Licton Springs Project
In 2006, SUN and the Friends of Licton Springs received a City of Seattle Department of Neighborhoods Small and Simple Grant to update the Vegetation Management Plan (VMP) for Licton Springs. Since the VMP was written six year ago, the Friends of Licton Springs in conjunction with Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation and other community organizations have conducted a wide variety of restoration activities within the park. They have transformed much of the northern section of the park from a highly degraded condition full of Japanese knotweed, reed canarygrass and Himalayan blackberry back to a native forested wetland habitat.
SUN ecologists conducted vegetation surveys in restored areas to monitor and document current vegetation conditions and to evaluate the effectiveness of restoration efforts. The updated VMP features a comparison of pre and post-restoration conditions, recommendations for future actions and maps of the park, trails, habitat types, hydrology and restoration areas. SUN also created a brochure for the Friends of Licton Springs as part of the outreach component of the grant.
The most exciting collaboration took place on March 10, 2007 when the two groups hosted a joint work party in the park. Heeding the Friends of Licton Springs request to find new and innovative ways of combatting reed canarygrass in the wetlands, SUN ecologists designed and implemented a citizen science experiment to benefit the community and advance scientific knowledge on the subject. SUN established field plots in a wetland area dominated by reed canarygrass to evaluate the success of a number of native shrubs and emergent species in combatting reed canarygrass. The project will be monitored by the Friends of Licton Springs, with support from SUN, who can use the information from the experiment to plan future restoration activities. Click here for a copy of the Licton Springs Vegetation Management Plan - 2007 Addendum.
Please click here to download a copy of the Licton Springs Park brochure.
