PORT TOWNSEND — Cards commemorating the 3,000 trees that volunteers will plant in February in the Tarboo watershed during the annual Plant-A-Thon are on sale now.
Tree cards are sold to raise funds for schools whose students volunteer for the Plant-A-Thon coordinated by the Northwest Watershed Institute, a Port Townsend nonprofit, as part of a larger effort to restore and protect the Tarboo watershed.
The run this year is limited to 3,000 — the actual number of trees that some 200 volunteers will plant at a salmon restoration site, bringing the total to 33,000 trees planted to restore salmon and wildlife in the Tarboo watershed over the last decade.
“Each honorary tree card represents one particular tree planted to honor someone special,” said Jude Rubin, director of stewardship at Northwest Watershed Institute and Plant-A-Thon coordinator.
“The community gets to decide who these honorees are each year by purchasing and sending the cards,” she added, saying that cards have been sent worldwide.
The artwork for this year’s card, which honors the 10th anniversary of the Plant-A-Thon, was created by Port Townsend artist Jesse Watson, whose illustrations and paintings are published and shown nationally.
The image of his acrylic painting, “Infinite Moment(um)” adorns the cards.
The tree cards cost between $5 and $10 on a sliding scale and are available through participating schools, online and at some retailers, as well as at special events.
Through the card sales and business sponsorships, students and parents plan to raise $24,000 for Port Townsend School District’s OCEAN program, Port Townsend High School Students for Sustainability, Chimacum Pi Program, Swan School and Jefferson Community School.
Since Northwest Watershed Institute donates all trees, materials and staffing, all card proceeds go directly to the schools.
A selection committee from participating schools commissioned Watson to create the painting, Rubin said.
“Infinite Moment(um)” shows a child extending a tree seedling toward a circle of salmon swirling outwardly in their consecutive life stages, Rubin said.
Watson’s sons Finn and Taj posed as the child for the painting.
Said Watson: “I didn’t want to tie down whether the character was a boy or a girl, but rather focus on the expression of this character while observing the cycles of the universe.
“This piece is about a rapturous moment of connection and interaction with the natural world.”
The glow in the center of the piece represents “that magical moment of connection between a person’s actions and the cycles of nature that are always in motion,” Watson said.
“When we can connect with those ongoing cycles [like salmon migration] and enhance them . . . that is rare.
“It is really special for kids to connect with great cycles that have been going on throughout time by planting trees,” Watson added.
“The coho salmon — represented by young fry, the sea run adults and spawned out carcasses — show the whole cycle of life, and also allude to the generational spread of people who are involved in the Plant-A-Thon, from young babies to elders to ancestors, who are remembered with a tree planted in their honor,” he said.
Rubin with teach special classes at participating schools and the cards will be distributed to students to sell as a school fundraisers.
She will use Watson’s imagery as part of the teaching curriculum to help students identify stages of the salmon life cycle.
The artist is the son of Susan and artist Richard Jesse Watson.
His illustrations have been featured in magazines, art publications, CD covers and children’s books, including Soccer Fence, written by Phil Bildner; the New York Times Bestselling Hank Zipzer series by Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver; I And I — Bob Marley, written by Tony Medina; Chess Rumble and Ghetto Cowboy, both by G. Neri; the Ziggy and the Black Dinosaurs series by Sharon Draper and These Things I Wish by Lee Pitts.
He was awarded Grand Prize Winner in 2005 and finalist in 2006 at the international Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators New York Showcase, juried by art directors from major publishing houses.
He has also shown at the Society of Illustrators Gallery in New York, in which two pieces won honorable mention during juried contests.
Card sales coincide with the return of the salmon to Tarboo Creek and the holiday season.
There are several ways to buy tree cards.
■ From students and parents in participating schools, including Swan School: www.swanschool.com, 360-385-7340; Jefferson Community School: www.jeffersoncommunityschool.com, 360-385-0622; Chimacum Pi Program: http://csd49.org/domain/27, 360-732-4090; OCEAN Program: www.ptschools.org/domain/22, 360-379-4259.
■ Online at http://tinyurl.com/PDN-plantathoncards.
■ At Chimacum Corner Foodstand, 9122 Rhody Drive, and other local vendors, including SOS printing, 2319 Washington St., Port Townsend.
■ At special events, such as the Food Co-Op, 414 Kearney St. in Port Townsend, from noon to 6 p.m. Wednesday; the Chimacum Arts and Crafts Fair at Chimacum High School, 91 West Valley Road, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Dec. 13-14; and the Port Townsend Farmers’ Market, on Tyler Street between Lawrence and Clay streets, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Dec. 13.