Tell us your “water story”
When we bought a very neglected piece of woodland property in 2023, I joked that my climate change plan was “buying a swamp”. What began as an offhand quip making light of an enormous life decision has become a real plan and a true passion for wetland restoration. My first visit to the property was a bleak, gray and rainy November day. Not much of the site was accessible due to overgrown brambles and a sprawling junk yard. Despite all the mess and poor conditions, I was instantly taken by the place and knew it was special because of a stunning old Bigleaf Maple standing tall and proud near the entrance (we now know this tree is nearly 100 years old!). The maple, along with large cottonwoods and healthy stands of redwood Cedar, Western hemlock, and Douglas fir nearby, started to paint a picture of a forest that had plenty of moisture and time to regenerate after the widespread logging events in the early 1900s.
Further research and exploration revealed large seasonal wetlands – one formed by a natural glacial depression common in the region, and the other likely a constructed ditch to drain the swamp prior to logging – on both sides of an upland ridge running along the SE to NW diagonal. For a small woodland, having several distinct mini-ecosystems presents an amazing restoration opportunity to maximize diverse habitat to support many plant and wildlife species. Two years on, we have cleaned up nearly 30 vehicles, 286 tires, and 3 containers of large rubbish; and the dilapidated 1950s structures have been removed, including asbestos remediation. We have secured 11 of the 15 acres in a conservation easement to protect the land in perpetuity – leaving the already disturbed acreage for our further development.
After creating and getting a forest management plan approved by DNR and conducting assessments for wildlife and tree health, we did an extensive, but targeted, tree clearing to cut down unhealthy and dangerous trees. Our restoration plan includes very intentional use of the available natural resources and so no tree debris left the site. It was all retained as woody debris to improve habitat, chipped for soil protection, and stored for future garden building. We are very excited to begin building our low impact, high efficiency, multi-generational home in 2026. I have even begun building out a native plant nursery to support my business and restoration efforts!
Observing the property during the recent floods was astounding. However much you understand how wetlands function to slow, hold, and infiltrate large quantities of water, nothing is better than seeing them in action. The wetlands rose 1-2ft above typical winter standing water levels, but the rest of the property was undamaged without mud, slides, or even small puddles – just spongey soil and lush evergreens all around.
Trees and thick understory slowed the torrential rains to gently hit the soil. The soil is anchored by a vast network of roots and is full of microscopic life that builds structure and water-holding capacity. The water held in the soil and wetlands is available for uptake by the plants and to percolate back into aquifers. This natural network filters, cleans, and maximizes water availability every step of the way while reducing the devastating impacts of heavy rains and flooding in our modern, paved, and developed world.
What is your favorite critter in Puget Sound?
Orca, Beavers, and Salmon rightly get a lot of attention as keystone species in the Puget Sound watershed. However, I’ve become fascinated with wetland amphibians like salamanders. There are 13 species in Washington, including the Pacific Giant Salamander – the world’s largest terrestrial salamander (up to 13in long). Not only are they weirdly cute, but salamander species have so many intriguing adaptations like poisonous larvae and secretions, hibernation, limb abandonment, paedomorphosis (“maturing” in adolescent form without metamorphizing), and skin breathing without lungs, to name just some! Most of our salamander species are at risk due to narrow habitat ranges and specialized niches, climate change, habitat loss and fragmentation, and introduction of invasive species. Thus, the presence or population recovery of salamanders is a great indicator of healthy forests and wetlands.
What is something people should know about protecting Puget Sound?
Having first worked as a climate law and policy consultant focused on land and natural resources rights and then switching careers to build my own regenerative landscape design company promoting habitat restoration and small-scale food production has guided my core belief that we must center ourselves as part of, not separate from, the environment. This requires active stewardship, which in turn requires greater fluency in, and appreciation of, your local ecology and community networks. Water is life and so understanding and protecting your watershed is fundamental to resolving many interrelated environmental, social, and economic problems.
To make a difference you must start somewhere, but anywhere and any scale is a good start. As we are still reeling from the recent deluge and region-wide flooding, I think it’s a critical time for everyone to commit to doing one new thing in 2026 that would improve their community’s water resilience to the new reality of regular drought and flooding. Good policies and strong enforcement are essential tools for curbing environmental destruction, and they can provide helpful frameworks and incentives for environmental protection. But, good news! You don’t have to wait for the laws to improve to simply go out and do beneficial work. The best thing to start with is whatever most motivates and brings you joy. Anger and overwhelm are very common and legitimate emotions that start people on their climate change response journeys, but I’ve found that actions taken in hope, community, and happiness have much more staying power.