To anyone passing by the Trossachs development on Saturday morning, the group of rain jacket-clad people digging around in the forested lots might not have looked like an event of great significance.
But that it was.
These volunteers were taking part in the first ever native plant salvage sponsored by the City of Sammamish – a program which sees land developers, often the enemy of ecological management, allowing plants and trees be taken from their property prior to it being cleared and developed.
Typically, the species are replanted at public works sites or common areas. Following their removal on Saturday, the plants salvaged from a section of the Murray Franklin development in the Trossachs were transported to Sammamish City Hall and their new home at the Lower Commons native plant garden. Salvaged species were also replanted at Berntsen Park in Issaquah.
Native plants are extremely valuable as the corner stone of sustainable land use, slowing erosion, shading streams, and providing habitat for wildlife, without overly taxing water resources, a trait of many introduced species.
According to Parks and Recreation Commissioner Pauline Cantor, although plant salvage events had occurred in developments in Sammamish in the past, this was the first one instigated and organized by the city.
“King County has been doing this for quite a while, including at sites in Sammamish,” she said. County run salvage programs have harvested plants from Sammamish that are then replanted to assist in mitigating ecological impacts in capital projects outside of the city.
Cantor is also a Washington Native Plant Society steward, part of a small group of volunteers which underwent comprehensive training with state agencies on native plants and their roles in local environments, and are now using that knowledge to benefit restoration projects and community training in Issaquah and Sammamish. She said that several agencies were responsible for bringing a salvage project to Sammamish, including the Native Plant Society, King Conservation District and the King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks.
Demonstrating the convergence of ideas and ecological integrity necessary to make projects like this work, members of Sammamish’s Community Wildlife Habitat project got their boots dirty too. Providing native plant species as habitats for birds and animals is a key part of the Community Wildlife Habitat program, and the group, led by resident Elaine McEnery, has been instrumental in educating homeowners and school groups on their ecological roles.
Cantor is hopeful that, in the near future, all developers will make efforts to reclaim and reuse the rich stockpile of plant species that are found on the Plateau.
“Our goal is for native plants to be salvaged from every parcel of land that is getting developed, and to reuse as many of the native species as we can,” she said.
Cantor praised the efforts of city staff Darci Donovan and Dawn Sanders, in convincing developer Murray Franklin to get involved, and in mobilizing enough volunteers to make it happen.
Donovan reached out to Murray Franklin, after the developer’s involvement in King County plant salvages.
“The city just wanted to have the opportunity to benefit from plants that would otherwise go to waste,” Donovan said. “It is not only the environment that benefits, but also the city, and the residents.”
Donovan said she hoped to be able to combine future plant salvages with educational workshops, to impress upon residents and landowners the importance of using native vegetation in their gardens and landscaped areas.
Hopefully there will also be an opportunity for plants to be salvaged and taken by private property owners.
“In the past, during salvages run by King County, the last hour of the salvage has been opened to citizens,” she said. “Some of these species are unique to the area, and are important for the role they play as buffers to streams and rivers, and also as habitat for native wildlife.”
