PORT ANGELES — The children’s picture book “We Are Water Protectors” illustrates the spiritual significance of water and the importance of protecting it through the story of a young Ojibwe girl.
A StoryWalk project featuring pages from book at the Lyre Conservation Area was intended to celebrate Native Heritage Month, National StoryWalk Week that ends today and the 10-year anniversary of North Olympic Land Trust’s stewardship of the 280-acre property.
Instead, it was vandalized.
On Nov. 9, North Olympic Land Trust staff found the 20 signs installed along the path from the trailhead to the beach representing pages from “We Are Water Protectors” had been pulled out of the ground and discarded in the woods.
The vandalism won’t stop the monthlong event from happening, said Karyn Bocko, marketing and communications manager for the North Olympic Library System.
North Olympic Land Trust staff and volunteers already had found about the half the signs about 30 feet from the path, Bocko said.
They planned to searching through the underbrush this weekend for the rest and reinstall them.
The colorful book pages from the book for 3- to 6-year-olds were printed on thick plastic that slid into metal frames.
“They were in heavy duty sign holders and the base had two stakes, so it must have taken some force to get them out of the ground,” Bocko said.
The sign holders were chosen as a more durable alternative to the plastic signs the North Olympic Library System uses for Poet Walks, a similar literacy-nature project it created in partnership with Olympic National Park. Those also had been vandalized.
Bocko said the North Olympic Library System and the North Olympic Land Trust do not know who was responsible for the vandalism at the Lyre River Conservation Area, and they have not reached out to law enforcement.
“We hope this is an isolated incident,” Bocko said. “We still plan to continue with putting on StoryWalks and Poetry Walks with our partners. We’re going to perservere.”
StoryWalk is a nationwide program which promotes literacy, physical exercise and connecting with nature. Bocko said the Caldecott Award-winning “We Are Water Protectors” by Carole Lindstrom and illustrated by Michaela Goade was specifically chosen by North Olympic Library System’s youth services librarian for the project, which was funded by the Port Angeles Friends of the Library.
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Reporter Paula Hunt can be reached by email at paula.hunt@peninsuladailynews.com.
