Trees of the Gorge’s first planting on public lands is at Trout Lake Natural Preserve, with Trout Lake Elementary students. Students including fifth graders Anjo Chard, left, and Faith Erickson, had help last month from White Salmon River Foundation volunteers and funding in putting in early 200 native plants — pine trees as well as snowberry and other shrubs .
Trees of the Gorge’s first planting on public lands is at Trout Lake Natural Preserve, with Trout Lake Elementary students. Students including fifth graders Anjo Chard, left, and Faith Erickson, had help last month from White Salmon River Foundation volunteers and funding in putting in early 200 native plants — pine trees as well as snowberry and other shrubs .
Kirby Neumann-ReaHealing and planting go shovel-in-hand on Nov. 9 in an event that, in arboreal terms, has a deep and wide root ball.
The event west of Mosier will be a three-part debut: Great River Memorial Cemetery on Carroll Road; a growing stand of trees called Remembrance Grove; and for a new, long-term initiative called Trees of the Gorge, by Chelan and Noah Harkin of White Salmon, and Chelan’s father, Bill Weiler of Lyle.
The Harkins, who have a son, Amari, 3, found meaning in October’s designation as October Infant Loss and Miscarriage Awareness Month. Chelan was carrying Asa Aziz Harkin on Aug. 28 when she experienced a miscarriage.
The Harkins are founding Trees of the Gorge, a tree planting project with a one million-tree goal.
Great River, Oregon’s first green cemetery, was founded by Suzanne Wright Baumhackl and Russ Hargrave, and is scheduled to open in 2020.
Anyone may attend on Nov. 9, and families who experienced miscarriage of loss of a child may purchase a tree for the new Remembrance Grove, a place for healing from grief, at Great River.
(Those attending should bring shovels and gloves, but some will be provided.)
“It’s not a grand opening, but it’s debut,” Chelan said. “We’ll gather, Suzanne will talk about the land and the space and what their intention is for it, I’ll talk about the event, share a poem and lead the group in a song and then read the names, or ask those who dedicated the tree to do so.”
Also tying into the event are the future plans for an education center and outdoor school owned by Gorge Ecology Center, founded by biologist and wildlife educator Bill Weiler, formerly known as Gorge Ecology Institute.
Nov. 9 will be a day of celebration as well as solemn remembrance, according to Chelan Harkin.
“There are many parents who have named their child, ask them to read, and then do tree-planting demo so they know what they’re doing and then we’ll go plant,” she said.
Remembrance Grove
Harkin was asked, “What will this grove mean?” She said:
“It will mean a lot to women who have experienced miscarriage ... It will be a place that honors their experience and honors and validates the power and the pain of the experience, and it will say ‘this is something real that you experienced and there are other people who see that and know that and will support you.’
“It is the loss of a loved one, and any loss of a loved one is difficult or can be difficult to talk out about it. There is a particular resonance to a child who has not been ’born’ and dies, a particular resonance to that grief,” Harkin said.
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