WOODLAND — Along a rural road in the Woodland Bottoms, there’s a small grove of scraggly, moss-covered trees clustered near the charred remnants of an old burned home. Walnut shells litter the ground, and a hawk flies over an empty field behind the trees.
If it weren’t for a decaying sign with some missing letters, it would be easy to miss the Guild-Klady Centennial Farm, an acre-or-so community orchard that dates back nearly 140 years.
A group of local Boy Scouts hope to change that.
With financial help from the Port of Woodland, which owns it, the scouts are restoring the orchard so that anyone from the public can pick the apples, walnuts, pears, plums, cherries and other fruits for free. Port staff hope that one day high school students can harvest an extra bounty from the orchard to donate to local food banks.
Fifteen-year-old Angus Moir said he was looking forward to making an impact in Woodland, where his family has deep roots.
“My family has had three generations (here). None of them even knew (the orchard) was there. So hopefully it will be a little more well-known once the project is done,” Angus said.
Over the next several months, Angus and two fellow scouts from Troop 531 — Will Buttrell, 15, and Noah Kuykendall, 16 — will work with port staff and community members to coordinate the restoration project. Already, some dead trees have been removed. The boys hope to replant trees, build and install new benches, add 200-feet of walking trails and create new signs with historical information. The port hopes to have the orchard restored by the summer.
The boys need to complete the community project to attain Eagle Scout rank. Parents and scout troop leaders have little to do with the success of the project, which is supposed to be driven and lead by the scouts themselves, said Richard Trygar, scoutmaster for Troop 531.
It’s a unique project for the Port of Woodland, said Jennifer Keene, port executive director, whose son is also a younger member of Troop 531 but who will not be involved.
The orchard is nestled into the future home of the Guild Road Industrial Park, where the port hopes to attract new light industrial clients. The project will provide an alternative green-space measure to meet city requirements for landscaping of new developments.
“Rather than tear out this beautiful orchard and replace it with some regular trees, why not keep a little bit of heritage there? And it adds character,” Keene said.
Originally, the property was part of the estate of Osa May Taggert, whose great grandfather (Guild) planted the trees in the late 1800’s, according to Washington State University Vancouver’s website. The apples were used to make applesauce and Christmas decorations. The pears, lacking flavor, were used to feed livestock. Severe winds and floods in 1893 forced Guild to replant several of the trees, some of which are still standing today. Taggert’s grandfather purchased the property in 1912 from his wife’s father (Klady).
The port bought 8 acres of Taggert’s property in 2011, which included the orchard. However, the port didn’t actually take possession of the land until March 2016, about 18 months after Taggert died. In the last year, the port has worked with Cowlitz County fire officials to burn two of the old crumbling homes on the property, although one home still remains. In the next few years, that home will be restored and turned into the future site of the port’s administrative offices, Keene said.
It’s not clear yet how much the orchard project will cost, but port commissioners have agreed to pay the expenses. Angus said the scouts will try to get discounted or donated materials when possible.
The trio of scouts said they wanted to create a lasting project.
“Later on this park will still be there. And we can take our kids there and say we helped do this, and that was really appealing to all of us,” Angus said. “It’s just something that would leave a mark, a lasting impression on the city.”
