Expanding and Enhancing Prairie Habitat in North Puget Sound

Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
4333 BROOKLYN AVE NE
SEATTLE,WA 98195

Performing Department
Restoration Ecology and Environmental Horticulture

Non Technical Summary
The prairie ecosystems throughout Puget Sound have been reduced to only a few percent of their historical extent, mostly surviving as small isolated remnants. These fragments do not contain enough extant habitat of reasonable quality to support the rare plants and animals associated with this ecosystem. Therefore, restoration of highly degraded sites such as abandoned agricultural fields is urgently needed. Furthermore, restoration activities need to occur at ecologically meaningful scales to provide sufficient area to support functional ecosystems. Such actions are particularly important in North Puget Sound, where native prairies have been almost entirely eradicated. This project addresses these recovery needs.We will provide support for vegetation monitoring at two long-term experimental sites, Ebey's Landing and Smith Prairie, in North Puget Sound during Spring 2015:Project oversight.Oversight will entail consultation and support on critical project decisions such as species selection for seeding on new areas and methods of controlling invasive species.Vegetation monitoring.Technicians will provide vegetation monitoring of the Prairie Restoration Habitat project at the Smith Prairie and Ebey's Landing sites.Vegetation monitoring will involve a combination of photo monitoring and of estimating cover on a species-by-species basis, and noting the presence or absence of key species.A detailed monitoring protocol will be prepared before monitoring begins.Monitoring will occur in April-June 2015.

Animal Health Component

100%

Research Effort Categories

Basic

(N/A)

Applied

100%

Developmental

(N/A)

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
136	0780	1070	100%

Knowledge Area
136 - Conservation of Biological Diversity;

Subject Of Investigation
0780 - Grasslands, other;

Field Of Science
1070 - Ecology;

Keywords

habitat fragmentation

environmental monitoring

Goals / Objectives
The objectives of the project are to:1) Restore new acres of degraded land to native prairie2) Enhance and maintain restored prairie habitat; and3) Increase the capacity and diversity of native species available for restoration enhancement in the future

Project Methods
We will support project oversight and vegetation monitoring at the Smith Prairie and Ebey's Landing sites:Project oversight.Oversight will entail consultation and support on critical project decisions such as species selection for seeding on new areas and methods of controlling invasive species.Vegetation monitoring.Technicians will provide vegetation monitoring of the Prairie Restoration Habitat project at the Smith Prairie and Ebey's Landing sites.Vegetation monitoring will involve a combination of photo monitoring and of estimating cover on a species-by-species basis, and noting the presence or absence of key species.A detailed monitoring protocol will be prepared before monitoring begins.Monitoring will occur in April-June 2015.

Progress 06/05/15 to 04/01/16

Outputs
Target Audience:Target audiences included the Pacific Rim Institute for Environmental Stewardship, the US Department of Fish and Wildlife, restoration ecologists, researchers, educators, students, and the general public. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? ***asked Jon for report 12/21/2016***

Publications