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San Juan Island National Historical Park
Prairies and Grasslands
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| Lucas Pellant Photo |
| The prairie in the summer at American Camp, looking toward Mt. Finlayson with the Strait of Juan de Fuca at right. |
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The dramatic open prairie landscape of American Camp is uniquely beautiful and rather unexpected in the western portion of the Pacific Northwest – a land usually characterized by thick forests growing to the shoreline.
Prairies were once fairly common in the Puget Sound and Salish Sea regions. As glaciers retreated, grasses and other prairie plants were the first plant colonizers of the barren landscape. Forests eventually took hold where conditions were favorable.
However, many areas remained prairie because of exposure to harsh conditions of direct summer sun, drying effects of wind, and low precipitation in the rain shadow of the Olympic Mountains The vastness of land and sea, the colors of spring wildflowers and waving grasses, and the winter mist scuttling over the water is timeless in its appeal.
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| Mike Vouri Photo | | A solitary walker winds her way to the bluffs at American Camp on a blustery early spring day. |
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But landscapes such as prairies are constantly evolving in response to the forces of nature: climate change (changes in precipitation, temperature, winds, sunshine/cloud cover, and air currents); geologic processes (glaciation, volcanic activity, earthquakes); shifts in flora and fauna species and numbers; and human caused events. Humans have impacted the prairie environment from prehistoric time to the present.
Prehistoric peoples routinely set the prairie on fire in order to enhance the growth of camas, a plant whose root was an important dietary component. These fires helped to maintain the prairie ecosystem.
Europeans brought livestock and cultivation to San Juan Island, which dramatically altered and impacted the prairie ecosystem. Many invasive, non-native plants have been intentionally or accidentally introduced, which has contributed to the demise of many native prairie plants.
The non-native European rabbit has also wrought havoc on the prairie. Finally human settlement and development continue to claim our open spaces; remnant prairies such as that found at American Camp become increasingly rare and valuable. San Juan Island NHP is in the initial stages of prairie restoration at American Camp.
This exciting and ambitious project will involve many phases, components, hard work and time.
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Prairie Spring A Banner Year (15 Photos)
A unseasonably wet spring and two winter snow storms may have the brought one of the best wildflower years in recent memory. This album, in addition to offering views of the American Camp prairie, also contains views of Yellow Island, located a few miles north of the park in the San Juan Archipelago. Owned and protected by The Nature Conservancy. The grasslands on Yellow Island are nearly unique in the Puget Sound lowlands. An absence of historic grazing helped preserve the unusual diversity of native plants. This also prevented them from being overrun by non-native species. The opportunity to purchase the entire island in 1979 allowed the Conservancy to protect this fragile system. The park's goal is to one day achieve the same results on the American Camp prairie, one of the last of its kind in the Puget Sound-Northern Straits region.
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Did You Know?
Grandma's Cove once served as the landing for the Hudson's Bay Company's Belle Vue Sheep Farm. Supplies would come from Fort Victoria, about 10 miles west across the Haro Strait. Today the cove is the favorite beach of San Juan islanders.
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Last Updated: December 08, 2008 at 15:06 EST |
