I am writing to convey my support of the preservation and enhancement of the Camas Prairie. This is a very special and unique ecosystem, and once it’s gone, it’s gone. Also, it’s a highly valued tourist attraction and open public space.

I live in LA now but I lived in Seattle for 10 years, and I consider the PNW home. I still travel there several times a year to visit the unique and precious ecosystems of the Salish Sea.

As a landscape designer and human being, I am inspired and nourished by this earth. I know the community of Port Townsend to be one of thoughtful, ecological, future-minded people who care about preserving and enhancing what makes the region so beautiful and bountiful.

As a resident of LA, I can see clearly how humans have loved the coast here almost to death. From San Diego to LA there are almost unbroken housing developments. People love the coast so much, they pave it and cover it with buildings. Precious little of the original dune scrub and wetlands are left, and they too are under threat. It may seem like just a little bit, but little by little it accelerates over time, and in 10, 20, 50 years, what do we have left? Tiny scraps of the bountiful living earth, struggling to survive in patches, littered with trash and invasive plants. Further decline of birds, insects, amphibians. You know it, you’ve seen it.

Please preserve what you have, while you still have it! If you need space for housing, look to the parking lots, the empty box stores, the former factories - not precious camas meadows. Where have we already denuded the landscape? Where can we actually improve?

Nina Mross

Los Angeles