In March 2023, the beautiful Aldwell Legacy Forest was logged, despite the community effort to stop it. Exactly one year later we gathered for a grief ceremony to witness and honor what has been lost by logging and what remains. Together, through ritual, we will begin to process grief, offer healing to the land, and ground our efforts to protect legacy forests.

For many of us, touring Aldwell with Nina, from Magic Forest Tours (and Center for Responsible Forestry) or Elizabeth, from Earth Law Center, over a year ago is what introduced us to the growing community of Olympic Peninsula residents that don’t think these diverse ecosystems should be destroyed and converted to tree farms, especially with all that they do to help mitigate the climate crisis. That hike connected us on many levels.

While we weren’t able to save Aldwell, we’re now part of an active community and together, we have succeeded in saving two other diverse forests in the Elwha River Watershed from being cut down. But we won’t forget what we’ve lost with Aldwell.

Standing on the logged hillside, we could look down and see the Little River, a major tributary of the Elwha River.