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Date & Time Details: Hike departs from the lower parking lot at 12:30 pm

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Sharing our Forest Stewardship Plan: Community Hike

July 24, 2021

Community hike runs from 12:30 to 2 pm, departs from the lower parking lot, and is led by Whidbey Institute team member Kate Snider and forester Malloree Weinheimer of Chickadee Forestry.

Are you curious about the new Whidbey Institute forest stewardship plan? This plan, developed as part of our conservation easement, has the goal of integrating the best of conservation forest management strategies with indigenous wisdom.

This is one of two summer opportunities to learn more about this plan. Join us for a top level review of this innovative plan during an online event July 21, and/or join us for this hike on July 24 where we will hike the forest with the plan creators to see first hand how stewardship will unfold!

The Whidbey Institute was able to engage both a forestry consultant and an indigenous land planner in 2020. In January 2021, they completed a draft Forest Stewardship Plan for 106 acres of protected forest and wetland in the Maxwelton Creek watershed on the south end of Whidbey Island. The Whidbey Institute submitted this draft to the Whidbey Camano Land Trust for review and is currently working with the Land Trust to finalize the initial planning document.

The Forest Stewardship Plan is an essential document to guide the Whidbey Institute community as we monitor, maintain, and improve conservation practices for the protected property and move toward native plant, forest, wetland, and wildlife habitat restoration. It sets objectives for 10 years, 50 years, and 200 years in the future. Importantly, the Forest Stewardship Plan incorporates indigenous perspectives, provides a model for similar projects elsewhere in our region, and guarantees exemplary environmental stewardship. It also initiates possibilities for providing consistent and committed regional indigenous access to the Whidbey Institute lands for traditional tribal activities, including for cultural, medicinal, and ceremonial purposes.

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