Water is a key part of our ecosystems and it is crucial that it stays clean. Trees play an important role in watershed pollution mitigation and are an important part of how water moves in our urban landscape. On this walk from the Downtown Core area to Thea Foss Waterway, we will learn from Lowell Wyse and Barry Goldstein about how trees are managed in a downtown landscape and their importance in reducing pollution carried by stormwater runoff. We’ll meet indoors at Naomi Joe’s, grab a tasty drink, and head outdoors to walk under the summer sun and learn together!
Meeting point: Naomi Joe’s Coffee Roasters inside the 7 Seas Brewery and Taproom
This event is possible thanks to Tacoma Creates.
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Dress appropriately for PNW summer weather. Prepare to walk approximately 2 miles on pavement, up and down stairs and steep streets. The streets where we’ll be walking have low tree canopy coverage. Please make sure to use sunblock and other protective gear.
The meeting point is accessible by Pierce Transit but on Route 3 Lakewood - Tacoma at the Jefferson Ave S & S 21st St stop.
Speaker Bios
Born and raised in New York City, Barry graduated from Queens College with degrees in Geology and Biology, and a PhD in Geology from the University of Minnesota. He has worked primarily on the relationship between landscape features and climate change, including the effects of climate on river systems. This has mostly been in regions affected by past glaciations (like Puget Sound), but has also included work in the American southwest as well as archaeological sites in Israel. He served on and Chaired the Board of the Center for Environmental Law and Policy from 2001-2008, which uses legal means to protect in-stream flows in Washington State. In 2021 he retired from the Geology Department at the University of Puget Sound, after joining the faculty there in 1984. He is now on the board of Communities for a Healthy Bay and a part of the Policy and Technical advisory committee.
After a career in higher education, Lowell joined the Tacoma Tree Foundation team in 2021, first as a board member and then as a staff member. Since October 2021, he has served as Executive Director, fulfilling our mission as a community-based organization. On both sides of his family, Lowell comes from a long line of teachers and land stewards. His worldview is shaped by being a descendant both of Swiss-German Mennonite farmers who moved to Ohio’s Maumee Watershed seeking religious freedom and also of the Ojibwe people who continue to steward the lands and waters around Lake Superior in northern Wisconsin and Minnesota. Lowell grew up on his family’s farm in Michigan and has also lived in the Great Plains, the Hopi territory in northern Arizona, the Chicago metro area, and the Barranco neighborhood of Lima, Peru. He now lives and works in downtown Tacoma. He is deeply motivated by the values of community, justice, stewardship, resilience, storytelling, and placemaking. When Lowell needs to recharge, you might see him running with my dog in Point Defiance or surfing on the Northwest coast.