A Place Within the Bogachiel

Receiving 12 to 14 feet of precipitation
a year, moss is quick to cover every
inch of dead or decaying matter in the
Bogachiel Rainforest

The geographer Yi-Fu Tuan (1975, 1977) has written that a place comes into existence when humans give meaning to a part of large, undifferentiated space. In the vast space that is our world (and universe), humans often form connection, attachment, and feelings of belonging with specific geographic locations. These ‘places’ form when meaning is created between the physical environment and the person or group that has made a connection. Washington North Coast COASST volunteer Chiggers knows a thing or two about this type of place-based connection. Having lived in the same home he constructed in the 1970s (completely off-the-grid) on approximately 18 acres of land deep inside the

Although a light mist and heavy fog blanketed Rialto Beach
near Chiggers' home, the serenity of the place was palpable

temperate Bogachiel rainforest, Chiggers has a strong and abiding attachment to the land that holds both treasured memories and present-day sustenance.In fact, he’s published two novels set in the Olympic Peninsula that he calls home. It is why when he heard about the COASST program about 18 months ago, he and a friend signed up to survey three beaches in his area (Norwegian, Mosquito Creek and Goodman Creek). Getting to these beaches is no walk in the park, as I saw first-hand today. To get to Norwegian alone involves approximately 11 miles of hiking round trip. For Chiggers, the monthly hikes and beach surveys involved in the COASST project provide an opportunity to see such cherished places anew, forging a deeper, and more complex relationship with a landscape entwined with his soul.