Washington's native prairies
You may think of forests when you hear "western Washington." But this was also the land of woodland-prairies, especially in the south Puget Sound. Today that prairie habitat is scarce indeed.
There were at one time in western Washington an estimated quarter-million acres of native prairie, according to According to the Natural Resources Conservation Service That number has dwindled in 2012 to just several thousand acres and prairie habitat is rare. Development, agriculture, and
invasive species have shrunk the native prairie habitat to just 3
percent.
One of the largest pieces of remaining prairie is between Fort Lewis and McChord Airforce Base near Tacoma, where the proposed Cross-Base Highway, a six-mile, six-lane connector freeway has been proposed, and fought back by local conservationists, for years.
Other small prairies exist in northeast Washington and on parts of the San Juan Islands.
Native grasslands are vulnerable to agricultural and urban development, tree encroachment, and invasive plants. Butterflies and other creatures native to the prairies are highly susceptible to pesticides, recreation, and farm grazing.
Oak-woodlands support hundreds of native prairie species. At the Cross-Base Highway prairie live rare wildlife including western gray squirrel, Mazama pocket gopher, Mardon skipper and Taylor's checkerspot butterfly, and horned lark.
The Sustainable Prisons Project at Evergreen State College has partnered on prairie conservation for several years. Inmates in several Washington Department of Corrections locations are raising checkerspot butterflies, growing prairie plants, and helping with prairie restoration in the field.
