Friends Fall Planting

During Fort Worden’s time as a military base, the Army clear-cut many areas of the park to facilitate construction and operations. These clear cuts made ideal environments for multiple species of noxious and invasive plants that went on to establish themselves throughout the park.  For many years volunteers and Park staff have been working to clear these invasives.

Over the last couple of years, with funding from donations and many volunteer hours, the Friends have been able to clear whole areas of invasive species in many areas of the park. However, it is imperative that these areas be re-planted with native species and maintained regularly to prevent the invasive species from re-establishing themselves.

After hiring outside contractors such as Agate Landscaping to assist volunteers in clearing planting areas, the Friends worked closely with State Park authorities to identify high priority areas.  Once the scope of the planting project was determined, the Friends hired Sound Native Plants. Established in 1992, Sound Native Plants specializes in habitat and ecological restoration and has extensive experience in planning and executing projects in Washington State Parks. They worked with Friends and Park staff to determine what kinds of plants would be best suited for each area of the park and helped Friends buy the plants being installed. They will also be the team doing the actual planting when the plants arrive.

We’re glad you asked! In addition to volunteers, the Friends depend on donations to fund projects like this one. Without donations, the Friends would not be able to hire contractors like Agate Landscaping and Sound Native Plants, or easily source such large amounts of plants. This is our biggest project to date, but we have ambitious restoration plans for next year including; Planting over 500 more native trees, removing invasive English Ivy, Blackberry, and Thistle, and replacing the irrigation system in the Rhody Garden.

Simply put, the best way to help is through donating.