SEQUIM — Bill Wood is a biologist with a vivid imagination.
Seven summers ago, he started a plantation based on a vision both imagined and educated: an oak savanna, with native shade trees ranging across grassland.
Wood looked ahead a few decades to behold a thriving forest, a canopy of green in the middle of what county planners call the Sequim Urban Growth Area.
A peek back in time shows this is not outlandish.
In May 1792, Capt. George Vancouver wrote of his impressions of the “vegetable kingdom” here. The Brit who thoroughly explored the Pacific Northwest called the place “luxuriant,” noticing the “common dwarf oak” that flourished across the valley.
A mere 218 years later, Wood, a retired state wildlife biologist, is working with a small cadre of fellow visionaries to restore a swath of native woodland along Sequim’s northeastern border.
Between 2003 and 2005, they planted 2,000 Garry oak seedlings on 20 acres behind Carrie Blake Park.
The state Department of Fish and Wildlife purchased the parcel, but then ran out of money to maintain the plantings.
Nevertheless, Wood and his crew continued devoting their muscle and sweat to the Sequim Oak Project, even as housing tracts sprang up around it.
There was and is no fanfare around the work. The volunteers built “browse protectors,” metal-and-netting tents to fend off hungry deer, keep weeds down and maintain the drip-irrigation system that waters each tree.
Recruiting workers
Now that it’s spring, Wood and longtime volunteers Melissa Soares and Les Jones are turning to the Sequim community, hoping to recruit some more native-tree caretakers.
“We want people to know this project is out here,” said Wood, “and that it’s large; it’s significant. They’re more than welcome to come and help” with keeping the drip system running, weeding and repairing browse protectors.
Bucks like to tear the netting with their antlers, Wood said.
Pulling weeds and fixing nets may not be delightful jobs on their own, he and Soares acknowledged. But volunteers don’t work in a vacuum, of course.
“This is a nice place to come out,” said Soares, “and spend a few hours watching eagles, watching hawks,” and perhaps a flock of bluebirds from a neighboring home where nesting boxes have been put up especially for them.
The eagles, along with the swallows that swoop down and in like tiny reconnaissance planes, keep the rodent and insect populations under control.
Humans are needed in the equation, however, to ensure that the youthful plants don’t become deer food.
The oak plantation, flanked by another 30 acres of state-owned land, anchors a refuge for both wildlife and city-weary people, Wood said.
“They feel that when they come out here,” or to any natural woodland, he added.
Then, as if tossing a handful of birdseed, Wood threw in a line from Shakespeare: “One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.”
Wednesday work parties
Last Wednesday morning, Wood, Soares and Jones went out to the forest-to-be for their usual work party.
Birdsong and sun were their allies as they cleared brush and checked on each seedling’s condition.
“I like the sense of space out here,” Soares said.
Anyone interested in the nascent forest is invited to learn more about it during Saturday’s Earth Day festivities at the Sequim Water Reuse Demonstration Site, just north of Carrie Blake Park at 202 N. Blake Ave.
The Sequim Oak Project booth will be set up along the trail that borders the reuse site.
Newcomers are also welcome at the Wednesday work parties, which will continue through the growing season.
The next one will go from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. April 21; Wood is happy to provide more details at 360-452-5679.
To reach the Sequim Oak Project gate, follow the James Center signs off of East Washington Street and onto North Rhodefer Road.
The plantation is north of the James Center bandshell, and identifiable by the dome-shaped browse protectors.
“One of the great no-so-secret secrets to a fulfilling life,” said Wood, “is to be involved in something greater than oneself.”
For him, the oak project is just that.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
