Pacific Northwest Gardening: One Billion Trees, 1 by Murmur

Murmur wrote:
My understanding about the property is that it is owned by a 'family corporation,' and the guy who had it clear cut is sort of the caretaker. The story has it that he needed money so had all the alders cut and sold for firewood. In order to maintain their tax free status of said property, he was required to replant with evergreens which he did the following summer. It was far too hot when he planted them, though, and with no one watering them (good grief, it's a huge piece of property - even I wouldn't have watered them!), many or even most of them died.

The Fall after the clear cutting (which was the Summer of 2004), I had a seed sowing party on my 60th birthday - thought you might get a kick of this picture. There were about 15 of us out there and I had provided everyone with a cup of wildflower seeds native to this area. I had marked 18 or 19 places with a pinwheel and asked each person to go to a pinwheel and sow some seeds. I had music from "The Sound of Music" blaring loud enough to be heard all the way out there and it was a hoot. Helped me recover from the shock and sadness of seeing the clear cut property with its piles of brush and branches. The following Spring there were indeed some wildflowers blooming and I loved it, but by the following year (2005) the thistle, nettles, grasses, weeds, etc. had taken over and very few of them could be found. I am going to so a bunch more this coming Spring if I can get past the nettles and thistle without injury!!

There actually are still some pinwheels out there, but they are buried by weeds.