Cottonwoods, birch, spruce, and especially aspens create a friendly, familiar presence that feels like companionship. A dirt path near home becomes a portal away from cars, powerlines, sidewalks, and mail-order houses, offering access to life, breath, and soil. The neighborhood’s restrictive covenant limits property sales to white Americans, contrasting with the inclusive nature of trees and other plants that do not follow cruel human rules. Daily walks support nervous-system calming and emotional processing through somatic movement. On a new trail system in Alaska’s largest city, the forest floor feels unfamiliar, even when some plants are recognized, because key species differences are not yet known.
"There were lots of cottonwoods. Some birch and spruce. I didn't yet know them as individuals, the shade and companionship they'd give, but they were friendly. And welcoming, in their familiarity. Like cousins, green with life. Especially the aspens, who felt the most charming and easy in a teasing way, with their flapping leaves that said, "Hello." To me, the newcomer in town."
"Last summer, walking down a small slope on the dirt path near my house felt like stepping through a portal. To life and breath and soil. Away from busy cars. Powerlines. Sidewalks. The mail-order-kit houses erected in the 1950s during the oil boom, all lined up, one after another. Away from neighbors I felt shy around and mostly didn't know yet. In the neighborhood we'd chosen because it was known to be uncharacteristically neighborly. Where there is, however, a standing, though unenforceable, restrictive covenant, which says: "The property hereby conveyed shall not be sold or alienated in any manner whatsoever to other than Americans of the white race.""
"Daily walks, wherever I am, have always been important for me. My therapist friend tells me that walking is a form of somatic therapy. Body healing that calms the nervous system. Movement that allows us to process emotions and trauma. I know I need these walks, and I know I enjoy them more when I'm surrounded by the quiet of trees and growing plants that are ever-changing throughout the summer."
"So I was surprised when I looked down at the forest floor of my new walking route on the trail system of Alaska's largest city and felt like a stranger. I knew the ferns. But I didn't yet know the difference between pushki, or cow parsnip, and devil's club, two showy plants"
#nature-and-walking #community-and-belonging #restrictive-covenants #somatic-therapy #plant-identification
Read at High Country News
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