Join Natures Partners Event: “Good Stewards of the Forest” doing a Food-Reforestation Permaculture Project on the Willapa Hills Trails!
When the Forest is happy the squirrel is happy!
Hello “Good Stewards of the Forest” and Forest Loving People! We will be engaging the local community soon to invite and provide more details to all those wanting to join in on planning and this event.
“We Good Stewards of the Forest love the Willapa Hills Trails!”
“We love the forest, we love the people, and we love the wildlife!”
“We love the forest food and herbs, that give us strength and vitality!”
“We are grateful for this Wild and Beautiful Place, and we want to give back!”
We Love Willapa Hills Trails in Lewis County!
In gratitude and for those reasons, We Natures Partners “Good Stewards of the Forest,” have determined it will be necessary to organize and deliver a project to restore some of the key nutritional plant diversity that is currently missing in Willapa Hills Trail area. We will do this by planting heirloom perennial seeds, seedlings, and rootstocks for native heirloom forest herbs and shrubs of the forest. We will plant the seeds seedlings and rootstocks along the trails in areas that lend themselves to plant survival along the way.
Once re-established in open sun-lighted and shaded areas of the trail, these heritage perennial plants and herbs will re-gain an incremental foothold of existence. Planting in the favorable conditions areas for survival we will selectively plant in open common areas along the trails edges. With this restoration strategy we will impact positive progress step by step as Humans Restoring Nature!
Food forest restoration planting project
Unfortunately, these essential nutrient rich heirloom plants are never allowed to get permanently re-stablished in the majority of the monoculture forests locally and in most other areas. The reason this happens is the dense planting of Douglas Fir and other “fast growing conifers”, that inevitably shade out 99.5% of all other forest plant species within around 8 to 10 years after dense Conifer planting. This harvest plan leaves the forest completely sterilized of nearly all of the 100’s of heirloom plant species for a period of 20 to 100 years, or up until they are cut again, and the cycle repeats.
Food forest planting group project
Let’s “grab a shovel and hike along with us” as we begin our mission to “Put the Food Back In the Forest” one Treasured Wild Place at a time. This restorative forestry project will give benefits to people and wildlife for many years to come!
We will do good things, meet great people, and have a lot of fun! Snacks and beverages will be provided to Natures Partners team members! Yum Yum!
Herbal tea and coffee meets
Ever wonder why there were no supermarkets in the Old West?
The answer is: “Because the Forest-Supermarket was all around them!” This is not an exaggeration. What Happened?
Most foresters have observed that Mono-Culture Forestry is enveloping vast percentages of tree farm forests and is what has brought this forest sterility of nearly all non-conifer plant species. Through shade and root competition from Conifers they became the dominant plants taking away from the former diverse plants ecosystem. This took away perennial plant survival opportunities and took their ability to reach full plant maturity and mature reproduction. This Commercial Forest Management System is now the dominant forestry system by a very large percentage.
Single species reforestation planting
Unfortunately, what started out as an honest debate between “Clear Cutting” or “Selective Cutting” of timber forests, we forestry people may have “Lost the Forest for the Trees” due to this two forest system debate. It seems that the “Selective Cutting” forest management system was never fully refined to provide for the “full restoration of the plant diversity by any measurable degree.”
The system for native plant species reestablishment was never built in for the preservation of species and wildlife benefit. The repeated entering of the forest with equipment in selective cut would inevitably have an all over damage effect, to even the young and old timber at times, so clear-cut mono-culture seems to have won out as the management system for that reason.
Mono culture forest sterilization
The broad array of beneficial plants that once lived in the forest sustained huge populations of local area wildlife in much greater numbers than today. The disappearance of these nutrient dense plants and therapeutic herbs resulted in a Nutrition and Health Crisis for wildlife and humans. This crisis contributed to reductions in populations of fish, wildlife and their supportive plant communities.
Humans also heavily benefitted from the natural herbs and foods that are to this day the most nutritious food known to exist. Forest foods and herbs are very high density nutrition with the best known sources of detoxification, immune regulation, antibiotic and antiaging phytonutrients in the plant world. Most successful pharma medicines came from trying to identify and synthesize singular active ingredient molecules found in healing herbs. These same therapeutic phytonutrients are critical for wildlife and human health alike.
More About Willapa Hills Trail: The Willapa Hills Trail was built as a railroad in the late 1800s, this gently-rolling rail-to-trail takes people between Chehalis and South Bend near the Washington coast. Come experience the scenery that greeted people on the Northern Pacific rail line that has since been converted to recreational use!
You can see waterfalls on the Chehalis River and smaller in the immediate area hillsides
There are a great many sights to see and things to do for the outdoor enthusiast along the Willapa Hills Trails. Depending what entry point of entry you come into the “56 Miles of Willapa Hills Trails” you can see water falls and fish hatcheries, slow lazy Chehalis River stretches and moss covered forests.
The trails provide a “True Eco-Tourism Treasure” for Lewis County and surrounding counties. Enjoy the Willapa Hills Trail unique sights and fun for adventurer lovers including; Hiking, Swimming, Wildcrafting, Fishing, Mushroom Hunting, and more.
Because the Trail passes very close to several quaint and unique towns, you have the potential to hike multiple legs of the trail while taking in some side trips with overnight accommodations nearby, along more Eco-Tourism Opportunities!
The Willapa Hills Trail, formally known as Willapa Hills State Park Trail, is a passageway for non-motorized vehicles to make their way between Chehalis and the Willapa Bay area just east of the Pacific Ocean. As mentioned, the trail is 56 miles in total, with 22 between Chehalis and Pe Ell continuously accessible as of early June 2016. You can read more about the Willapa Hills Trail system at the Discover Lewis County website here
In order to have a positive impact we must re-establish the elemental plants and the heritage food forest dynamics. These plants represent the “Total Wildlife Carrying Capacity” of the Natural Forest” for wildlife and human sustenance. When so much land was given over to commercial timber harvest systems it was presumed that the forest would be restored to a “Natural Wildlife Carrying Capacity Condition” between timber harvests.
Our Policy – As Natures Partners “Good Stewards of the Forest” we are not trying to blame anyone or the industry, but rather take immediate positive and substancial action to correct the sterilization of forest land by restoring a foothold of survival for the origonal nutritional and therapeutic plant species.
We sincerely look forward to working with the Timber Industry to find and execute creative ways to make this positive impact of restoration working within the framework of “OK so what can we do about the problem right now”
Food forest permaculture creates living botanical gardens of food and medicine
Join Us! We will be planning this event working with our “Good Stewards of the Forest” at some of our “Herbal Tea and Coffees Meets” while networking with local Nature Loving People.
