Thurston Friends of Trees
Thurston Friends of Trees is an action group of REConnect that is working to protect the trees of Olympia, Tumwater, Lacey and Thurston County. Trees are an important part of our EcoSystem. They play a critical role in:
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Sequestering carbon
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Drawing down pollution and reducing asthma rates
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Doing storm water management
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Reducing heating and cooling bills
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Reducing heat islands
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Providing animal and bird habitat to often threatened species
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Positively impacting mental health
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Bringing beauty to an urban environment
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Protecting against landslide
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Playing a vital role in our interconnected ecosystem
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Because trees do all these things for us, we wish to also protect
them. We do this by:
* Educating the public about trees
* Fighting for better ordinances to protect trees
* Our campaign "Saving the Giants" which is focused on creating an Exceptional tree designation that will protect trees over 25$ diameter breast height (DBH).
* Work in coalition with other groups to protect Old Growth in WA
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Our action group meets the 2nd Thursday of each month at 6:30 pm (currently on Zoom). Please email Lynn@fitz-hugh.org to be added to our Thurston Friends of Trees email list and to receive the link for the meeting.
Trees are interconnected underground through mycorrhizal networks. One of our members, Julie Ratner, uses a special device called Plants Play to read the tree's electrical impulse (very similar to a medical EKG reads our pulse) and then software converts the signals into musical notes – the trees sing! Listen to the sound of a tree isolated by a clear cut and a tree in an undisturbed forest.
Join Thurston Friends of Trees for a community action to demand DNR stop all sales of our oldest most precious forests in W WA. Protecting these trees is THE most economical and fastest ways to achieve our climate goals by 2030. These trees are the lungs of our state and we depend on them to absorb carbon to reduce state emissions. These 80+ year old forests are our state's legacy and need to be saved before Commissioner Franz and the DNR board sell the last 3%.
We need to take action urgently since these monthly sales of mature forests are accelerating and 3 of these parcels are up for sale in Capitol forest in the coming months.
This past March Thurston County Commissioners asked DNR to stop selling ALL mature forest parcels, including Juneau. Over 50% of these 3 parcels, named Juneau, Carrot, Cabbage Patch, Cakewalk, Evergreen Gold, are mature forests storing pollution and releasing clean air. Help us stop all land sales of mature forests by signing these petitions today.