In 2015, Governor Jay Inslee declared a statewide drought emergency, citing low snowpack – just 16% of average – and low river flows. The following two years exhibited a similar lack of winter snowfall and spring and summer rainfall, extending the drought and stressing our forests.
The Anacortes Community Forest Lands managers raised alarms in 2018 at how many cedars were dying in the ACFL. They showed me trees along Trail 201, a non-descript trail in the Whistle Lake area. The needles on dozens of once-healthy cedars of all ages had turned brown or were completely gone, the trees dead.
Transition Fidalgo initiated studies in the ACFL to document what we were seeing, and to establish long-term monitoring of the forest health to document future changes. I got involved in 2019, helping organize and lead volunteers in these studies. We chose to monitor a half-dozen trails through a variety of habitats.
One of the trails we focused on was Trail 201. I chose that one as my personal responsibility. Since then, Kath and I have walked the trail frequently, recording measurements of the visible health of every cedar close to the trail from the Whistle Lake parking area up to the flats at the top of the ridge, a hundred cedars in all.
When I began, the trail seemed plain to me, with no views and of little particular interest. It’s three-quarters of a mile long, of moderate difficulty as it climbs a ridge rather quickly then descends back down to meet Trail 21 near Whistle Lake.
Getting to know each cedar along the trail, and the neighboring trees of other species, has opened my eyes to the beauty, the astonishing singularity of each tree, and to the forest community, sharing ground even as they compete for the limited resources of light, water, and soil.
Kath and I walked the trail once again this week, starting shortly after sunrise. A hazy orange sun filtered through the trees, a reminder of forest fires burning in Oregon and Washington this summer, the hottest summer on record – on the heels of 2023, the hottest summer ever until this year.
We took time to look at each tree, trees we are beginning to know through our studies each year. Trees that were dying a few years ago now stand bare, some having fallen. A few others show signs of their leaves now browning. Most, though, seem content. The weather since 2017 has moderated somewhat. Yes, the world is getting warmer, and we have even had a couple of heat domes here, but the spring rains have been adequate so far, enough for the trees to get through our typical low-rainfall summers.
We walked slowly, in reverence for the life all around us on this trail. As we hiked, we could hear a muffled hum from Highway 20 as cars motored along, reminding us that our dependence on oil still fuels the climate crisis. The refineries on March Point still belch their smoke and steam as they support our habits. Apart from that, we only heard Pac wrens, red crossbills, incessant nuthatches, and a few other songbirds. Frogs greeted the day and each other with their quiet serenades. A Hairy drilled into a cottonwood for breakfast.
This trail that I had once thought of as non-descript now feels like the pathway leading to so many of our friends and neighbors.
I write this on Patriot Day. Patriots care for their homeland. Our homeland is under assault from our lifestyles, our disregard of what it means to live together with all life on a spaceship that has finite resources.
And yet I celebrate a growing awareness in our country and around the world, a heightened sense of responsibility to change our ways, to slow the warming, and to restore the health of our planet.
The cedars along Trail 201 will appreciate that.
To see what Transition Fidalgo's research is finding in the ACFL, read its latest annual report here.
Directions
Directions: Go south from the Commercial Avenue roundabout in Anacortes. Take a left at the T onto Fidalgo Avenue, left again at Hillcrest and then right onto Whistle Lake Road; follow the signs as the road twists and turns to the parking area at the end of a short dirt road.
By Bike: Whistle Lake Road is gently rolling and fairly quiet for traffic. Getting up there from downtown Anacortes is a bit of a climb.
Mobility: Trail 201 is narrow, steep in places, rocky, root-filled, and muddy in the rainy season.
Republished with permission. Read the original article.