Union Bay Natural Area A dynamic mosaic of visions

Rodney Pond, Executive Director Sound Salmon Solutions Our 40ish minute trip

A human history of UBNA A natural history of UBNA Modifying the mosaic: Strategies, references & visions Dxʷdəwʔabš (Duwamish) Tribe

“SWAH-tsoo-gweel ('portage'). Duwamish. Around the top margins of . Five longhouses were located on the N edge of the bay, which--pre-1916--lay nearly a mile further N. One longhouse was near the present UW steam plant, and one near the former Battelle Institute campus. This was the principal village of an influential group known as hloo-weelh-AHBSH who took their name from the s’hloo-WEELH (literally, "a tiny hole drilled to measure the thickness of a canoe"), the narrow passage through the resource-rich Union Bay marsh.“

“Coast Salish Villages of ” http://coastsalishmap.org/start_page.htm Yesler’s Sawmill

“The community, variously known as the Town of Yesler, Yesler Mill, Yesler Junction, or simply Yesler, was laid out in 1888 as something like a company town to support Henry Yesler's second mill, located on the north shore of Union Bay, an indentation on the western shore of Lake between the present-day campus to the west and the Laurelhurst peninsula to the east.”

Eleanor Boba, “Yesler Mill on Union Bay” https://www.historylink.org/File/11244 ca. 1890 Ship Canal

“On Friday, August 25, 1916, with the armoring of the 's walls complete, the Corps of Engineers began the long-awaited "union of the waters" of and Lake Washington... At 2 p.m., workmen with shovels opened up a small cut in the third and final cofferdam at the west end of the Montlake Cut. The stream of water pouring into the cut from Lake Union quickly turned into a raging torrent, causing crowds on the cofferdam to flee the water, dirt, and huge timbers of the rapidly disintegrating dam…Three days later, after crews had cleaned out the debris in the cut, the corps opened gates at the east end and began to lower Lake Washington... Lake Washington dropped two feet in the first week and four feet in the first month. After that it dropped up to two inches a day. As the water level dropped, it fell below the lake's drainage outlet to the Black River, and the river eventually dried up. The ship canal became the lake's new outlet. By late October, Lake Washington had lowered a full nine feet and was equal in elevation to Lake Union and …”

David B. Williams “Lake Washington Ship Canal (), https://www.historylink.org/File/1444 Montlake Landfill (1926-1968)

“With the lowering of Lake Washington, marshland that had been confined to the northern end of Union Bay just north and east of the Montlake Cut was greatly enlarged, reaching to as far south as today's . The newly exposed land, which held the largest and deepest peat repository in Washington state, was thought to be unbuildable and to have little use and less value…In 1926 it was decided that the marsh could best serve the city as a receptacle for the growing mass of garbage and rubbish that rapid population increases had brought…This started the process of environmental degradation of Union Bay that would, more than a half century later, provide a living laboratory in which to test the ability of humans to atone for past environmental sins. ”

John Caldbick, “ (Seattle)” https://www.historylink.org/File/10182 1937

You are here Landfill Landfill ca. 1946

You are here 1952

landfill

Drainage channels

You are somewhere over here UBNA natural history - a hydrogeomorphological tale

Glacier marsh marsh/lake ~11,000 years advancing

X 4ish

Glacier lake more marsh, less lake retreating

clay soil cap over fill ? Compressiblelayers of history ~15’ - 40’ landfill wastelandfill40’ 3’ Up topeat 100’ - 6’ clay6’ capsoil

15’-40’ berm lake Emergent ecosystem mosaic

reclamation actions – grading & seeding

winter precipitation/summer drought

very poorly drained clay soils

undulating topography transitions

grassland swamp scrub-shrub marsh lakeshore

Modifying the mosaic – restoration pathways

existing vegetation transitions

grassland swamp marsh

scrub-shrub lake shore

modifytransition & modifytransition &

enhance expand &

enhance expand & enhance expand & prairie forest enhance expand & swamp marsh

introduced species scrub-shrub lake shore indigenous species dominant dominant Modifying the mosaic – reference ecosystems in the real world

target/reference ecosystem

prairie forest scrub-shrub swamp marsh lake shore

soil moisture

long seasonal drought short seasonal saturation perennial

hydrology well drainage moderate seasonal inundation perennial

UBNA primary ecosystem stressors

summer drought poorly drained clay soils introduced grasses & forbs

modification & resource subsidy to achieve reference

relevance of reference ecosystem Modifying the mosaic – restoration strategies

indigenous dominated habitat references

 on-site potential vegetation in invasive control & similar habitats supplemental planting  nearby intact/restored similar increases diversity habitats & complexity  requires low levels of upfront and on-going modification & subsidy

swamp lake shore scrub-shrub marsh Marsh - Shoveller’s Pond, UBNA Swamp – Yesler Swamp, UBNA Swamp – Yesler Swamp, UBNA Swamp – Yesler Swamp, UBNA Swamp – Yesler Swamp, UBNA Modifying the mosaic – restoration strategies

references grassland forest/shrub-scrub

 nearby intact/restored similar soil manipulation habitats

alters soil moisture  less on-going modification & subsidy required prairie

 distant but within ecoregion

 extensive on-going modification & subsidy required

forest prairie scrub-shrub 2013(?) Grassland prairie restoration, 2019 Scrub-shrub border restoration, 2001 Scrub-shrub border restoration, 2001 Scrub-shrub border restoration, 2019 Mixed deciduous-conifer forest restoration, 2004 Mixed deciduous-conifer forest restoration, 2011 Modifying the mosaic – restoration strategies

gravel parking lot references

marsh(?)/lake shore/shrub-scrub

topographic modification  nearby intact/restored similar habitats alters hydrology  extensive upfront but less on- going modification & subsidy required prairie

 distant but within ecoregion

marsh  extensive upfront and on-going prairie modification & subsidy

maintain edge elevation edge maintain required

scrub-shrub lake shore E-5 parking lot prairie restoration, 1998 E-5 parking lot prairie restoration, 1998 Mima Mounds, South Puget Sound 1998 E-5 parking lot prairie restoration, 2019 1998 E-5 parking lot prairie restoration, 2019 Future E-5 parking lot marsh restoration site, 2011 Recent E-5 parking lot marsh restoration, 2019 Who’s UBNA? – valuing ecosystems in the real world

target/reference ecosystem

prairie forest scrub-shrub swamp marsh lake shore

not wetland WSDOT – regulations compliance

displaces grassland birds Seattle Audubon - birdwatchers

SEFS/UWBG Students – education & research opportunities

Laurelhurst safety – reduced visibility Laurelhurst neighborhood

restoration disturbs hooded ladies’ tresses Washington Native Plant Society

blocks view landscape photographers of Mt. Rainier

swamp/marsh introduced grassland valued less controversial Red Eagle Soaring giving a blessing, 2004

Thank you! Questions?