Precisely Imperfect: A Weekend at Eagle Trees
All photos: Aaron Straight | Soulcraft Allstars
Editor’s note: Every event we put on asks something of the people who hold it. This spring a cohort of eight environmental education students from Western Washington University elected to focus their “Spring Block” capstone project on supporting the design and execution of the May 2nd Common Waters: Delta event, with a primary focus on youth programming. In late April these students and their instructor, Connor Harron, set up camp alongside the Nooksack to spend a few days consulting the land, the river, and a small community of mentors and guides, as they finalized this programming they would facilitate the following week. What none of us could have planned was what the land and the river gave back. Student Amelia Lee was there; this is her account:
On April 25-26th, 2026, organizers of Water Wars (how to avoid) and Western Washington University environmental education students, through the Spring Block program, met at Eagle Trees farm near Kendall, Washington. The gathering was a camping retreat centered around planning youth activities for the May 2nd Common Waters: Delta event, envisioning how to create an inter-generational dialogue, connecting to the Nooksack River, and grounding, as organizers, to place and purpose. It was a community gathering as much as it was an event planning meeting, taking time away from all attendees busy and stressful lives to eat, play, rest and share stories of old and new, past, present, and dreams for the future.
On Friday, April 25th we arrived at Eagle Trees farm, named for the riverine cottonwoods where countless eagles are seen perching during salmon spawning season. Spawning season isn’t for months however, so as we set up camp and the dogs met for the first time, running off to play in the field, there were instead vultures and a pair of great blue herons overhead, gracing us with their presence.
Once our tents were up and the fire pit was surrounded by mismatched chairs, we began outlining our program for the day. An intentional space in the field was created as a place of ceremony and sanctity, gathering around a sculpture of stones and logs, away from the hustle and bustle of planning. It was a place for us to bring our dreams, excitement, fears, thoughts and share in them together. Here we shared our laughter and tears and a major theme of the gathering emerged; the balance of the sacred and the profane, the introspection and the chaos. The humans trying their best to create a ceremonial space and the dogs gnawing on the logs of the sculpture. We recognized that as we facilitated Common Waters: Delta we would be balancing on these ideas throughout, an event focused on dreaming for the future, merged with children full of energy, hungry bellies to feed, places to travel to, and moments to share in. To connect with the place the Spring Block students individually wandered around the land and Nooksack, some getting slightly lost, and even more found by the river and her gifts that we brought back to add to our sculpture.
Throughout the day we discussed activities for the youth, what might work or not work or perspectives we had not considered. We ate together, with progressively more people showing up for lunch, for dinner, all involved in Common Waters: Delta in one way or another; family, friends, organizers, community. We shared in each other's victories, stories and dreams like those of Melody Woodrich and Angela Letoi with Healing Through Hope. Lunch from Holly’s Meat Pies was brought to us by Sharleen Marie, whose young children accompanied her, and provided a vital perspective on our youth focused activities. Spring Block students prepared dinner for the group and with Melody’s guidance we foraged for ingredients to use in our refreshments and snacks on May 2nd. The next morning a delicious breakfast was prepared by Connor Harron, professor of the Western students, and his family, Sharleen and the kiddos, despite the camp stove breaking.
By the time we concluded at noon on Saturday, we had finally got a grasp of and ironed out our tasks for May 2nd, workshopping event activities for the youth, building boats as dreams, collective art projects, risk management, and play. We felt prepared. Not just with our plans and schedules, but with our collective vision, dreams for the event and the future. Surrounded by the spruces and cottonwoods, vultures overhead, and the rush of the river singing us to sleep in our tents, we had somewhat emulated the goals of Common Waters: Delta. We had shared stories and dreams, eaten together, played together, balanced our sacred and profane, listened to the river and the land, and most importantly built trust within our team, our community, as we watched it grow.
