The Garry Oak Restoration Project sees healthy forests, butterflies and new relationships in its future.  The Center for Natural Lands Management has joined the effort to restore the Garry Oak woodlands to the northeast of Pierce Campus.

The project was started back in spring of 2008 and has been relatively small, comprised mostly of student volunteers. The volunteers monitor the forest, create a map of the site, remove invasive species and plant new trees.

CNLM has been working on restoring prairies and woodlands in the South Sound for over 17 years.  Their goal is to establish high quality prairie and oak woodlands and to reintroduce the Taylor’s Checkerspot butterfly.  The Checkerspot butterfly is a keystone insect, meaning that it is a species that many other species depend on.  Without the butterflies, the ecosystem could change dramatically and possibly collapse. Prairies and oak woodlands are natural habitats for this species.

Sanders Freed, the Thurston County Project Manager for CNLM, says the reintroduction of the butterfly at Pierce is still years away, but restoration of the site can improve the quality of the woodlands. When asked why restoring the woodlands is important Freed explained, “To replace a mature woodland would take somewhere between 80-120 years.   Maintaining what oak woodlands remain is a high priority for oak conservation and the species that are dependent on this habitat.”

Michele LaFontaine is in charge of logistics, purchasing and supervising the work parties for the restoration project. LaFontaine said that working with CNLM will bring in much needed funding to the restoration project which will allow them to take care of larger scale problems. Right now the project receives about $200 annually from the Pierce College Foundation.  

“Working with CNLM will give access to better resources, important contacts and more time planting rather than battling invasive species,” says LaFontaine.  

Jeremy Aspe’e, a work study student who coordinates and runs the work parties for the project, explains that right now 99% of the volunteer work goes towards pulling out Scotch broom and Himalayan blackberries which are invasive species. Aspe’e says the more help the better.  He hopes the partnership will bring better access to tools, more work study positions and more volunteers.

Elysia Mbuja, the biology department coordinator at Pierce, monitors the plant growth and works closely with students working on the project.  Mbjua thinks that the possible partnership with CNLM would increase the connections to the community and help them determine the next best steps to take in the project.  Mbuja also thinks that having experts on the sight would be inspiring to students.

“If they are there at the same time as the CNLM team, they might be able to ask questions and gain insight into the field of restoration ecology and natural landscape management.” Says Mbuja.

Like the oak trees, the restoration project is growing larger, and the volunteers are excited to have a new branch of team members. Lafontaine says, “The resto group has been more of a ‘Learn as you go’ project and some mistakes and errors have been made through inexperience.  CNLM will not only bring in knowledge and experience, but a renewed enthusiasm and meaning to our project.”