Impact/Purpose:

Restore and re-establish culturally significant and declining plant species as part of ecological restoration of estuarine saltmarshes in Puget Sound, Washington.

Description:

As part of an overall effort to propagate native species for river and estuarine saltmarsh restoration projects, Snohomish County's Native Plant steward is working with Tribes in the Snohomish and Stilliguamish River basins of Western Washington to restore a culturally significant, traditionally harvested saltmarsh species, Trifolium wormksjoldii (springbank clover). This species is no longer as abundant as it once was in Puget Sound salt marshes. Seed collection and propagation by rhizome are two methods that are being tested to re-generate populations of this plant and reintroduce it to the lower estuarine portions of these river basins. Restoration of traditional ecological management practices will also be applied to encourage the growth of this species once it is propagated and re-introduced to restoration project sites. This work draws upon the historic knowledge and traditional practices of local tribes, the work of Dr. Nancy J. Turner, University of Victoria, B.C. and recently published dissertation of Dr. Douglas Deur, entitled "A Domesticated Landscape: Native American Plant Cultivation on the Northwest Coast of North America," which elucidates the relationships between human management of Trifolium wormksjoldii and Potentilla anserina var. pacifica and their distribution and abundance.

Record Details: