OLYMPIA, Wash. — If you think just one person can't help save the planet, you haven't met Daniel Einstein.
"For the sake of our children, we can help to create a tomorrow that is sustainable," Einstein said.
When he realized nearby West Bay Woods and its nests of herons was in danger of being developed for condos, the Olympia man went to work.
"We realized that we had to buy the land in order to conserve it," he said.
He rallied his neighbors and founded a non-profit called Olympia Ecosystems to raise money from private donors and foundations to purchase at-risk habitats, starting with West Bay Woods.
"It is legally protected in perpetuity," Einstein said. "We wouldn't really be able to do this without volunteer work. The community has gone from writing these woods off to feeling a sense of ownership."
A decade later, those original three-and-a-half acres of preserved land have grown to about 500 acres all around Olympia and Tumwater.
"Sometimes the most important ecosystems are actually in cities, especially around Puget Sound," he said. "We need to 're-wild' some of our urban areas."
The group doesn't just acquire land, it reforests it.
"Create an ecosystem that works for all of the species," Einstein said. "Our lives depend on it. Their lives depend on it. And there's really no better way to understand what's at stake than sticking your hand in the ground."
Dozens of volunteers clear out invasive species.
"There are a lot of woods like this throughout Western Washington," Einstein said. "They're overgrown with ivy. People sort of write them off. And yet they're recoverable. And we needed to demonstrate that to the community, that our efforts were worth it. And we did."
Einstein spots a newly created molehill along a West Bay Woods trail.
"When we've removed the ivy, we start seeing moles come back," he said. "So not a lot of people get excited about molehills but I do."
By giving nature a hand, neighbors are creating forests for the future.
"We have to think ahead," Einstein said. "This is a problem that we can solve."
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