Planting a vision for future generations

Work is underway to develop Bonhoeffer Botanical Gardens on property adjoining Freen born Lutheran Church and the Stanwood-Camano Learning Center, east of I-5. PHOTO BY ADAM STEWART | STANWOOD/CAMANO NEWS One stroll with David Thomsen through Bonhoeffer Botanical Gardens is all it takes to witness his passion for botany, history, ecology, education, watershed restoration and stewardship.

As president of the Stanwood Camano Learning Center, a private, nonprofit Christian preschool and kindergarten, and council president for the Freeborn Lutheran Church, Thomsen has a vision for the surrounding property, where work on the botanical gardens is underway.

East of Interstate 5, less than a mile off exit 215, the learning center and church sit on approximately five acres. The church acquired 10 acres of land with a working farm directly across 300th Street NW a few years ago. The learning center owns 10 acres to the southwest.

As is stands, the land is zoned for farming. Thomsen is working with county officials to create a master site plan that includes a glass museum to honor the founders of the nearby Pilchuck Glass School, a living history farm and heritage heirloom orchard, and a cluster of five wheelchair-accessible trade-craft cabins for use by visiting artists and handicapped campers in conjunction with Lutherwood Camp in Bellingham.

Work is underway to develop Bonhoeffer Botanical Gardens on the property adjoining Freeborn Lutheran Church and the Stanwood-Camano Learning Center. “Dave has a vision to tie all the properties together,” said Dan Nelson, an architect with Designs Northwest working on the plans.

“This is a big thing for me,” said Thomsen. “I get a big kick out of it.”

He is also spearheading efforts to restore the church to its original condition. Thomsen’s grandfather, a Danish immigrant, helped build the church in 1899, and many of his immediate relatives are buried in the adjacent cemetery. Thomsen has secured his burial plot there.

Through his work, he remains determined to preserve natural beauty for future generations.

His director’s welcome on the gardens’ Web site begins with a quote from Dietrich Bonheoffer, a pastor and theologian executed for his role in a plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler, and inspiration for the gardens’ name: “The ultimate question for a responsible person to ask is… how the coming generation is to live.”

Thomsen sees the next generation winding through a native conifer maze, chasing monarchs through the butterfly garden, watching salmon return to spawn in Church Creek — which meanders through the property, and learning from the woodlands, meadows and wetlands throughout the area.

Cliff Gomes, one of the landscapers working to plant Thomsen’s goal of more than 1,000 native species, said the land was “quietly going to sleep” as non-native plants invaded over the years.

“Dave’s vision is opening it back up,” said Gomes. “Now it’s flowering.”

The gardens will feature nearly two miles of developed nature trails and more than one mile of wheelchair-accessible paths.

Along the way, visitors will be led by interpretive signs and educational kiosks that highlight indigenous plant life.

“We were given a gift here,” said Thomsen. “We can do a lot with this.”

The alternative worries the former economist.

He’s watched developers creep northbound, clogging once-open rural areas along the interstate, and hopes to encourage them to skip past exit 215.

To do that, he needs the county to accept the site plan.

For now, Thomsen and his crews are starting small; developing the projects they can to offer a visual representation of the overarching goal.

It may be a slow process, but he’s willing to see it through.

While the gardens remains closed to the public, Thomsen is seeking donations of daffodil bulbs to create a hill of flowers visible from the freeway. He is also accepting cuttings from fruit trees to begin the heritage orchard.

Step are being taken, little by little, to maintain a landmark, create a welcoming atmosphere to nature-lovers of all ages and inspire others to appreciate nature in it truest form — in Thomsen’s words, “to do something spectacular in our lifetime.”

For more information, visit www.bonhoeffergardens. com, or call 877-875-0215.