Monday, January 13th, 2025

Tacoma Silent Trees: Breaking silence at Oak Tree Park

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The Garry oak in Oak Tree Park in South Tacoma witnessed Charles Wilkes be a dick to his sailors.

Tacoma Silent Trees: Breaking silence at Oak Tree Park

“I know who are,” replied the Garry oak tree commanding Oak Tree Park in South Tacoma. “You were the talk of the Tacoma tree world several years ago when you ran around snapping photos of us while yapping about something called Kulshan Tree-dimensional. “Your write-up on the Garry oak at Oakbrook Plaza was pretty decent.”

Peaks & Pints first partnered with Tacoma Tree Foundation, of TTF, in the fall of 2019, their mission was, “… dedicated to educating, empowering, and supporting community members in neighborhood-based greening. In other words, the Tacoma organization strives for a greener, healthier, more connected Tacoma — which plants well with Peaks & Pints. Our partnership was like this year’s cooperation — five years ago we then paired our house beer, Kulshan Brewing Tree-dimensional IPA, with TTF founder Sarah Low’s favorite Tacoma trees. This year, their mission is, “… focused on educating, empowering, and supporting community greening efforts in the Greater Tacoma area, Pierce County, and the watersheds of the Puget Sound.” Growth, naturally.

Peaks & Pints brewed our eighth house IPA at Loowit Brewing in downtown Vancouver, and since the brewery is named after Mount St. Helens and its eruption silenced many trees, we named the beer Silent Trees IPA and have partnered with the Tacoma Tree Foundation, once again, to tell the stories of their favorite trees.

Breaking silence at Oak Tree Park

“I’ve seen a thing or two since putting down roots at what is now known as Oak Tree Park at South 74th and South Cedar. I’ve been losing leaves for hundreds of years. I remember when that Wilkes fella was trapsing around naming things in this area in the mid-19th century. He was a dick. He was always yelling at his sailors. Apparently Wilkes’ obsessive behavior and harsh code of shipboard discipline shaped Herman Melville‘s characterization of Captain Ahab in Moby-Dick. Today, I mainly see walkers on the Water Flume Line Trail over there, and the guy across the street punches that hanging bag a lot.”

“Oh, by the way,” adds the Garry Oak at Oak Tree Park. “I’m the poster tree for the Tacoma Tree Foundation. That’s me on their logo, yo.”

Oak Tree Park is on the traditional homelands of the Coast Salish tribes, who have lived and cared for the land since time immemorial. The phrase “since time immemorial” is often used by Indigenous people to describe the long history of their presence on their lands. The park is home to some of the last remaining Garry oak trees in the city. Garry oak woodlands are a special ecosystem that developed on gravelly soil left behind by glaciers 15,000 years ago. Washington state has designated Garry oak woodlands as Priority Habitat because many of the plant and wildlife species that depend on native oaks are rare.

Garry oak | Oregon white oak | quercus garryana

The massive Garry oak at Oak Tree Park in South Tacoma

“This beautiful deciduous tree is Washington’s only native oak,” says Adela Ramos, PhD, and Tacoma Tree Foundation director of Partnerships and Communications. “Garry oaks can grow to be as tall as 100 feet, although they’re usually about 80 feet, have a gray and textured bark, and their iconic multi-lobed leaves are deep green in the spring and summer, and light brown in the fall.”

Garry oaks are a key species of our local prairies: they sustain wildlife and support other plants and are culturally significant for Coast Salish Tribes.

“The Garry is a slow-growing tree, she adds. “Young oaks devote most of their energy to root development rather than foliage. That’s why they can look scrappy at first.  As they mature, they produce more foliage, and acorns, which Coast Salish Tribes roast and process for flour or as a paste to be used with other foods. During winter, local jays bury acorns one at a time. This helps oaks continue to grow across their native prairie habitat. But they have been in decline for the past century, due to the introduction of invasive species, industrialization, and urbanization. Yet, there are beautiful Garries in South Tacoma, which boasts a 25-acre Oak Tree Park. This is why the Tacoma Tree Foundation chose the Garry oak for our logo: it’s a gritty native tree; it can thrive as a street tree; and it reminds us of the neighborhoods we work for and the importance of caring for our home. Cheers to Silent Trees!”

Check out this giant Garry oak at Oak Tree Park and then head to the Proctor District for a pint or Campfire Crowler of Loowit Silent Trees IPA (6.6%) at Peaks & Pints. Loowit Brewing in Vancouver, Washington, collaborated with the Tacoma craft beer lodge on their house beer. Paying homage to trees and outdoor enthusiasts who join Peaks daily in Tacoma’s Proctor District, Silent Trees IPA is the perfect beer to toast passing trees on powder, currents or trails, as well as reveal the sprains. Silent Trees IPA continues Peaks & Pints’ love affair with old school piney IPAs, this time brewed with Simcoe, Columbus and Chinook for all the pine and citrus.

LINK: Loowit Silent Trees IPA inspires Tacoma Tree stories

LINK: Kulshan brews Peaks and Pints Tree-dimensional IPA