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…
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…