Eastern Washington: land of boundless opportunity for restoration
by Michael Pilarski

Eastern Washington has a land area of approximately 40,000 square miles (26 million acres) and includes parts of several physiographic provinces. Largest is the Columbia Basin province which lies mostly in eastern Washington. Other important regions surrounding the Basin include the eastern slopes of the Cascades to the west and the Okanogan Highlands to the north. The tail ends of the Purcells, Selkirks and Monashee mountain chains come down into northeast Washington, and there is just a corner of the Blue Mountains in the southeast corner of the state.

The Columbia Basin physiographic province can be further subdivided; such as the Palouse, the Waterville plateau, the channeled scablands, the Horse Heaven Hills, etc. The authority on the natural plant habitats is R. Daubenmire who spent 30 years searching out and examining the least disturbed native plant communities. His findings are in his 1968 book: Steppe Vegetation of Washington. Daubenmire found that there were only a few scattered remnants left of the pre-European vegetation communities in the whole Columbia Basin. Agricultural conversion and widespread livestock grazing had altered almost the entire shrub and bunchgrass steppes. Daubenmire also wrote: Forest Vegetation of Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho.

The low elevation forests of eastern Washington (largely ponderosa pine) have been largely altered by logging, habitation and most of them have been grazed as well. Mid elevation forests had less grazing pressures, but a fair amount of logging and miner's fires and subsequent fire suppression has changed forest age structures. Mid-elevation forests are still largely composed of native plant associations. The higher elevation forests on the taller mountain areas have been least affected by humans thus far, but even here there is need for restoration activities, often associated with recreational use in the high country. The amount of restoration work needed in the Columbia Basin and the surrounding ponderosa pine forests is staggering.

The landforms, soil, and plants are the dominant elements in the landscapes where we live. Until recently, most inhabitants in eastern Washington made their living by growing crops from the soil, grazing the bunchgrasses, and logging the forests. We have asked a lot from the land, Now it is time to give back to the land. Restoration is economically sound as well as ecologically necessary. Restoration is a big topic. It includes reducing non-native plants and planting native plants, but even more important in the long-term is the restoration of the biodiversity of the native webs of life; the restoration of soil richness, depth, humus and biological activity; the restoration of function. Fully-functioning ecosystems.

Restoration of salmon habitat and salmon runs has received much attention in the past decade. Native plants are much more in public awarensss. The "restoration "industry" has been born. There are botanists, environmental consultants, native seed companies and nurseries. This seminar offers a chance for these people to talk to each other and interested public.

Planting native plants that have economic or subsistence value can help pay for restoration. We can marry ecosystem restoration goals with production of wild foods, seeds, fibers medicinals and other products. Managing existing stands of native plants or planting out new stands in wild habitats offer potential for semi-wild production.

Restoration is a long-term endeavor. There are a wide range of measures that can be used ranging from very expensive to low cost. How much time and effort to expend on aparticular site depends on many factors. Effective strategies and techniques will work in the long run. More can be achieved in good rainfall years than in drought years. The trend since the 70's has been for decreased annual precipitation. A lot more restoration work can be successfully done in good precipitation years (or series of years). Especially if people are ready and prepared and have lots of seeds and seedlings available.

Restoration should be an important economic activity in every county in the state and in the nation. For instance, our huge road building and maintenance budgets are accepted as a necessary part of life. So that the roads continue to function. It is even more important that our farmlands, grasslands and forests continue to function. It is time to give back to the land. It is past time.

I consider myself lucky to live in Okanogan County. The Okanogan is a beautiful place to live. I have lived and traveled through its mountains, forests, bunchgrasses, and sagebrush steppes for 30 years now. I have come to love the Okanogan. I believe that most of the people who live in the Okanogan also love it here. But there is a lot of diversity in the people living in the County. Even though almost everyone who lives here would say they are concerned for the welfare of the land, there are a lot of different opinions on how to manage lands, forests, grazing practices, wilderness, etc.

