A Hotspot of Biodiversity
Roughly 90% of the 23,000 acres of remnant prairie in western Washington are located on Joint Base Lewis-McChord! We work within these grassland ecosystems to create and enhance habitat, providing JBLM with the necessary support to advance the recovery of imperiled species. We also care for several other rare habitat types – kettle wetlands, Ponderosa pine savannas, and Gary oak woodlands – amounting to 4,000 acres of prairie, 1,000 acres of forests, and 20 acres of riparian and wetland habitat.
Adam Martin
Our Methods: How are we restoring rare habitats on JBLM?
On JBLM, we control Scotch Broom (Cytisus scoparius), non-native invasive grasses including Vulpia sp, false brome (Brachypodium sylvaticum), and tall oat grass (Arrhenatherum elatius), and non-native invasive forbs including sulphur cinquefoil (Potentilla recta), subterranean clover (Trifolium subterraneum), and salad burnet (Sanguisorba minor). Restoration tools used for invasive species control include prescribed fire, large-scale mowing, and herbicide application. We follow up these actions with seeding and plugging to establish and enrich native plant populations, often focusing on specific host and nectar plants in key habitat areas to support federally listed endangered species.
Scotch Broom flowering in the spring (Elspeth Kim 2016)
Vulpia sp. crowding the interstices of a south sound prairie (Ecostudies Institute 2020)
Restoration Specialist Erin recording data on a subterranean clover treatment plot (Casey Bowles 2024)
Prescribed fire in action on JBLM (Ecostudies Institute 2024)
