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Prairie Landowner Guide FOR WESTERN WASHINGTON Written by Sara Noland and Laurel Carver Major Contributors The Nature Conservancy Natural Resources Conservation Service US Fish and Wildlife Service Thurston County Conservation District San Juan County Land Bank Washington Department of Natural Resources ESA Prairie Landowner Guide FOR WESTERN WASHINGTON April 2011 Table of Contents Acknowledgements . iii Chapter 1. Introduction . .1 A Brief Prairie History Purpose of this Handbook Who Should Use this Handbook? Chapter 2. Getting to Know Prairies . 5 Where Are Prairies Found? Prairie Soils Wet Prairies Oak Woodlands What Plants and Animals Live on Prairies? Chapter 3. Getting Started . 45 Step 1: Assessing Your Site Step 2: Setting Goals Step 3: Making a Work Plan Chapter 4. On the Ground . .51 Step 1: Preparing the Site Step 2: Installing Native Plants Step 3: Maintaining the Site over the Long Term Chapter 5. Residential Lands . .57 Assessing the Site Setting Goals Making a Work Plan Preparing the Site Installing Native Plants Maintaining the Site Chapter 6. Working Lands . .65 Assessing the Site Setting Goals Making a Work Plan Preparing the Site Installing Native Plants Maintaining the Site Appendix: Resources for Landowners . A-1 1. Bibliography 2. Weed Control Options 3. Native Plant Suppliers 4. Funding and Incentive Programs 5. Agencies and Organizations 6. Government Sources for Maps and Aerial Photos 7. Native Grassland Communities Glossary . .G-1 Table of Contents | i Acknowledgements Granting Agency US Fish and Wildlife Service ESA Cathie Conolly Sara Noland Julie Bayer Rosemary Baker Th e Nature Conservancy Laurel Carver Hannah Anderson Patrick Dunn More Contributors: Marty Chaney – Natural Resources Conservation Service Adam Sant – Thurston County Conservation District Ted Thomas – US Fish and Wildlife Service Joseph Arnett – Department of Natural Resources Eliza Habegger – San Juan County Land Bank Special Th anks To: Carri Marshner Kym Foley Kathleen Preece Rod Gilbert Lynda Boyer Grace Diehl Tom Noland Acknowledgements | iii A P T E C H1 R Introduction Within the southern reaches of Puget Sound country and western Washington is a unique land of prairies and oak woodlands. Once sustained by native peoples, prairies are one of the rarest and most endangered ecosystems in the nation. Today, as in the past, they are once again dependent on human activity to protect and sustain them. The word “prairie” is a French word meaning simply a “meadow,” “grassland,” or “pasture.” It typically refers to a fl at or rolling land that historically supported grasses and forbs. Trees are absent or few, and the moisture supply is moderate. A key characteristic of Washington prairies is their gravelly structure and nutrient-poor soils, a legacy of the region’s glacial past. Why do we care about prairies? The prairies of western Washington are a valuable ecological and cultural land- scape, supporting rare and threatened species that contrib- ute to our region’s rich biological diversity. The prairies are a reminder of western Washington’s glacial past and its fi rst Rod Gilbert PHOTO BY: human inhabitants. They offer residents an opportunity to Photo 1-1. Harsh Paintbrush (Castilleja hispida) is a distinctive observe and spend time in a rare and unique landscape. orange-red colored fl ower. A Brief Prairie History Purpose of The prairies of western Washington originated some 15,000 years ago, when the Vashon ice sheet blanketed the region. this Handbook This ice sheet, or glacier, was 1,500 feet thick at Tacoma, This handbook focuses on the prairies of western Wash- extending south to what is now Thurston County. As this ington. It provides a short history of these special places massive glacier retreated, it scraped and carved the terrain, and explains where they are located. The handbook leaving behind layered deposits of water-sculpted, rounded will tell you about the plants and animals that live in our rocks and gravel of mixed sizes. Over thousands of years, prairies. It provides photographs, maps, and diagrams to rocks broke down, and organic matter accumulated to help you understand the “where” and the “what” of the make up the soils we have today. These soils have a poor prairie world. capacity to hold water and are classifi ed as excessively well-drained and nutrient poor. Unlike the deep soils of the Most importantly, the handbook suggests how you as a Great Plains tall-grass prairies, western Washington prairies prairie landowner can take care of these special places. have relatively shallow, stony soils. Caretaking might mean practicing land management that will reduce your impact on prairies, while remaining com- Northwest Coast tribes sustained these areas as grassy, patible with other uses you may have for the land, such open plains by setting fi res in the summer and fall. The as pastures, farming, gardens, and lawns. fi res