Whatcom Million Trees Project

Join us Saturday, September 26, from 9am-12pm to remove English ivy at Lake Whatcom Park and celebrate National Public Lands Day! We’re excited to join Whatcom County Parks and Recreation and Whatcom Land Trust to care for our public lands!

National Public Lands Day is the nation’s largest single-day volunteer event for public lands. Founded 32 years ago by the National Environmental Education Foundation, it promotes popular enjoyment and conservation of public lands. We’re thrilled to carry forward this terrific tradition. Please sign up and join us! https://secure.lglforms.com/form_engine/s/HvbsI-aq5JD_bPEu9LTCCA

*Photo Contest Deadline Extended to September 25!*

What trees do you treasure in Whatcom County? What trees do you seek out to celebrate or to center yourself? What tree are you willing to hike to see? Help our community enjoy your treasured trees throughout 2027 by submitting your photo to the Treasured Trees of Whatcom County calendar contest.

YOUR photo could be featuredin next year's Treasured Trees calendar! To enter the contest, submit a photo of your favorite trees in Whatcom County along with a brief story (no more than a few sentences) that explains why it's so special. Community votes will select the 12 contest winners, which will be featured in our 2027 calendar. Submit up to three tree photos today. The photo submissions are open now until *September 25th*!
https://secure.lglforms.com/form_engine/s/klDDwAzTlnpsWoaK30yZmg

There’s still time to sign up for Legacy Forest Defense Coalition's group hike to the last large and intact native forests in the North Fork Nooksack River watershed on Saturday, September 12.

On the ancestral lands of the Nooksack Tribe, two massive Department of Natural Resources (DNR) timber sales target an area once home to the tallest trees on earth. The “North Fork Start Up” and “Secretariat” timber sales would clearcut 170 acres of legacy forest bordering the channel migration zone of the North Fork of the Nooksack River. These sites are home to rare western redcedar- and hardwood-dominant legacy forests in a region where most low-elevation forests have already been converted to timber plantations. North Fork Start Up would clearcut slopes directly adjacent to an imperiled riparian plant community, and both sales are in proximity to bald eagle nests, along a stretch of the river known for its eagle viewing.

Join us on Saturday for a six-mile hike to experience one of these rare forests firsthand. Details and registration at wlfdc.org/events. The hike is hosted by the Legacy Forest Defense Coalition, Sierra Club Mt. Baker Group, and the Center for Responsible Forestry.

**CONTEST EXTENDED** Please submit your photos by September 25th -- pros and hobbyists welcome! Here are a few of the beautiful winning photos from last year, which calendar purchasers have been enjoying as the months of 2026 go by. YOUR photo could be featured in next year's Treasured Trees calendar! Submit up to three tree photos from Whatcom County today at https://secure.lglforms.com/form_engine/s/klDDwAzTlnpsWoaK30yZmg

If you haven't yet, can you dedicate some time this weekend to writing and submitting your public comment to oppose the USDA's proposal to repeal the Roadless Rule? We all need to speak up and defend the priceless roadless forests in our backyard! The Roadless Rule protects clean drinking water, wildlife habitat, pristine recreation areas, and reduces wildfire ignition in backcountry forests.

You can find comment-writing resources and submit your comment at https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/tell-the-usda-keep-the-roadless-area-conservation-rule-intact .

Thank you to everyone who's submitted public comments to the USDA requesting they keep the Roadless Rule in place!

Please comment and share!

Thank you to our long-time partners at A1 DesignBuild for their continuing generous support of our mission!

This local employee-owned business donates to us to help offset the wood they use in their construction projects, which helps us to plant more trees. Their worker-owners have joined us for work parties. They’ve also helped us complete the installations at our two Miyawaki mini-forests in Bellingham, including information kiosks to educate visitors on the forests and the Miyawaki method, and a gorgeous natural stone and wood bench for visitors to the WWU mini-forest to sit and relax.

We're so grateful for their support and partnership! Thank you, A1DesignBuild!

If you've ever spent time in a national forest or wilderness, there's a good chance you've been in or near a special place protected by the 25-year-old Roadless Area Conservation Rule. In the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest alone, 19,200 acres are protected by the Roadless Rule, and the areas adjacent and downstream benefit from these protections, too. These pristine backcountry areas cover 45 million acres across the nation and include the headwaters for the drinking water of more than 60 million people, maintain contiguous habitat for at-risk wildlife species, reduce the spread of wildfire, provide rest and recreation, and support robust outdoor tourism economies. Now, the USDA wants to eliminate the rule and we only have until September 21 to protest this potentially devastating decision.

Please submit your public comment today to urge the USDA to keep the Roadless Rule at the link below! And if you have any photos of places or creatures protected by the Roadless Rule, please share them with the hashtags and urge your friends and followers to comment by Sept. 21 too!
See maps.roadless.org to find out which areas are covered by the Roadless Rule.
Submit comment here:

If you've ever spent time in a national forest or wilderness, there's a good chance you've been in or near a special place protected by the 25-year-old Roadless Area Conservation Rule. In the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest alone, 19,200 acres are protected by the Roadless Rule, and the areas adjacent and downstream benefit from these protections, too. These pristine backcountry areas cover 45 million acres across the nation and include the headwaters for the drinking water of more than 60 million people, maintain contiguous habitat for at-risk wildlife species, reduce the spread of wildfire, provide rest and recreation, and support robust outdoor tourism economies. Now, the USDA wants to eliminate the rule and we only have until September 21 to protest this potentially devastating decision.

Please submit your public comment today to urge the USDA to keep the Roadless Rule at the link below! And if you have any photos of places or creatures protected by the Roadless Rule, please share them with the hashtags and urge your friends and followers to comment by Sept. 21 too!

See maps.roadless.org to find out which areas are covered by the Roadless Rule.

Submit comment here: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/tell-the-usda-keep-the-roadless-area-conservation-rule-intact

Last year many talented local photographers entered our first Treasured Trees of Whatcom County contest. The community voted on the entries, and the winners were selected to represent every month of 2026. We're ready to do it again! If you didn’t get a chance to have your photo featured or if you missed the deadline to order a calendar, you're in luck! We're bringing the contest and the calendar back this year.

To enter the contest, submit a photo of your favorite tree in Whatcom County along with a brief story (no more than a few sentences) that explains why it's so special, at this link: https://secure.lglforms.com/form_engine/s/klDDwAzTlnpsWoaK30yZmg. Community votes will select the 12 contest winners, which will be featured in our 2027 calendar. The limit is three submissions per person. The photo submissions are open now until September 15th!

BONUS: If any of your photos are from Roadless Rule-protected areas in Whatcom County (see our post from August 26), you can feed two birds with one scone by sharing those photos and stories on social media NOW and urging your followers to submit a comment (also at the link in our bio) to the USDA to tell them to keep the Roadless Rule, which protects over 19,000 acres of precious forest, wildlife, and clean drinking water right here in our backyard.

On Saturday, August 22nd, we had our last work party of the summer at Bellingham's Euclid Park, where 21 tenacious volunteers removed about 45 cubic feet of ivy and freed an incredible 136 trees from the vines! We're celebrating this fantastic team effort in service to our parks, trees, and the Lake Whatcom Watershed. Thank you, volunteers, for your caring and hard work!

See more photos at https://whatcommilliontrees.org/community-events/gallery/
Sign up for our next work party September 26 - National Public Lands Day! https://whatcommilliontrees.org/volunteer/ -parties