QUILCENE — Some 275 students, parents, grandparents and friends planted 5,000 native trees to help restore salmon and wildlife habitats in the Tarboo Watershed over two weekends this month.
In the process, they raised more than $25,000 for five participating schools, said Jude Rubin, director of stewardship for the Northwest Watershed Institute, a Port Townsend nonprofit that organizes the annual plant-a-thon.
The Seventh Annual Plant-A-Thon held Feb. 5 and 12 was a school fundraiser and community service project for five schools: Quilcene Primary, Chimacum Pi Program, Sunfield Waldorf School in Port Hadlock and Jefferson Community School and Swan School, both of Port Townsend.
Photographs of the two-day event are on display now at Elevated Ice Cream, 631 Water St., Port Townsend. The collection of images by Charles Espey, which he culled to 14 from 600, will be exhibited through March 6.
The daylong events are the largest volunteer tree plantings in East Jefferson County.
Of the 110,000 trees planted in Tarboo watershed since 2004, about 25 percent were planted by volunteers during the plant-a-thons.
In preparation for the event, students and parents sell tree certificates for $5 each so that trees can be planted in honor of friends, family and favorite causes.
Cards are sent worldwide.
Some remaining honorary tree cards are still available for purchase to support all participating schools at www.swanschool.net.
All proceeds from the sale of tree cards go directly to funding school programs.
“You may be planting for someone in China or for the person right next to you,” Rubin said. “That’s the beauty of this — you really don’t know.”
The event is no small endeavor, she added.
School coordinators Kit Pennell, Susan O’Brien, Betsy Carlson, Eric Jorgensen, Michele Meyering and Jake Meyer worked for six months to ensure that volunteer coordination and fundraising went smoothly.
The institute’s field crew worked for weeks preparing the planting site, and 48 crew leaders were trained before the event.
Chef Kristin Berg fed 280 hungry volunteers hot lunch.
This year, with help from Zachary Mallon, the institute’s AmeriCorps member, 25 volunteers were recruited from Jefferson Juvenile Services, Quimper Unitarian Fellowship, AmeriCorps and other groups.
Tarboo watershed project
“The planting projects are an important part of NWI’s long-term effort to preserve and restore salmon and wildlife habitat from the headwaters of Tarboo Creek to Dabob Bay,” said Peter Bahls, institute director.
The institute has worked since 2002 with willing landowners and more than 30 organizations to restore the Tarboo watershed.
Most barriers to fish passage, such as culverts under roads, have been fixed, and several miles of streams and wetlands in the Tarboo valley are being restored.
Tree planting is one of the last steps in the restoration process.
Volunteers planted native trees and shrubs along Tarboo Creek tributaries and adjoining wetland pastures. Rubin said she expects good survival.
“In the past, we’ve had between 60 to 91 percent seedling survival,” she said.
The institute owns and manages the 316-acre Tarboo Wildlife Preserve, where the planting took place. It also is permanently protected by a conservation easement held by the Jefferson Land Trust.
Challenging weather
On Feb. 12, wind speeds averaged 26 mph, with gusts up to 37 mph.
“The wind blew so hard at times that plates of food were torn out of our hands and the entire crowd would sway, like we were on the ferry and had hit a big swell,” said Betsy Carlson, coordinator for Swan School.
Susan O’Brien, coordinator for Jefferson Community School, said she feared the high wind would discourage volunteers.
“I was so touched and pleased to see everyone arriving and working hard in very challenging weather conditions,” O’Brien said.
Crew leaders and other “die-hards” stayed to finish the job in the pouring rain until they got the job done, Rubin said.
And despite a stormy economy, several dozen businesses and individuals supported the event.
At the start of each planting day, Rubin gathered volunteers into a circle and thanked participants, local business sponsors and the funding agencies that paid for seedlings and the stream construction work along Tarboo Creek — U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service and Ecotrust’s Whole Watershed Restoration Initiative
The Food Co-op, Pan d’Amore, Henery’s Hardware and Goodman Inc. have supported the plant-a-thon since its inception in 2004. Many others have joined the effort since.
A five-school effort
Originally conceived and organized by the institute, OPEPO (the Port Townsend School district’s optional education program)and Swan School, the plant-a-thon is based on the simple idea of “success through cooperation,” Rubin said.
Last year, the program expanded to include schools from the southern part of the county.
Richard Jesse Watson — the Port Townsend artist commissioned to create an image for the 2011 Plant-A-thon Tree Card — donated his original acrylic and ink painting to be auctioned to benefit the project. It is on sale now via on-line auction at www.swanschool.net.
The original artwork is on display at the new Chimacum Corner Farm Stand at state Highway 19 and Chimacum-Hadlock Road.
