The “Litany of Remembrance,” shared each year during The Forest Remembers, reads: “Memories of those whose lives are finished on this earth bring tears to those who are left behind; we come to the forest for solace and peace, for we remember, and the Forest Remembers.”
That is the spirit encapsulated by this annual event, during which a handful of staff, board members, and volunteers read aloud the names of everyone who has been honored with a memorial gift to North Coast Land Conservancy throughout the organization’s 40-year history. The Forest Remembers creates a space for ceremony, reflection, and fellowship.
It provides a special opportunity for individuals—many of whom have experienced a loss of some sort—to gather together, pay tribute to their loved one, and cherish their memory, embraced by the serenity of nature.
This year, The Forest Remembers took place Saturday, April 25, at Circle Creek Conservation Center. Attendees spread out across the Community Room and the outdoors patio, facing a small grove of young trees, to hear their loved one’s name spoken aloud, the sound lingering in the air and then being absorbed by the surrounding trees, plants and soil.
“The Forest Remembers is an intentional time to remember the inextricable link we have with each other, past and present, nature and humans,” NCLC Development Director Kassia Nye says. “It is a beautiful way to honor our interconnectedness and celebrate the legacies of our loved ones.”
‘For Years to Come’
The Forest Remembers was started about 15 years ago. It was originally the idea of Teresa Retzlaff, a former NCLC staff member, who had experienced her own personal loss. As memorial donations were contributed in their honor, Theresa knew how meaningful it would be to hear their name spoken aloud “into the forest” and the comfort it would bring to share this experience with others, NCLC Executive Director Katie Voelke says.
Now, there are nearly 900 names on the list, representing those who have passed on from this life, but whose legacies are kept alive through conserving and caring for the remarkable beauty and majesty of the natural world.
[The Forest Remembers] is a beautiful way to honor our interconnectedness and celebrate the legacies of our loved ones.
Kassia Nye, NCLC Development Director
“These trees will hear your loved ones’ names for years to come,” Katie told attendees at this year’s Forest Remembers, reaffirming one of NCLC’s core values: recognizing and appreciating the interconnectivity of all life on Mother Earth.
She spoke on the connection between generations, past and present, and how each one is tethered to another. Humans are shaped and influenced by all the people we have loved. This event pays homage to that unique aspect of humankind and how important it is for us to never forget the lives, the stories, and the impact of our dearly departed friends, family members, and community members at large.
Caring for the Coast in Perpetuity
Like other contributions that are made to NCLC, memorial gifts directly support the day-to-day work of protecting and caring for beautiful, important habitat on Oregon’s North Coast.
NCLC’s mission is in perpetuity, but season by season, we monitor and nurture the lands and waters that are so vital for plant, animal and human life in this extraordinary place. This involves expanding habitat reserves; removing invasive species; planting native shrubs, trees, and wildflowers; and hundreds of other responsibilities that bolster the health of ecosystems and contribute to our other conservation goals: expanding habitat connectivity, supporting climate resiliency, and serving our surrounding human communities.
We work strategically to conserve core ecological systems—air, water, soil and more—that are the basis of all life. We consider it an immense privilege and responsibility to preserve and care for coastal lands and waters so that they might thrive in the perfect ways that nature inherently does.
The Litany of Remembrance:
A creek flows through the understory, sending its music into the scented air. Many hands have cleared out the spring from which it comes—
and the Forest Remembers.
Moisture moving upward through the trees’ trunks, drawn up out of the soil into the thirsty branches above, gives the wildwood its life—
and the Forest Remembers.
The trees communicate with each other, sending silent word along the vast networks underground. The forest talks!
And the Forest Remembers
Bird song, rustling wings, nests large and small, feathers and eggshells in the duff, airy inhabitants of the branches create a community—
and the Forest Remembers.
Animals—elk, deer, coyote, bobcat, lynx, squirrel—living interdependently among the meadows and groves populate the woods and give it structure—
and the Forest Remembers.
Lichens and mushrooms bloom unexpectedly in hidden places, seen only by the sharp eyes of those who come in search of this precious bounty—
and the Forest Remembers.
Walkers moving along the paths, talking softly, children calling to each other as they hide in the trees, bring laughter and play into the woodlands,
and the Forest Remembers.
Fire, both foe and friend, thins the trees and stimulates new life,
And the Forest Remembers.
Intruders—the woodcutter with his axe, those who hack markings into the soft bark—bring pain in their wake—the axe may forget,
but the Forest Remembers.
A tree falls in the forest but continues to live through its stump and its root system. Its sister and brother trees nearby miss their comrade,
But the Forest Remembers.
The wounds to the forest are deep and painful but many hands come to heal, to repair, to tend with love,
And the Forest Remembers.
Memories of those whose lives are finished on this earth bring tears to those who are left behind; we come to the forest for solace and peace, for we remember,
and the Forest Remembers.
As we go our separate ways today, let us take with us the tranquility of this time and place, remembering, with the forest, the blessings that nature provides, and may we dedicate ourselves anew to its protection and preservation,
for the Forest Remembers.
Let us go now in peace and join each other in glad celebration of the lives we honor,
As the Forest Remembers
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