them. They’ll be big trees in 40 years, which is good. Shawn will be 70,” he adds, throwing Shawn a deadpan glance.

“We used to call alder a weed tree. Not any more. It’s used for furniture – fine furniture. Takes any kind of stain. It’s the only tree that is worth anything in the present market.”

Annette and Harry Case with Harry's grandson, Shawn Connor

Harry has stewarded these woods for 62 years, selectively logging and managing them for forest succession and diversity. He has strong feelings about the right way to do it, having gotten entangled as a young man in logging slash while hiking the Suiattle watershed in the Cascades. “I decided once and forever to obtain a piece of forest land never to be logged that way,” he says.

Harry was 18 when his dad came across this parcel near South Whidbey’s Saratoga Woods in a tax sale in 1946. “I bought it cheap,” he says. “You couldn’t buy it now, if you could find it.”

Harry and Annette are in the final stages of completing a conservation easement that will permanently protect the Incredible Forest, giving up development rights worth perhaps $1.5 million. Harry has harvested more than a million board feet of timber. “The Land Trust did a timber cruise and it turns out I have over five million now, so that’s what I call an increased yield. I have enough value in the timber. That’s what enables me to tie up the development rights. We’re never going to starve.”

Land Trust conservation partners and members already have contributed more than $40,000 of the estimated $60,000 needed to fund the transaction – for the timber cruise, fair market appraisal, land and wetland surveys, forest management plan, baseline survey, legal costs and staff time.

Pat Powell, Land Trust executive director, says the Case easement marks a big day for the Land Trust. “This is our biggest protection project of the year and the first conservation easement we have ever completed on a working forest.”

And she’s thrilled. “This will maintain and enhance the forest cover and promote species diversity by allowing the forest to grow to a mature condition with old-growth characteristics,” she said.
The easement also upholds Harry’s longstanding values and vision. “I’ve carefully done my own forestry work and it’s been a huge success,” he says. That may be an understatement from a man who was not trained as a forester but spent his career as a trombonist with the Seattle Symphony.

What was he thinking, this Seattle musician pursuing a secret life two days a week, camping, harvesting timber with a chain saw and planting his own trees?

“It’s really refreshing out here,” he says, watching a squirrel pilfer suet he’s hung on a nearby tree. “It’s quite complementary – coming here to get away from that high-pressure music. This is a different scene. I came here every time I could find two days to log.” Harry did all the stand improvement himself, carefully using a small tractor to tow out selected logs until the trees got too big for his equipment a few years ago.

The land has given Harry a good second income, peace of mind, physical exercise and a place to bond with his grandson as they observed the forest’s changes together. Shawn makes the point without even trying. “I was just eating a bunch of red huckleberries. What a great year. The red ones are about done but the evergreen huckleberries are just loaded.”

As a child Shawn joined his grandfather on trips to this forest and now is preparing to steward it into the future. He went from catching frogs and salamanders to an education in forest ecology at the University of Washington’s College of Forest Resources.

“This is like having your own garden to play in,” Shawn says. “You read things in books and then go out and apply them in the real world. Here you see the actual application – a unique experience.”

Along the way he became a teacher in some ways to his grandfather.

“There is an ecological crisis as we speak,” Harry says. “We are digging a grave for civilization with all this carbon dioxide in the air. I wasn’t thinking a whole lot about it until six or seven years ago when Shawn came home with the data.” One of Harry’s goals is to help offset the devastation of the world’s rain forests. Preserving trees is one way to practice carbon sequestration.

“There is a lot of carbon tied up in these trees. You wonder where a tree comes from? It takes carbon from the air. Trees are mostly coming out of the carbon in the air – an amazing process.” Shawn points out, “And oxygen is the byproduct.”

Harry adds, “If we are going to save the environment, little people are going to have to do something. The government isn’t going to do it; they’ve done zilch.”

He becomes emotional when he talks of the support Annette and Shawn have given him. “Annette, what are you doing?” he asks, summoning her from the RV he calls their portable cabin.

She’s smiling proudly. He gives her a big hug. Then another to Shawn.

“I want to say that Shawn and my wife have made it easy for me to do this. If they had not been on my side and seen my vision, I probably would not do the Land Trust thing. Shawn is going to forego 34 lots worth $100,000 apiece for saving the world. We’re going to try to save the world.”

“Starting with a postage stamp,” Annette adds. But then she notes that some other chunks of the South Whidbey forest are also protected by Land Trust efforts, and adds: “I like to see that on the map, see that it’s coming together almost all of a piece now.”

Harry is studying the ground at their feet, where last year they disturbed a small patch of earth to clear a pad for their RV. It’s a carpet of tiny alders.

“Well, there’s your lawn,” he declares with a smile.

Many thanks to The Whidbey Camano Land Trust for permission to reprint this article in Ecozome.

Harry Case, our local hero, is also one of five finalists for the Cox Conserves Heroes award! Vote for Harry before June 19th.

