This year, Forterra welcomed dozens of Tacoma community members to the Northwest Native Plant Garden at Point Defiance Park, where they learned about our region’s iconic trees and native understory species.

The event came together through a partnership between Forterra and Tacoma Community House made possible thanks to funding from the Hispanic Access Foundation’s Nuestros Bosques project. The program aims to increase urban tree canopy in predominantly Latino neighborhoods.

Forterra’s Daniel Hachet and Lee Dunlap connected participants to the park’s native plants through stories and sensory experiences, like feeling the rough bark of a giant Douglas fir or smelling the grapefruit-like needles of a Western Hemlock.

“For some, it was their first experience in the park, and they thoroughly enjoyed everything,” said Christian Jensen, Education Services Manager at Tacoma Community House. “But even for students who were well acquainted with Point Defiance, the education provided by Daniel and Lee was wonderful, and the native garden was new.  I had so many students tell me in the days afterwards how happy they were with the experience.”

For many, the following plants were the stars of the show, either for their impressive size or attractive fruits:

Oregon Grape

This lush green plant’s blue-purple berries are edible, and its shocking-yellow roots were used by Pacific Northwest tribes to dye wool and leather.

Snowberry

Careful. Unlike the not-grapes of the first plant, these snow-white berries are toxic when eaten. Hummingbirds are fond of its flower nectar.

Douglas Fir

Or “Doug” for short. This iconic Pacific Northwest tree towers over others and can be very long lived. Certain varieties are known to be over 1,000 years old!

The plant walk was one of several restoration and educational events leading up to Latino Conservation Week (LCW), an initiative by the Hispanic Access Foundation. The LCW initiative, launched in 2014, has provided opportunities for the Latino community to get outdoors and protect our natural resources.

Forterra partners with other organizations to create environmental education opportunities. One example is Forterra’s collaboration with the City of Tukwila to create a fun day of learning about salmon and river health. The event resulted in hundreds of community members, both kids and adults, becoming more familiar with their local waterways and how trees benefit ecologically important aquatic species.

More recently, an event held with Nosotros En Naturaleza started with a hike through Seattle’s Discovery Park, ending with a breathtaking sunset over the Olympic Mountains.

Such events are packed with educational opportunities, but Hachet says it’s more than just learning plant names and salmon types, especially for those communities who may not have had as many opportunities to develop connections to the nature around them.

“Caring for the natural world doesn’t always start with lectures,” said Hachet. “It can start with memories. The plant ID and sunset hike events were a blast, but more than that, it was a reminder that not everyone has those memories yet—and this was a chance to create some. For a short while, people got to slow down, explore, and get to know the plants and places around them.”

Forterra continues to collaborate with other local organizations to create events that bring our community closer to nature.