Imagine 3 corridors, migratory resting stops, running west-east in the State of Washington:
1) Stanwood – Whitehorse, 2) just south of Olympia, 3) north of Ilwaco – Kelso where this writer once taught high school students (1966) about native plants that no longer exist.
PLC’s Gardens are living proof biodiversity works. The County temporarily closed Bonhoeffer Botanical Gardens for public visitations (we are working on solutions) and the consequence these the last few years has been amazing (with few human visitors): plants emerging like Indian Rhubarb and Oregon Geranium (last seen in this State 100 years ago) and the return of birds, butterflies, and top-of-the-line predators. Somewhere around a mix of 200 – 300 plant species/10 acres the Gardens became “different,” a staggering amount of diverse wildlife began to return.
Envision 9 more of these Gardens, 160 acres each, patchworked along what we call the Inslee Corridor (because we need State/DNR land and a green Governor to make this work). Scattered along these corridors (that would be 30 parcels if there were 3 corridors), these botanic collections could be the seed source over the next 90 years while DNR (and other) parcels within these corridors are re-tasked into protected areas with no herbicides, feral cats, and/or uneducated human visitors who pick annual flowers (in 1 year, without seeds falling, annuals are gone forever). The NW could lead the Nation in creating biodiverse carbon sinks, be the protector of north-south migratory bird and butterfly flight routes, and take responsibility. It was not the Pioneers, the Explorers, nor the American Indigenous who created the need for the 30 x 30 Initiative.
All it would take is to:
- Support 10 local nurseries each propagating 50 scarce species (+ the 200 now sold);
- Convince the State to re-task a patchwork of DNR parcels: harvest the existing Douglas Firs and then plant or seed with a mix of 400 native plant species rather than with a single species: genetically modified Super Doug Firs;
- Provide/Produce packets of 300-400 species’ seeds for youngsters of all ages to spread, using the Gardens–Centennial–Whitehorse Bike Path … the northern corridor to start. Young people care, there will be many willing volunteers; and
- Create public support for biodiversity in the NW among all ages; it would require shifting resources, but DNR land is owned by the people and energy can be taxed in-elastically to pay for this long-term investment. Regardless of one’s politics or beliefs, no animal can spoil its own nest as we humans have and expect to survive.
There will be many opinions, but one thing people can’t tell us is that biodiversity does not work. Bonhoeffer Botanical Gardens, these last few years, is living proof that it does!
David J. Thomsen, PhD, Chair
Pilchuck Learning Center
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For discussion, why the opposition to the above?
Best answer:
Comments, content, questions appreciated; email to: bb@plc215.org
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