How are we connected?

Klahoose youth, appropriately, opened the Forest Trust for the Children of Cortes Island Society’s AGM. Our thanks to them for their courage and willingness to represent the Klahoose Nation and share their culture.

Much has transpired for the Children’s Forest Trust in the 15 years since the vision of “Imagine ... a Forest in Trust to the Children!”, and noteworthy in the last year, has been the quiet, professional and productive work by the Negotiations Team. Our Chair, Chris Dragseth, reported that “the team is working carefully with Mosaic Forest Management to jointly come to a point where the Children’s Forest Trust and Mosaic can agree on what fair market value is. Our Negotiations Team has focused on ensuring that the timber and land valuations completed in early 2025 reflect what we believe is current and fair market value. Our next significant step will be to submit a Purchase and Sale Agreement in the very near future.”
In the AGM, we focussed on the triumphs and successes of these 15 years – the deep relationship of youth in the natural world; their stewardship, learning & mentoring; and the continued engagement of community in the Children’s Forest.

A ball of yarn and a circle of participants “wove a web that demonstrated the connections between all the relations to the Children’s Forest. We mapped the connections between the mycelium and the soil; the salmon and the trees; the trees and the air; the children and the elders; the forest and all of us!” Mia Gregg

And the AGM also looked into the future with a visioning activity of how we can “Imagine ... a forest in trust to the children!”

Mia, alumni & director, visioned, “I imagine a balanced ecosystem, where children can learn to foster healthy relationships with the natural systems of which we are a part. I imagine the wonderful life-long relationships that children form with the forest, the water, the trees and all the teachers.”

Forrest, alumni & director, visioned, “I see a vision of a green quiet place where children can learn from the world around, and above all else, that they can learn they are a part of the world around. That we are not always a blight on the land but can be willing partners. That we are not always visitors. That we are not strangers here.”

So, the mycelium is connected to all of us, and all of us are connected to the Children’s Forest!!