Prairie Restoration
Prairies once covered much of the South Puget Sound with their vibrant blooms. Since time immemorial, Indigenous people have used regular burning to prevent trees and shrubs from transitioning these vast open landscapes into forests and promote the flowering plants used for food and medicine.
After European settlement, prairies were developed into farms and towns, and without fire to keep out the trees, much of them transitioned into forests. Now only an estimated 3% of our original prairies are left, and they remain critical habitat for many grassland species. Ecostudies works to restore and maintain this rare habitat by:
- Planting and seeding back native prairie species
- Removing trees and shrubs that transition prairies into forest
- Treating invasive species that crowd out native plants
- Restoring fire back to the landscape
Restoring for Wildlife
Streaked horned larks (Eremophila alpestris strigata) are endangered in Washington and federally threatened. This grassland bird needs low-growing prairie habitat with plenty of bare ground for foraging and building nests. To create suitable habitat, we remove tall vegetation and non-native species and reintroduce native bunchgrasses the larks use in nest building. Read more about our monitoring work with streaked horned larks.
Taylor’s checkerspot butterfly (Euphydryas edith taylori) is state and federally endangered. They are highly specialized butterflies that lay their eggs on only a few plant species including the rare golden paintbrush (Castilleja levisecta). We not only increase populations of their host plants by removing invasive species and seeding and planting, but also restore early flowering species they rely on for nectar. Read more about our research with Taylor’s checkerspot.
Mazama pocket gophers (Thomomys mazama) are state and federally threatened. They live underground and subsist on the juicy tubers of flowering plants. Restoration requires tree and shrub removal from their habitat to promote the growth of their preferred foods such as thistle and lupine, and planting and seeding nutrient-rich bulbs and roots.
Project Spotlight
Joint Base Lewis-McChord
Roughly 90% of the 23,000 acres of remnant prairie in western Washington are located on Joint Base Lewis-McChord. 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.
Interested in restoring native prairie?
We can help you make a plan, come up with species lists, find funding, purchase supplies, and implement on-the-ground restoration.