In the early days of our working on our property we would come across the usual wildlife suspects, voles, frogs, deer, garter snakes, and the occasional rabbit. We could hear the coyotes at night howling and knew they were in the area. My husband Bob is like a magnet for animals. It’s pretty funny for a guy who is allergic to cats and dogs. Every time I moan about wanting a dog, he says, “honey, just think of the animals of the forests like they’re our outdoor pets.” Yeah…not buyin’ it, Bob.

Barred Owl

For a while there it was pretty gruesome. We would find various parts of small unrecognizable fuzzy parts in our paths. But nothing can prepare you for the cry of a 230 lb., 6’5” man screaming my name in the woods as if he has just chopped off his leg with a chainsaw. I came running only to find my husband with no blood on him anywhere but just this horrified look on his face. I was completely puzzled and then I saw what he had in his hands. He had accidentally stepped on a baby bunny that couldn’t have been more than a day old. He was holding it in his hands offering it to me like Lenny to George in John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men.” It had a tiny spot of blood on it’s nose, and while I know full well you’re supposed to leave animals like this to nature, this was not nature’s fault, it was man’s. We also knew the mother was dead, found about twenty-five feet away with its head missing. We basically convinced ourselves we were its only hope, mostly to calm Bob down who was just beside himself with guilt.

Our neighbor helped us look up on the Internet what to do with a baby rabbit, and we learned we could feed it some kitten replacement milk. We also learned that you had to stimulate its anus with a Q-tip so it could pass a micropoop. Lovely. But the real irony was that we drove it seventy miles back to Seattle where I found a local vet who yelled at me and threatened to call the Fish & Game Warden. What’s that expression? Ah yes, no good deed goes unpunished. The gal behind the desk felt bad and gave me the name of the Sarvey Wildlife Center. Sarvey rehabilitates injured and orphaned wildlife in the Pacific Northwest. Animals receive immediate medical care, food, and shelter and stay until they are ready for release back into the wild.

It was getting harder to let go of little “Nettles,” as we named it. Its little ears had popped up and damn it was cute. It began drinking more milk and moving around. The next day Bob drove it North to Arlington. Another 100-mile trek (his penance for stepping on the thing). When he got there he told me it was like the land of misfit animals. An eagle with one wing, limping three-legged animals, a one-eyed bird and the like. He sat in the waiting room with a little kid who had a squirrel in a box. Bob handed Nettles off to a kind woman there and told her about how we found the mother. She immediately put it next to her skin where it could hear her heartbeat and said to us, you must have owls. They like the head. It has all the yummy parts. So after driving roughly 300 miles for this ordeal, and paying a fifty buck donation in our quest to save a little wildlife, the mildlife could also sleep that night. We’re not sure what happened after that, but we knew we did the best we could do.

Oddly enough the following weekend Bob was hooking up a water spigot with a long 100-foot garden hose. I was walking towards him when an enormous Barred Owl swooped down above his head within three feet of his bald spot. Bob didn’t even see him. I couldn’t believe my eyes. It then perched in a branch above his head and turned its head as if to say him, “Dude, you took my Scooby-snack.”

When we purchased our property, I always knew I wanted to get it certified as a stewardship forest. I loved seeing those cool little green and brown signs along someone’s private drive. How do you get one of those things? I had heard about some elusive short course class but could never find it. Then one day I finally stumbled across it and signed up. When we realized the initial location of the class was going to be at the top of Whidbey Island, this would be a challenge. It can take two and a half to three hours to get to class when you live in Seattle.

But we were determined to do our part as stewards of the environment even if it meant driving for two months every Thursday night 100 miles to get there. The irony of knowing how much gas we would use to take the class is not lost on us. I was also amazed at the mass of paperwork you receive during class. It’s as if each student receives a full tree by the end of the term. That said, I still have every piece of literature in my bookcase.

Chick with chainsaw

When I first went to class my goal was to preserve all the trees on our land in any way shape or form. My mantra was “no wood leaves the property.” Cutting a tree down was something we would do only if we had to. I was determined to only use the firewood from naturally, downed trees. Little did I know the forestry class I would take would change that mindset entirely and make me feel like such a wuss.

In my altruistic ignorance (and I was not the only one), the class taught us how to manage our lots and make our forests healthier. We created plans and learned how to more accurately identify the health of the trees and plants on our lands. We learned how to selectively thin to allow others to grow stronger. I no longer have a sense of horror when we have to take down trees and each of us has our own set of his and her chainsaws. I can sincerely say, I am no longer a forest wuss.

Clearing the trees with a friend for our house site put everything we learned to the test. Twenty-two large Red Alders were felled and trimmed up along with a few hemlocks and some fir. Friends helped us chip the limbs and branches, and we hired a great guy to stack all our logs. We have since purchased a small portable sawmill and this year will finally mill the alder for trim wood and cabinetry for inside the house we are building.

Out of the class came more than just lessons on trees. We got a sense of empowerment that comes with getting to know our land so intimately. We participated as part of a community and made some wonderful new friends. The stewardship plan we developed has given us a great sense of accomplishment. That cool little green and brown sign…we got us one.
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We took our Forest Stewardship Coached Planning class through the extension at Washington State University.

A whole lot of clean up on the house site