Upcoming Community Events
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Selected Past Events
Common Ground Sellouts @ Pickford DOCtober
Summer Reads Events with WCLS
Mystic Heart Sound Bath Fundraiser
COB Climate Action Week Events
WMTP City Club Presentation
WMTP @ Fairhaven Plant Sale
Elemental @ Pickford Film Center
Become A Neighborhood Tree Ambassador
Climate Crisis & Your Inner Landscape
Sacred Earth Fair
Forest Walking w/ Jane Billinghurst
Tree Celebration at Firehouse Cafe
Youth v Gov and Inhabitants Pickford Film
WMTP Whatcom Reads Events
The Hidden Life of Trees Pickford Film
Old Growth Dedication at Baker Lake
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Past WMTP Events
Common Ground Sellouts @ Pickford DOCtober
With Kulshan Carbon Trust and Whatcom Peace and Justice Center, WMTP partnered with the Pickford Film Center during DOCtober to present the Bellingham premiere of COMMON GROUND — a hopeful and uplifting story of pioneers of the “Regenerative Movement.” The movie’s themes of soil health and reconnection to nature are central to WMTP’s mission. More than 500 people attended our five shows. It was one of the most attended of all of DOCtober films!
Summer Reading Events with Whatcom County Library
During Summer 2023, readers picked up a Summer Reading card at their local Whatcom County branch library — or downloaded one at the WCLS website. The reading cards provided various activities to complete, each earning a “leaf.” For every 25 leaves earned by readers, WCLS donated a tree to us (up to 500 trees). A big thank you to Whatcom Library Foundation and WECU who funded this effort!
Concurrently at several WCLS branch libraries, we presented how-to’s on ivy removal, showed the Intelligent Trees movie (here’s the trailer), and had a wonderful tree-planting celebration at the Deming library! Books about trees were recommended, and many Q&A’s occurred about trees. Youth selected a free Summer Reading book to keep, along with cool bookmarks from us! Listen to this awesome WCLS podcast (Episode 35 in their list) to learn more.
Reading doesn’t have to be a solitary pursuit when we join together for a community effort that combines so many joys of summer into a shared goal of planting trees here in Whatcom County! Thank you WCLS for such a wonderful partnership!
Mystic Heart Sound Bath Fundraiser for WMTP
At the wonderful Firehouse performance space in Fairhaven on September 15, attendees experienced Kristi Moseley’s unique meditative soundscapes — and benefited our local trees and forests by raising over $1,000 for Whatcom Million Trees Project! We are very grateful for Kristi’s generosity and support.
Bellingham’s Climate Action Week 2023
WMTP sponsored several exciting ways to get involved and make a difference during Climate Action Week and beyond!
Transit for the Trees. Via a joint collaboration, Whatcom Transportation Authority donated one tree to us for every 100 bus rides during Climate Action Week. This led to over 1,100 trees for us!
Ivy Removal Work Party. Volunteers along the popular South Bay Trail between Boulevard Park and downtown removed English ivy from dozens of trees. This simple but effective climate action allowed the trees to continue to capture carbon from the atmosphere and to provide many other important benefits to our community.
English Ivy How-To Presentation. At Garden Spot Nursery, we demonstrated how to safely and easily remove tree-killing English ivy from trees. The simple but effective climate action allowed the saved trees to continue to capture carbon from the atmosphere and to provide many other important benefits to our community.
WMTP City Club Presentation
On May 24, 2023, Michael Feerer presented at the Yacht Club in the City Club’s first in-person event since the pandemic. The topic was Boosting Climate Resilience — One Tree at a Time. Seth Vindana, COB’s Climate and Energy Manager, and Nicole Oliver, Director of COB Parks, also spoke at the well-attended event. You can watch the recording of it all here.(Michael’s portion starts at the 45 minute point of the video.).
WMTP @ Fairhaven Plant Sale!
WMTP was invited by Fairhaven Friends to have a booth at this popular March annual event. We gave away lots of info, healthy tree seedlings (on a donation optional basis) as well as answered questions.
October 2022: Jaw-Dropping Elemental Pickford Film Shows
WMTP together with the Pickford Film Center brought three shows (including one that SOLD OUT!) of the jaw-dropping film Elemental: Reimagining our Relationship with Wildfire as part of the Pickford’s popular annual DOCtober film series. Then we brought the movie back for additional showings during May 2023. This movie is THAT important to our community!
Relevant for ALL homes in Whatcom County (urban or rural) as we prepare for an increasingly hotter future, this important film demonstrated how healthy, diverse, naturally-regenerated forests fare so much better in wildfires than planted timber forests. How wildfire-affected forests should not be clear-cut afterwards. And how clearing trees on a home site isn’t the most effective strategy to FireWise a residence. Q&A’s after the show with local wildfire resiliency experts rounded out our informative offering.
A big thanks to the Pickford, as well as to Whatcom Conservation District and Re Sources, who helped make this well-attended event happen.
