Novel plant communities and partnerships: creative ...

Novel plant communities and partnerships:

creative strategies for habitat conservation

and restoration in western Washington

prairies

Sarah Hamman, Ph.D.

Center for Natural Lands Management

Western WA Prairies

History:

– Formed by retreating glaciers

– Maintained by indigenous

burning and food harvests

– Gravelly, well-drained, low

nutrient soils

– Host several rare, threatened

and endangered species

Photo: Chris Junck

Photo: Joe Rocchio

Photo: Rod Gilbert

Photo: Sarah Hamman

ThreatsConifer and non-native invasion

Habitat fragmentation

Altered fire regime

How can we conserve and restore

biodiversity to the WPG prairies

and oak woodlands?

Historically:

• 2,088,040 acres of

prairie and oak

woodland throughout

Ecoregion

• Continuous habitat

Currently:

• 40,000 acres of prairie

and oak woodland

throughout Ecoregion

• Fragmented, low-

quality remnants

• Largest remaining

prairie is on Joint Base

Lewis-McChord

Protected Preserves

Restoration Process

1. Invasive species removal

2. Site preparation

1. Native habitat enhancement

Road to success for rare species

Golden paintbrush (Castilleja levisecta)

• Close to reaching recovery goals

Taylor’s checkerspot butterfly (Euphydryas

editha taylori)

• Five new reintroduced populations

Streaked horned lark (Eremophila alpestris

strigata)

• Populations steadily increasing on JBLM

Protected Preserves

Photo: Ty Smedes

High intensity rotational grazing

J F M A M J J A S O N D

‘Rest’ pastures,

completely

removing cattle

while native plants

bloom and set seed

Sustainably graze,

moving cattle

every 1-2 days.

Maintain stubble

height ~3 inches

Sustainably graze,

moving cattle

every 1-2 days.

Maintain stubble

height ~3 inches

Conservation Grazing

• Ecological – evaluate effects on plant community,

productivity, butterfly behavior, pocket gopher

activity

• Economic – quantify costs/benefits associated with

shift in practice

• Social – collect input from farmers & ranchers on

incentive programs that they need to implement

conservation grazing practices

Photo: Mason McKinley

Camas Taxonomy and Ecology

• Asparagaceae family (formerly

Liliaceae family)

• Perennial forb that grows from

an edible bulb

• Found in prairies throughout

WPG Ecoregion

• Flowers April – June

• Important resource plant for at

least 57 insect species (ants,

bees, beetles, flies, wasps,

earwigs)

Common camas: Camassia quamash, Great camas: Camassia leichtlinii

Camas Harvest

• One of the most important root foods for western

North American Indigenous peoples

• Second only to salmon in terms trade value

• Bulbs were (are) pit-cooked for 24-36 hours to fully

transform inulin to fructose.

Lyons and Ritchie 2017. J. of Ethnobiology

Camas Prairie Cultural

Ecosystems Project

• Funded by UW Center for Creative

Conservation

• Encompasses perspectives and sources of

knowledge outside of standard western

science

Goal of the Program

• Collaborate to develop a transdisciplinary

teaching and research program for western

Washington prairies, focused on biocultural

diversity conservation

Camas Prairie Cultural Ecosystems Project

• Teaching curricula

– GRUB Tend, Gather, Grow Program creating

curricula focused on culturally important plant species

• Harvesting Access

– WDFW, WDNR working with Tribes to create regional

map of accessible harvesting sites

• Harvesting effects

– Tribal partners harvesting throughout western WA

and young indigenous scientists monitoring effects on

prairie community

Partnerships for prairie conservation

• Think beyond conservation preserve model

• Create opportunities for collaborative,

transdisciplinary partnerships that provide

reciprocal benefits

• Recognize cultural values in addition to

ecological values of the conservation

landscape

Questions? Comments?

For more information:

[email protected]

www.southsoundprairies.org

www.cascadiaprairieoak.org