Salvaging of plants is typically
discontinued during our drier summer months.
Most plants can't accommodate the shock of
digging at this time of the year. Instead,
we focus on maintaining the plants we've got
in holding at the Bellarmine and Meadow Park
facilities. We'll have weeding parties on a
bi-monthly basis, complete with snacks
refreshments. I'll announce these events at
least one week in advance of their
occurrence.
With the return of seasonal rainfall
in October (and possibly on unusual
occasions throughout the summer)
we'll reassemble to dig plants in
the wild where volunteers can both
help the NPSA and help themselves to
high quality native plants.
Thanks for your interest in the
interim. If you remain busy in the
garden during the summer months, be
sure to check out the "Salvage How
To's" section on our website that
provides guidelines on the best ways
to select, care for and propagate
our local native plants.
If you still have questions or want
to assist the NPSA program at our
office in Tacoma, please feel free
to contact me at 253.566.3342. Have
a great summer! --A--
The
Native Plant Salvage Alliance website is
the
place to go for:
Volunteers
who seek to salvage plants or work with local
organizations offering habitat restoration activities. Check out
our activity details to learn more.
Click here to submit your e-mail address
to obtain electronic
updates about future salvage events.
Builders & Developers
who would like to
offer
a site to be salvaged.
Program Partners
who would like to
support plant salvaging in Tacoma/Pierce County in exchange for
PR, plants or access to volunteers. Contact our
program
facilitator
if you would like to participate
with us.
Program Sponsors
who would like to
donate products or services
to the program in exchange for advertising on this website as well
as PR in other program venues. Please check out our current
wish list
to see if there is something you can help us with.
This vision started taking shape
in 2002 when Pierce County volunteers decided it was better to
rescue native plants from sites slated for development than to watch
them succumb to growth. Plants salvaged from ecosystems unique to
Pierce County sites can be used to restore equally unique prairie,
stream bank, and wetland habitats in Pierce County.
July
2007: The Alliance has gained the
support of the Cascade Land Conservancy
as a Fiscal Agent! What this means is
that the program now has non-profit
status, which allows us to pursue gifts
of services, tools and other materials
plus financial donations! It also allows
us to focus our strengths on the pursuit
of salvage events while offering high
quality native plant materials to
members of the Green Tacoma Partnership
(a subsidiary, of sorts, to the CLC, and
our focal organization based on the
source of our funding this year.)
Friday plant propagation parties offer
great social opportunities while we
focus on propagation of salvaged native
plants, seeds collected from throughout
Pierce County, and sometimes weeding of
plants that we hold at the Bellarmine
facility. Plants are later
distributed to
Green Tacoma Partnership members.
Native Plant
Salvaging is typically discontinued
during the months of April/May through
September/October. This is because a
large number of plants don't survive the
shock of transplant during the warmer
summer months - even when they are well
cared for. Periodically, however, we'll
break with this advice, either
because the plants are unusual or we
have a good location where they will be
cared for properly until they are
re-located in a new landscape. In the
interim, we hope you'll consider signing
up to participate with future salvage
events by providing us with your e-mail
contact information
here. We
keep this list confidential and use it
only to contact you about native plant
salvaging activities.
The benefits to participating
public agencies and private citizens are numerous! Salvaged native
plants require few to no external resources once they have been
successfully re-established. Imagine freeing up even more money from
the reduced need for fertilizers, pesticides, and water, not to
mention the people power or equipment required to apply them.
Salvaging native plants is not
only the right thing to do, but is an excellent PR tool.
Participation in free community education is one more element of the
salvage program and a way to gain social credits for maintaining and
enhancing the environment. Ultimately, long term benefits from the
salvage program include protection, maintenance and enhancement of
Pierce County’s overall quality of life.