September 2022: Become A Neighborhood Tree Ambassador (Webinar + Work Party)
During the City of Bellingham’s 2022 ALL IN for Climate Action week, we presented a Zoom webinar/Q&A about how residents can protect mature trees in their neighborhood — to strengthen their area’s climate resilience. We showed how to…
- find the most climate-significant trees in your neighborhood;
- recognize and safely/easily remove silent-killer English ivy from tree trunks;
- organize small neighborhood teams to remove such invasives;
- advocate for big tree policy protections, and more.
Our webinar was followed by a well-attended Sunday work party at Cornwall Park that successfully removed invasive English ivy from 22 trees!
We hope our CAW events raised awareness about how Bellingham’s large, mature trees are an integral part of needed climate action in our community. Technology/energy system changes alone won’t solve the problem. Responding to climate change means not only reducing our carbon emissions, but capturing what’s already increasingly in the atmosphere. Trees play a major role in the latter and enhance our climate resilience to floods, heat waves, etc.
August 2022: Climate Crisis and Your Inner Landscape
Local psychotherapists Elizabeth Kerwin and Colleen Semple facilitated this in-person, outdoor event. A dozen participants shared with one another their feelings of grief and anxiety and how they are coping inwardly with the grave implications of the climate crisis. The ticket revenue was donated to WMTP.
July 2022: Sacred Earth Fair
We enjoyed being one of the 40+ nonprofits and other organizations with booths at the Multifaith Network for Climate Justice amazing Sacred Earth Fair on July 31 at the Center for Spiritual Living on Yew Street. We showed how individuals and neighborhoods can get involved with Whatcom Million Trees Project to enhance and expand their urban tree canopy.
June 2022: Forest Walking with Jane Billinghurst
Together with Village Books and the North Cascades Institute, Whatcom Million Trees Project brought Jane Billinghurst to Bellingham. She’s co-author with Peter Wohlleben of Forest Walking: Discovering the Trees and Woodlands of North America. (Here’s an in-depth book review by Lauren Fritzen.) First Jane discussed the book on Zoom, then a few days later led a fascinating forest walk in Hundred Acre Wood in Bellingham. Everyone gained a new appreciation of what is to be found under and on trees, even on familiar hikes. Each attendee’s $10 ticket funded Whatcom Million Trees Project to successfully plant one tree locally.
June 2022: Tree Celebration in Fairhaven!
We had a fun-filled afternoon of music, story-telling, and arboreal education centered around the beautiful Olive Plane tree next to the Firehouse Arts & Events Center in Fairhaven. Attendees learned how John the Arborist carefully tends this majestic tree and about recent progress of Whatcom Million Trees Project. Compelling tree tales were woven by local storyteller Kelvin Saxton Pablo, and live music was provided by the JP Falcon Grady Band. Plus there was a cool raffle and many giveaways. A fun celebration for everyone! View more photos from the event here.
April 2022: Youth v Gov and Inhabitants Films
During April as part of Earth Week, the Bellingham Human Rights Film Festival brought two powerful, inspiring films to the Pickford Film Center: Inhabitants and Youth v Gov. Whatcom Million Trees Project co-sponsored both events together with several other nonprofits. WMTP also took part in post-film panels/discussions.
Jan-March 2022: Whatcom Reads Events
Every year, Whatcom READS selects a worthy book and weaves a fantastic series of events together that coalesce our community around a singular story. Whatcom READS chose Greenwood by Michael Christie for its 2022 selection. WMTP led or participated in four events:
Tapping Bigleaf Maples for Syrup: How the Impossible Became Possible (Jan. 29).
Some of the rarest and tastiest maple syrup is tapped right here in Whatcom County sustainably! Attendees heard this Acme farm’s history (and future plans) from owner Neil McLeod, Whatcom Million Trees Project, and Peak Sustainability Group during an on-site tour and tasting.
A Million More Trees for Whatcom County? YES! (Feb. 17). Executive Director Michael Feerer presented the why, who, what, and where and how of Whatcom Million Trees Project’s exciting initiatives to plant and protect one-million trees in Whatcom County. Watch
The Woodstock Farm Story – and its Fruitful Future (Feb 24). Michael Feerer, Steve Gaber, and Tim Walh presented the storied history of this beautiful 16-acre City of Bellingham park along Chuckanut Drive, plus its orchard restoration and tree planting that’s in-progress by Whatcom Million Trees Project.
Chuckanut Radio Hour Interview. (March 3). During the first LIVE (with audience) Chuckanut Radio Hour since the pandemic, Michael Feerer led a lively interview with Greenwood author Michael Christie. Here’s the podcast. If you’re a fan of the book, it’s well worth a listen! Enjoy!
Sept. 2021: Old Growth Dedication at Baker Lake
Whatcom County’s FIRST old growth protection! As another City of Bellingham Climate Action Week event, on September 26th, 2021 Dr. Sarah Horsley from the Old-Growth Forest Network (with support from Whatcom Million Trees Project and Mt. Baker Chapter of the Sierra Club) publicly honored the old-growth forest along Baker River Trail. Old Growth Forest Network is a national nonprofit dedicated to establishing a national network of old-growth forests.