BETHEL Inland Woods + Trails and The Conservation Fund, a national nonprofit land trust, announced an expansion of Bethel Community Forest, growing the protected forest by more than 50% to more than 1,500 acres. The lands added to the Bethel Community Forest (532 acres) include 2,500 feet of Chapman Brook, which serves as Bethel’s […]
Elise Evans, a long-time volunteer and former board president of Food Forest Collective, the nonprofit that manages the Beacon Food Forest, shared that the forest has helped in many ways with food insecurity.
âWeâre not a food bank,â she clarified, âbut we do something unique where we empower people to show up. We accept all volunteers who are kind and want to have a sense of purpose in growing food together. Itâs sort of a large-scale demonstration site. Anyone can do this in their ecosystem and weâre showing them how that can be done.â
The Beacon Food Forest in Seattle is mostly an open harvest site. Except for areas designated as food bank plots and City of Seattle P-Patches, they allow free foraging on-site. Over the past eleven years, theyâve seen successful results and havenât observed anyone âwiping outâ a harvest. Evans said: âIn the golden hour of the evening, we see many people on site harvesting food for their d