Olympic National Park and Friends of Olympic National Park will co-host an Open House at the Matt Albright Native Plant Center in Robin Hill County Park on Saturday, April 16. Join Elwha revegetation project staff and volunteers for an afternoon of nursery tours, live music, poetry, and refreshments. Tours will be offered from 1-3pm. At 1:15pm, local award-winning poet, Alice Derry, will read a number of poems she’s written for the Elwha. Local musician and one-man band, Mike Kamphaus, will play throughout the afternoon. All visitors are welcome to come and see the inner workings of the nursery operation first hand on guided tours by project staff. The event is free and open to the public.
Beginning at 1:15pm, ONP is proud to host a reading by local, award-winning poet, Alice Derry. During her thirty-minute reading, she’ll read a number of poems she’s written for the Elwha, in addition to others which touch on the park and camping adventures, both humorous and moving. Listeners will recognize places, flora and fauna, connecting them to their own life in the park. Derry is pleased to be part of the park’s long celebratory reach toward the beginning of Elwha dam removal. Since April is also National Poetry Month and the month of EarthDay, this half hour should be downright festive.
Additional highlights on Saturday afternoon include, music by Me, Myself, and I, a one-man band & musical show by Mike Kamphaus and refreshments.
The event is free and open to the public.
Plant Nursery Activities
2010 was a big year for plants at Olympic National Park. Not only did the Park’s revegetation staff and its dedicated volunteers move the native plant nursery and all of its existing plants from park headquarters to the new Matt Albright Native Plant Center in Robin Hill Park, but they also propagated more than 35,000 native plants for the revegetation projects throughout the Park. Propagation goals for 2011 are even bigger. Dave Allen, ONP Plant Propagation Specialist, plans to propagate more than 60,000 plants this year, 25,000 for the Elwha Revegetation Project. Without the assistance of volunteers, this would not be possible.
The propagation of each new plant for projects in Olympic National Park begins at least one year before seed is even sown. All seed used to grow plants is first collected from the area in the Park where replanting will eventually take place. For example, all plants grown for the Elwha Revegetation Project are grown from seed collected from the Elwha watershed. By revegetating areas with locally sourced seed, the genetic integrity of those plants is preserved. Preserving the genetic integrity allows native plants to thrive in the environments in which they have adapted over time. Once seed is collected, it is brought to the Native Plant Center to be dried, sorted, and stored for future propagation.
As springtime nears, propagation begins at the Matt Albright Native Plant Center. Since mid-January, the greenhouse has gotten more and more crowded with seeded flats of dozens of native species, which are slowly germinating into bright green life.
For more information, contact Jill Zarzeczny at Jill_Zarzeczny@nps.gov or 360.565.3047
Poet Alice Derry
Beginning at 1:15pm, we are proud to host a reading by local poet, Alice Derry. Alice has been a resident on the Olympic Peninsula since 1980. She taught English and German at Peninsula College for nearly thirty years, retiring in 2009. She was the main force behind the college’s Foothills Writers’ Series during those years, hosting dozens of writers, both local and national. Derry is the author of three full collections of poetry and three chapbooks. Her fourth volume, Tremolo, will appear from Red Hen Press in 2012. Along the way, Derry has been the recipient of several honors and awards for her poetry; individual poems have appeared widely.
Olympic National Park has been a part of Derry’s life since her first visit in the early 50’s. She wrote her first poem for the Elwha in the eighties; it was included in the park’s fiftieth anniversary anthology, Island of Rivers. During her thirty-minute reading on April 16, she’ll read a number of poems she’s written for the Elwha, in addition to others which touch on the park and camping adventures, both humorous and moving. Listeners will recognize places, flora and fauna, connecting them to their own life in the park. Derry is pleased to be part of the park’s long celebratory reach toward the beginning of Elwha dam removal. Since April is also National Poetry Month and the month of EarthDay, this half hour should be downright festive.
