Ponderosa pines and other trees of Eastern Washington soon will be featured on Capitol grounds in Olympia
Trees more common in Eastern Washington soon will have a home on the Capitol grounds in Olympia.
Gov. Jay Inslee signed a bill last week to commemorate Eastern Washington, alongside the World War II Memorial, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the Korean War Memorial and other memorials.
Rep. Joel Kretz, R-Wauconda, sponsored the bill that will create a space on the Washington Capitol campus to recognize the trees, agriculture, forestry and history of Eastern Washington.
The original bill would have named the feature the “Eastern Washington Memorial,” but was later amended to call it a cultural landscape feature.
Kretz said he developed an interest and appreciation for trees because his dad worked in the timber industry. He would visit his grandparents in Seattle and go to parks with incredible trees from all around the world.
“You walk around the campus in Olympia and there’s just some beautiful things,” he said. “There’s trees from all over Western Washington, trees from all over the world, but I wasn’t seeing some of those iconic species from Eastern Washington, and I kind of missed them.”
He said he thought it would be nice for people to be able to walk outside for a few minutes with a cup of coffee and for people from Eastern Washington to be able to see trees specific to their home.
“I think it’d be nice for Eastern Washington people to go over and see some of our familiar species,” he said.
The featured trees include ponderosa pine, quaking aspen, and western larch trees, and the design of the structure will celebrate Eastern Washington’s agricultural significance and beauty.
Kretz said the trees will be a learning opportunity for people not from the eastern side of the state.
The State Capitol Committee, the Department of Enterprise Services and the Department of Natural Resources will work together to implement the new feature.
A Washington State Eastern Washington Cultural Landscape Feature Account will be created as well to support the feature’s maintenance.
The Department of Enterprise Service can accept grants, gifts and endowments to be put toward the account.
Kretz said when he spoke with the grounds people, they got excited because a feature like this was planned in the 1930s, but never happened because of the Great Depression.
“This is exactly what we planned almost 100 years ago,” he said. “They were really excited about getting going on it. They thought they might even have it done by next session.”