People of Color Outdoors at Forest Park – Upper Macleay

Many Indigenous cultures of the Pacific Northwest understood the natural world not as a collection of resources but as a community of relatives. Each species had a role, a relationship, and a reciprocal obligation. This walk brings that lens into the forest.

We’ll introduce participants to the forest’s community members: the red alder that fixes nitrogen and feeds its neighbors, the sword fern that shelters the soil, the Douglas fir that provides housing for over 200 species of wildlife. Each participant or family will choose one relative to observe and stay curious about for the entire walk. At the midpoint stop, we’ll ask: what does your relative give to the community? What does it need? The walk closes with a writing exercise that children and adults often find unexpectedly moving.