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The Susie Forest
Redefining the Family Tree
The Susie Forest is a nonprofit project spearheaded by Nancy MacKerrow that plants trees throughout the Spokane area, and as faraway as Washington D.C. and New Zealand. The project was started and named for her daughter, Susie Stephens, a bicycle advocate and environmentalist, who died in 2002 after being hit by a bus while crossing the street in a crosswalk.
“The planning and the act of planting a tree is how I honor Susie. Except for the trees that I plant on her birthday and the anniversary of her death, all of the trees are important to other people,” said MacKerrow.
MacKerrow chooses the recipients of the trees for a variety of reasons. While many aren’t environmentalists, she hopes that the planting of the tree will help them turn into one.
One such recipient was Joy Peterson, a lifelong conservationist and outdoor enthusiast, whom MacKerrow learned about through a newspaper article. After reading about a bike ride that Peterson went on, MacKerrow decided to honor her with the planting of a Northern Red Oak at Camp Caro in the Spokane Valley. (Pictured to the left)
MacKerrow is also involved with the Reforest Spokane Trust Fund and Commemorative Project, which benefits the Spokane Parks Foundation. For a $300 tax-deductible donation a tree will be planted in the Spokane neighborhood of your choice, providing shade, oxygen and pollution reduction for years to come.
For more information on The Susie Forest, please contact Nancy MacKerrow at 509-624-3407. For information on Reforest Spokane, please call The Urban Forestry Program at 509-363-5495.
Those honored by
The Susie Forest include:
- Read for Trees programs at city & county libraries
- Girl Scouts
- Boys & Girls Clubs of Spokane
- The Tree Program at Mobius Kids
- Veterans
- Pedestrians who have been hit or killed
- Families who have lost young people like Susie
- People who have taken bike rides that Susie would have loved
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