Below, I highlight my experience monitoring and removing knotweed along the Skagit River based on field notes collected during my week there. It’s a crisp fall morning on the Skagit River—the sky is clear and the river is calm. Today we are floating down the river to survey and treat knotweed (Polygonum spp.) on the…
Green Lake is a hotspot for locals to get their dose of nature in Seattle. It’s a beautiful green space for skating, running, dog walking, and more. It’s also full of biodiversity, which our team has been revitalizing by planting and watering native plants along the shoreline. Through these actions, we’re establishing a healthier and…
Ivy (Hedera helix) often conjures images of lush, green house plants or decorative garden vines. However, in the Pacific Northwest, ivy is far from a charming addition to the landscape. Instead, it is an invasive that aggressively overtakes our forests and threatens local ecosystems. History of Ivy in North America Ivy, an evergreen sprawler, climbs…
It’s June and raining off and on at Little Lake. The team is removing holly (Ilex aquifolium), an invasive weed found in the understory of the 155-acre site in Enumclaw. The site comprises lowland forests, a lake, open fields, and a powerline corridor. When the rain breaks, I hear the song of the Swainson’s thrush…
The Swamp Creek watershed is located on the traditional lands of the Coast Salish, Stillaguamish, and Suquamish Peoples. The creek originates in the Paine Field and Casino Road area of South Everett, and the watershed drains water from Martha Lake, Lake Stickney, Scriber Lake, and portions of Lynnwood, Everett, Bothell, Kenmore, Brier, Mountlake Terrace, and…
We had set out to sweep through a forested backyard on the traditional lands of the Duwamish and Coast Salish Peoples, a bit east of Lake Sammamish. The forest was beautiful and quite healthy, full of mossy bigleaf maples and vine maples, native conifers, and a variety of native ferns including sword, lady, and bracken.…
The team here at Habitat Restoration Specialists spent a few weeks tackling a massive blackberry patch stretching along a road under some powerlines, alongside a forest buffer and some fences. By the end of our time on this large site, we had cut down about 136,000 square feet of blackberry! HRS owner Derek working his…
Our work at Habitat Restoration Specialists takes us all around the region to steward the various sites we are restoring. In order to reach these sites however, it requires us to drive many miles, which burns a lot of fuel. In order to mitigate the impact we have on the environment by driving these miles,…