Eco-Techs
Eco-techs are skilled citizen scientists that are involved in restoration science research projects around the Sound. They usually come to us with previous experience in the field that allows them to take a lead in planning and implementing a project. These dedicated volunteers get involved in research that informs the adaptive management strategy for our sites.
People For Puget Sound strives to give our restoration sites the best possible chance at achieving self-sustainability by adapting our management practices as needed. We gather data through monitoring that tells us if our restoration strategy is working. If it is not, then we alter our strategy. However, before launching into an untested restoration method, we may, instead, test it! This is where our Adaptive Manage Research projects fit in. Led by Eco-Techs, “new” methods of habitat restoration are put through the scientific process in a miniature research project. Successful techniques can then be applied at a larger scale at our restoration sites throughout Puget Sound and the Northwest Straits.
Below are descriptions of some Eco-Tech projects at People For Puget Sound restoration sites.
Yellow Archangel Control
Yellow archangel is an invasive groundcover that spreads rapidly on the forest floor, outcompeting native vegetation. It is widespread at the Cooper Point properties restoration site in Olympia. Little published information is available on control methods, so two People For Puget Sound student interns designed and implemented a small-scale field experiment on this topic. They established test plots to evaluate the effectiveness of different nonchemical treatments (e.g., hand-pulling, mulching, burlap weed cloth, and various combinations of these) in spring 2011. Monitoring is still in-progress, and their findings will help to guide our future management of Yellow archangel.
Mycorestoration
Urban restoration sites have many challenges to overcome; ready seed sources for invasive species colonization, poor and often contaminated or compressed soils, steep banks, narrow buffers and wave impact from ship traffic. People For Puget Sound volunteers identified three sites, Terminal 105 in the Duwamish River estuary, Union Slough in the Snohomish River estuary and Maury Island Marine Park on Vashon Island, where buffer vegetation was having difficulty establishing and designed an experiment to see if the addition of symbiotic arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi would improve plant health and vigor. In early 2011, one test and one control plot were planted at each site, with 40 plants from four different species in each plot. The roots of test plants were inoculated with a solution of mycorrhizal fungi spores before planting. The two plots at each site will be monitored for plant survival and plant vigor twice yearly in hope of seeing a difference between those plants inoculated with the fungi and those that were not.
Interested in becoming an Eco-Tech someday? Check back at our Volunteer Page for a recruitment announcement, we usually look for new volunteers twice a year or so. Or, become a Sound Steward today to get involved in restoration stewardship and see some of these projects in action!
For more information, contact Dhira Brown, Restoration Ecologist.
The Eco-Tech program is funded in part by NOAA and Restore America's Estuaries.
