In fall 2024, the SENC applied for a Washington State Department of Natural Resources grant on behalf of Parks Tacoma, and in March 2025, the state awarded them $171,000.
To learn which culturally important foods residents struggled to find in stores and food banks, as well as which plants could grow successfully in Washington, Kunze of SENC reached out to local organizations, circulated a survey, and connected with community gardeners. The research included conversations with gardeners representing communities from Mexico, Vietnam, and Cambodia.
“There were many plants that each group used a different part of for different reasons,” Kunze said. Marigolds, for example, have cultural uses in both Indian and Mexican communities. In other cases, different groups used different parts of the same plant, from roots to leaves to fruit.
“They were excited to see how much they had in common and how different people used different things,” she said. “It was a really exciting multicultural mind-meld.”
“They were excited to see how much they had in common and how different people used different things. It was a really exciting multicultural mind-meld.”
The resulting food forest, which draws on permaculture principles, is divided into three sections: one containing fruit and nut trees, including heritage apples; another focused on foods native to the Pacific Northwest, and a third featuring subtropical produce familiar to many community members.
The forest currently has 69 fruit and nut trees representing 27 species, alongside 17 types of fruit shrubs. These include persimmons, pomegranates, pears, gooseberries, and guava. In addition, it contains 31 types of perennial vegetables and herbs and various medicinal plants.
Growing subtropical plants in Washington’s cooler climate required careful planning. Johnson and the team consulted local nurseries and Beacon Food Forest, a seven-acre community food forest in south Seattle, to understand which species could thrive.
For now, the forest is still establishing itself. Many plants are young, and the harvest remains limited. Bigger yields are expected over the next several years, although the success of individual plants will depend on growing conditions and continued maintenance.
“Herbs like chives and mint are thriving already,” said Mac Capwell, a volunteer steward. “And you’ll see lots of strawberry plants just waiting to take over in future years.”
The early years are also an opportunity to teach people about growing food. Johnson hopes the forest will give residents, especially children who may not have access to a yard, a chance to learn where food comes from and how it grows.
“People can take a few things and try them and learn about new foods as they interact with the space,” he said. “In high-density apartment areas, kids don’t have a backyard, so this will be their backyard and a place for them to put their hands in the dirt.”
Parks Tacoma and the forest’s volunteer stewards hope to expand the project over time, both in acreage and in the diversity of plants.
A Washington Conservation Corps member helps establish a new ADA-accessible path in the food forest at Charlotte’s Blueberry Park in Tacoma. (Photo courtesy of the Washington Conservation Corps)
The food forest’s early days have not been without some of the difficulties that led community members to realize the need for the project in the first place. Twelve mature trees were pulled from the ground and stolen, plant tags disappeared, and drug paraphernalia was found in garden beds.
These incidents highlighted the inherent challenges of creating and maintaining a shared resource in a public park. Johnson believes it will take time for people to understand how the food forest works and how to use it responsibly.
While some residents are excited about the possibilities, Johnson and Kunze said others have questions about how the forest will be managed to protect the plants from harm and who will decide who has access to its produce.
“There has been a history of someone burning down things in the park, and a question of what if we put something in and that person destroys it?” Kunze said.
Those concerns reflect a broader question about how to establish a space that people feel invested in protecting. The food forest’s long-term success will depend not only on which plants thrive, but also on whether residents feel welcome in the space and whether enough people participate in its care.
But although the community is still navigating these questions and the forest may take years to mature, many of the project’s ambitions are already tangible. Just over a year in, it has proven itself to be a space where neighbors can share knowledge, grow food, and be part of shaping a resource that, over and over, the community has fought to preserve.