kept the encroaching trees at bay, improving hunt- ing and gathering, particularly for wildfl owers and edible This handbook explains the current best management bulbs like camas. Bulbs of the native camas or wild onion practices we can use to reduce impacts on prairie lands, were harvested in great numbers and eaten as a carbohy- as well as information about restoration tools that are drate staple. Camas bulbs were traded with tribes living on specifi c to prairies of the Pacifi c Northwest. the eastern slopes of the Cascades and plains of eastern Washington. Finally, this handbook will provide details on incentive programs available to you, as a private landowner, to as- When homesteaders from the east arrived in Washington in sist with the process of restoring the prairie lands that are the 1840s, they found knee-high grasses and wildfl owers, important to you. with groves of gnarled oaks interspersed within the vast prairie lands. The prairies supported elk, deer, hawks, larks, butterfl ies, and a profusion of berries and flowering plants. Today, our native prairies are one of the most endangered Learn more! ecosystems in the United States. What was once over Throughout the handbook, you 150,000 acres of prairie in the Northwest has been reduced will fi nd words that are in bold by 90 percent. Our remaining prairies face many continued and italicized. These terms are threats, such as conversion for agriculture or land devel- defi ned in the Glossary section opment, invasive weeds, overgrazing, and a lack of the of this handbook. periodic fi res that once maintained these areas as grass- lands. With only a fragment of the original prairie and oak woodland habitats protected in parks or reserves, private landowners hold the key to maintaining this important natural legacy. 2 | Prairie Landowner Guide for Western Washington Who Should Use this Handbook? This handbook is intended for people who own, live, work The appendices of this handbook provide resources for on, or manage prairie lands in western Washington. Chap- landowners, such as sources for native plants, methods ters 2, 3, and 4 provide information that anyone can use for control of common weed species, and references for to plan and implement a prairie restoration project. Later more information about prairies, funding and incentive chapters of the handbook are tailored to certain types of programs. prairie lands: We have developed this handbook to inspire landown- • Chapter 5 applies specifi cally to residential lands. Hom- ers to actively manage their prairie lands and to provide eowners will fi nd information about how to incorporate guidance in creating a work plan to protect and restore prairie plants into a garden setting, and how to enhance prairies on their lands. Whether you own a small lot or small or remnant prairie areas. manage hundreds of acres, the goal is to create and implement a plan that best fi ts your needs as a landowner, • Chapter 6 is specifi c to working lands: areas that a plan that you can implement and sustain to maintain the produce food or fi ber, such as croplands, grazing legacy of nature and history that is a western Washington lands, pastures, rangelands, and forested lands. Land prairie. managers will fi nd tools to continue these uses while incorporating the historic use or the cultural perspective of native prairies. PHOTO BY: ESA Adolfson PHOTO BY: Chapter 1: Introduction | 3 A P T E C2H R Getting to Know Prairies Where Are Prairies Found? Some prairies in western Washington are well known and Given these altered conditions, scientists have turned hard to miss. The distinctive topography of the Mima to a variety of tools to map areas of western Washing- Mounds or fi elds of camas in bloom are familiar icons of lo- ton that likely supported native prairies before European cal prairies. However, much of what was once prairie land is settlement. One of these tools is soils mapping. The soils now diffi cult to discern. Once maintained by Native Ameri- of an area have a major infl uence on the plants that can cans through periodic burning, the open prairies are now of- grow there and what species of wildlife may be present. ten invaded by non-native vegetation. Throughout the range Soils in the prairies of western Washington were formed of historic prairie, fi re suppression has allowed fast-growing by retreating glaciers and tend to be gravelly, excessively native trees such as Douglas-fi r to become established. well-drained, and nutrient poor. In addition to fi re suppression and resulting invasion of trees This chapter discusses prairie soils of western Washing- and weedy species, most historic prairies in our region have ton and provides maps of where these soils are concen- been altered in other ways—through development, grazing, trated. Wet prairies and oak woodlands (a type of habitat raising of crops, recreation, or other activities.

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