Stories in Place: Wenatchee Calls You Home

Today, I’m launching an occasional series titled “Stories in Place,” I plan to feature individual perspectives about how landscapes anchor us to home. I’m pleased to feature guest blogger, Jana Fischback, Executive Director of Sustainable Wenatchee, a non-profit that promotes a culture of environmental stewardship and social sustainability in the Wenatchee Valley.

Wenatchee Calls You Home by Jana Fischback

Growing up in the Wenatchee Valley, I had a great childhood. I grew up in East Wenatchee with a big backyard that backed up to the Wenatchee Golf & Country Club, so I had lots of room to run and play outside, with a beautiful green space as a backdrop. When it came to getting out in the natural world, our main activity as a family was camping and cattle drives up north, near Republic, WA where my extended family is from. As kids, that’s where my sister and I would explore with our cousins and family friends, riding horses, hiking around on my grandparents several acres, and swimming in creeks.

As for the many natural areas that Wenatchee offers, as I kid, we didn’t too very much exploring in nearer to our hometown. We’d go swimming in the river on hot days at Confluence State Park or up at Lake Chelan, but more often we’d be swimming in a pool. I don’t ever remember hiking the foothills as a child, and I’m quite sure I didn’t see the view from Saddle Rock until I returned, as an adult. I’m almost embarrassed to say that I didn’t know about the Horan Natural Area until very recently, and what a treasure it is!

After I graduated from Eastmont, I went on to study at WSU and then moved around the state a bit, first to Spokane and then over to Tacoma. I’ve been lucky to experience the varied geography that Washington offers, from the gorgeous rolling hills of the Palouse to the Puget Sound’s lush forests. My husband and I had settled in Tacoma, where I had been promoted from an intern position, where I wrote a three-year sustainability plan for Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium, to becoming the first Sustainability Coordinator at Metro Parks Tacoma (MPT). MPT oversees the zoo, regional and city parks, pools, community centers, Northwest Trek Wildlife Park and a golf course. It was a dream job, and I was just getting started.

Then, at about the same time, we decided to start a family and my husband heard there was a great job opportunity for him at Confluence Health. We had a big decision to make, and quick – before our baby was due in a few months.

We’ve been back nearly five years now, and when people ask me if I’m from Wenatchee originally, I almost always say, “Yes, and I honestly never planned on moving back. But Wenatchee has a way of calling you home.” There’s lots of reasons I came back. For us, a big part of the decision was family. My parents still live in East Wenatchee, in the home I grew up in. And while many people happily raise their kids without grandparents in the same town, I knew even before becoming a mother how nice it would be. We really loved Tacoma, but raising our family in a smaller town had it’s appeal.

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One thing I didn’t honestly consider in the move back home, though, was the easy access to wonderful natural areas that my family could enjoy visiting. Since we’ve been back, we’ve explored the Wenatchee area more than I ever remember doing as a kid. We take the kids on hikes like to Horse Lake Reserve or Pinnacles State Park, where my daughter can run with her cousin. We left the kids at grandmas and joined my sister and her partner for a hike to Colchuck Lake.

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Our favorite thing is to camp up the Icicle and Entiat River valleys; I think we already have six campsites booked for this year. We swim in the Wenatchee River near Cashmere and in the Columbia River at Confluence State Park, like I did as a kid. My husband has recently gotten into canoeing, so we occasionally take that to paddle around in, like to Rock Island Pond or Daroga State Park.

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Lately we have enjoyed exploring the Horan Natural Area, just a five minute drive from our house. I can’t believe I never knew this place existed. It’s been the perfect little getaway while we’re cooped up at home due to the pandemic. We bundle up the kids and our son snoozes in the stroller while our daughter runs free and admires the wildlife.

Now this is not to say that had we stayed on the west side, we wouldn’t have enjoyed nature with our young family. We lived an easy bike ride away from Point Defiance Park, a gorgeous 700 acre forest with beaches, trails and gardens to enjoy. But in North Central Washington with 300 days of sunshine, with less population density, and a lot easier access to freshwater swimming, I can say I have really grown to love my hometown’s natural areas as an adult. While I can’t quite call myself a naturalist yet, I think I’m on my way there.

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And what about that dream job? Well it turns out, I may have more than one. After moving back and being a stay-at-home-mom for over a year, I connected with Tandi Rolen, creator of Tread Lightly Fridays, and together, we founded a non-profit called Sustainable Wenatchee. Our mission is to promote a culture of environmental stewardship and social sustainability in the Wenatchee valley. I do sometimes miss being part of a large organization like Metro Parks Tacoma, and the novel problems like, “how might we compost tiger poo?” However, I’ve found this new role to be the perfect balance of challenging and rewarding, while also affording a nice balance of family time. I’m grateful to be educating and inspiring people to live more sustainable lives, so we can do our best to ensure our children and grandchildren can enjoy this beautiful area like we have.