Tending the Reserve

It’s been about 1 ½ years since the Whatcom Land Trust deeded Lily Point Reserve to Whatcom County.  And that deeding, I would suppose, means that the County is responsible for the Reserve’s upkeep.  But in these days of diminishing government income levels because of the financial crisis and of taxpayer resistance to tax increases, even for services the public wants the government to provide, the availability of Whatcom County funds to preserve the Reserve are doubtless scarce.

And that is why it is a very good thing that the Whatcom Land Trust staff organized a work day to help get rid of some of the English ivy that is climbing the big trees as well as spreading out across the land.  The event was organized by the Land Trust’s new Volunteer Coordinator, who comes to the Trust via Americorps.  A bright and cheerful young Kansan who always dreamed of living in a place with mists and tall trees and rain sent out notices via the Point Interface urging Point Roberts residents to join the Trust from 10-2 in getting some of this work done.

And so it was that Ed and I got down there this morning, a little late for the opening salvos, but nevertheless there in time to do almost three hours of ivy eliminating work.  Unfortunately, we were there with only, as far as I could tell, four other people from Point Roberts.  Well, of course, lots of people left after Labor Day, and it was a Tuesday so some people had to work, but still…only six people?  It didn’t feel like we were showing much propensity for community effort here.  And it must have felt a tad discouraging for someone just beginning her volunteer coordinator work.

Doubtless, there are Point residents who go at their own times to do this kind of work.  Certainly it does not need to be done in groups.  But it does need to be done if Lily Point is to be the kind of place that the community seemed to hope it would be back when the acquisition was completed.  For Ed, who was sawing away thick ivy vines scaling very big maple trees—almost an hour and a half on just one tree-- it was very hard work.  For me, on my knees, trowelling and hand-pulling yards of ivy stems from the ground, stems that were heading for maple trees, it was somewhat less hard, but wonderfully peaceful, nevertheless. 

Lily Point is a visually beautiful place. When I go there, though,  it’s usually down to the beach with just a quick walk through the forested part.  This was very different, though.  Digging in the dirt of Lily Point’s forest for a couple of hours, I got especially to hear Lily Point in a way I had not previously experienced.  Thanks to Whatcom Land Trust for giving me that opportunity.

Please! Help! Or Not?

Two weeks ago, the Point Roberts Garden Club people sent out a notice on the Point Interface Email List to inform their neighbors that it was time to come down to Tyee Drive and plant this years’ new daffodil bulbs in the easements so that next spring we will all be gobsmacked by the sight of 20 dozen or so daffs smiling up at us day after day. They were planning the planting for two hours on each of three days the coming week. Monday didn’t work for me because I had a quilting student, but I planned to go down on Tuesday and Thursday to help out. Monday afternoon, I drove by and saw that they had gotten a good start because all the beautiful pink cosmos on one side of the street had been unpended and were lying behind the now-bare raised beds.

But Tuesday morning, the rain was pouring, and I figured that there would be no bulb planting that day. Thursday was no better: more rain. By the weekend, another notice came out as to when they needed help. But that week had its own problems with everyone’s rain and my previously scheduled activities. And, as it happened, the bulb planting still didn’t get done. Finally, a third notice of times came out and I planned to go on the third day. But when I drove by in the afternoon of the second day, it looked like it was already finished, so I didn’t show up on the third day. And it turned out that that was the day they actually finished.

So, what we’ve got here is a failure of communication, or something. The bulbs are all in the ground and I did nothing to help that happen. And that’s okay because other people did manage to get there to make it happen. But I think I need to be either harder on myself, or more generous with others when I notice that they are not showing up for some community work that I did manage to get to do.

I can imagine that one of the conditions for living here would be doing community service. Sort of like military service. Everyone would be required to do five units of community service each year. Okay, I can see right away that that is a genuinely crazy idea because who would decide what constituted a unit of service, who would keep track of laxness, what would punishment be for failure to do service (eviction? exile? who would enforce that?), who would decide who could be excused on grounds of …well, then also who would decide what conditions would be grounds for an excuse? Obviously a bureaucratic nightmare. Better just personal responsibility. It would be a good thing, indeed a morally good thing, if everyone tried to do something for the community each year. But it’s up to each of us to make that happen. The alternative is not a good choice.