NATURE'S RECYCLING
Issue 30, Winter 2025-26
Beaver dams and ponds are rich in recycling processes, even when covered with snow. photo by John F. Williams
NATURE'S RECYCLING
Issue 30, Winter 2025-26
Intro by Thomas & Sara Noland
(Table of Contents is below this intro)
This issue’s focus is nature’s recycling. Nature has been recycling since the beginning of time. In space, stars are recycling their elements, and asteroids are crashing into planets, creating debris and rings of dust. Moons are forming from planetary collisions. Here on earth, volcanos are terraforming the land, changing mountains and landscapes. Wind, waves, and rain are wearing down mountains, turning rocks into new soil and sand. These are just some of the natural forces that recycle and reshape our world and the universe at huge scales of space and time.
Here in the Salish Sea region we can observe recycling at smaller scales and across the seasons. Invertebrates break down fallen leaves and dead organisms. Spawning salmon bring nutrients from the sea back to forests and streams. Plants absorb the richness of the soil and transform it into stems, leaves, and flowers where insects and birds can feed. We’re glad you’re here to join us on this journey of renewal in this issue.
Issue 30 — Nature's Recycling: Table of Contents
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Salmon: Upstream Recyclers
by Paul Dorn
Winter 2025-26
First, a tiny fertilized egg buried in clean freshwater, then that egg has grown into an adult navigating its way to its birth stream, bringing ocean nutrients along with it.
Undertakers of the Forest
by Thomas Noland
Winter 2025-26
Crawling out of the leaf litter this morning my antennae began to twitch. Chemicals from rotting meat floated in the morning air — now to claim this resource for our children.
Nature’s Recyclers — Big picture
by Adelia Ritchie
Winter 2025-26
The Salish Sea region, from its misty forests to its rocky tidal shores, hums with life. Beneath all this beauty, lies a quiet but essential workforce: nature’s recyclers.
The Slowdown on Slugs
by Sarah Ottino
Winter 2025-26
Moist and damp for much of the year, the Pacific Northwest is a slug paradise. Though slimy and slow, these creatures play an important role in the ecosystem.
Driftwood and Sand
by Gunnison Langley
Winter 2025-26
A stroll on the beach offers plentiful examples of how nature recycles. Driftwood is a good example of this. Even the sand on the beach tell a recycle story.
What the Tide Leaves Behind
by Celeste Hankins
Winter 2025-26
I first noticed Pacific Rockweed after moving from Lake Chelan to the coastal forest of the Salish Sea. Pacific Rockweed would become my teacher about what it means to be remade.
Poetry 30
by assorted poets
Winter 2025-26
A collection of poems celebrating gulls on the beach, mushrooms, and even colonies of microscopic bacteria which are parts of the recycling process that nature evolved.
Salish Magazine
Publisher: John F. Williams
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