Seabeck Conference Center to plant 150 coast redwoods beside its 1947 giant

SEABECK — Nearly 80 years after a redwood seedling went into the ground at Seabeck Conference Center, 150 more are about to join it.

Volunteers from the conference center and PropagationNation, a Washington nonprofit that grows and distributes coast redwoods and giant sequoias, will plant 150 young coast redwoods on the conference center’s grounds from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 21. The center is at 13395 Lagoon Drive NW.

The planting builds on a 1947 experiment. Three coast redwoods were planted at Seabeck that year to see how the California trees would adapt to the Pacific Northwest, according to PropagationNation. One survivor now has a trunk about 7 feet in diameter, and the property is home to about three dozen redwoods today.

A page from a Seabeck history shared by the organizers credits Andy Olsen with planting a redwood on the grounds in 1947, when it was a foot tall. Olsen was the last skipper of the Seabeck-Brinnon ferry, giving up the run in 1941, and the tree was described as a monument to the people who built the conference center.

The partners say the new trees will help make Seabeck a regional “Home of the Redwoods” for the groups that hold retreats and conferences there.

“Seabeck has demonstrated for nearly 80 years that coast redwoods can thrive here,” said Philip Stielstra, president of PropagationNation. “We’re excited to build on that legacy and create a place where future generations of conference center participants can experience the beauty, environmental value and restorative qualities of redwood forests.”

PropagationNation also plans three Forest Immersion Alcoves in the wooded grounds. Each will have a custom ergonomic bench made with salvaged old-growth redwood, which the nonprofit estimates came from trees at least 800 years old.

Coast redwoods and their relatives, giant sequoias, grew in the Pacific Northwest more than a million years ago, according to PropagationNation, which promotes the trees for their long life, resilience and ability to store carbon.

Since 2017 the nonprofit has supplied the trees to parks, conservation districts, tribes, schools, forest landowners, salmon enhancement groups and other partners. It expects to have distributed more than 145,000 coast redwoods and giant sequoias by early 2027.

Chuck Kraining is executive director of Seabeck Conference Center. More information about PropagationNation is at propagationnation.us, or contact Stielstra at philip@propagationnation.us or 206-949-3804.