KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – Our county's very own Black Forest is situated on 255 acres on Soda Bay Road close to the development called Buckingham Park.

As it is part of the northeastern rise of Mount Konocti, it has always been considered a sacred site by Lake County Native Americans.

Unlike southwestern Germany's Black Forest, we have no Danube River, or any of the over one dozen waterways they have, flowing through the forest.

However, we do have a beautiful, cathedral-like, dense woodland that is strewn with colossal boulders that are swathed in moss and lichen.

Here you can breathe in the crisp clean scent of the woods, while watching the ecosystem working all around you.

You may witness a fallen giant breaking itself down into smaller and smaller bits- returning to the earth.

The massive timbers are photosynthesizing way above your head, and below, down on the pliant forest floor mini dramas are playing themselves out with their myriad and mysterious ways of decomposing, recycling and regenerating all at once.

Ferns, mushrooms and all of the forest “characters” are attending to their queue in the ongoing drama.

This unique spot provides homes for wildlife, and through its very nature controls erosion all while providing us with gorgeous views.

Preparation to save the Black Forest started in 1999, when it became evident to the Lake County Land Trust that there were plans for logging this special spot. Then, more than 50 community members rallied around to work on its preservation.

For more details on the preservation process of Lake County's Black Forest, visit the Lake County Land Trust Web site, http://www.lakecountylandtrust.org/black-forest.html .

Kathleen Scavone, M.A., is an educator, potter, writer and author of “Anderson Marsh State Historic Park: A Walking History, Prehistory, Flora, and Fauna Tour of a California State Park” and “Native Americans of Lake County.” She also writes for NASA and JPL as one of their “Solar System Ambassadors.” She was selected “Lake County Teacher of the Year, 1998-99” by the Lake County Office of Education, and chosen as one of 10 state finalists the same year by the California Department of Education.