Land restoration appeals to a wide range of Okanogan society. Restoration can include planting trees and native plants, doing erosion control, neighborhood plantings, farm plantings. The way to success on the larger landscape scale is the success of many, small-scale efforts over time.

I traveled in Australia for 3 months in 1992, researching restoration and sustainable forestry practices. I found out that over the previous 10 years a strong "bush regeneration" movement had grown up in Australia, and that over 25% of the farmers/landowners were involved. Busloads of volunteers were planting trees all around the country. Farmers had developed and refined direct tree seeding rangeland drills that could seed trees over dozens of acres a day. There were huge fencing programs to fence streamsides, roadside forest corridors, and wildlife corridors. There were lots of government subsidies, charitable contributions, vounteer labor, programs which assisted people in working for a day, a week or a whole season.

Certainly they had lots of failures, some projects were lip-service only and some were scams. But many also worked, and they had whole publications devoted to reporting on these successes and failures. Many farmers and landowners were planting trees on their property for future timber, pulp or other tree crops.

If they could do it in rural Australia I believe it can be done in rural Okanogan. Community-supported land restoration I mean. Out of all those people who say they want the Okanogan's environment to be healthy for current and future generations; how many would do something to make it happen? Every area has people who love and care for the land and who plant trees and seeds. Many more people would be willing to if local projects were available.

There are only so many things you can do in your lifetime. Some people do a wide range of things in their life, others focus on a smaller range. We all take from the Earth while we are here. One of the things almost all of us humans should do is give back to the land sometime during our lives. Do something with your hands for the Earth. Something to help repair some of the past damage. Help preserve some of the increasingly small remnants of the wild parts of our landscape.

Restoration of our disturbed landscapes is one of humanity's largest and most pressing missions of this century. What can we do here in the Okanogan to increase the efforts already underway. What has already been done? What can we learn from them? While it is my first intent to bring together interested people from the Okanogan, I also wish to bring in people from around eastern Washington (and some from beyond). Why? Because we can all learn from each other. Because ecosystems similar to those in Okanogan County are found all around the Columbia Basin and its fringing mountain ranges. Ponderosa pine, bunchgrass, shrub steppe, douglas fir forests, etc.

I have dreamed of an intermountain restoration conference for a long time. It looks like the October 28-30 Inland Northwest Restoration Conference will fulfill that dream. In any case there will be many more restoration gatherings in the future. A seminar, gathering or conference only happens for a day or a weekend, but in a short time there can be a great amount of information exchange and inspiration.

We don't know where this crazy world is going, but if we are going to live our lives in a responsible manner then we should help repair the land around us. It is the honorable thing to do for the Earth, for our children and for future generations of all life.

- Michael Pilarski -

Here are a couple of useful references:

New resource: Restoring Western Ranges and Wildlands. 2004. General Technical Report RMRS-GTR-136- vol 1, vol 2 and vol 3. 884 pages. Stephen Monsend, et al. Includes a compilation of revegetation research over the last several decades. Avail from : www.fs.fed.us/rm/pubs/rmrs_gtr136.html

I mentioned the great work of R. Daubenmire at the November 2004 Tilth Conference workshop on bunchgrass restoration. Daubenmire spent 30 years searching out and examining the least disturbed native plant communities in the Columbia Basin. His findings are in his 1968 book: Steppe Vegetation of Washington. Daubenmire found that there were only a few scattered remnants left of the pre-European vegetation communities in the whole Columbia Basin. In 1952 Daubenmire wrote: Forest Vegetation of Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho. This latter work was revisited and updated in the 1991 publication Forest Habitat Types of Northern Idaho: A Second Approximation. Forest Service, Intermountain Research Station, General Technical Report INT-236.

Wildland Shrub and Arid Land Restoration Symposium: Proceedings: Forest Service, Intermountain Research Station, General Technical Report INT-GTR-315. April 1995.

Farming With The Wild: Enhancing Biodiversity on Farms and Ranches. David Imhoff. 2003. Sierra Club Books. 182 pages. This is a large-format book with over 200 color photos. It contains case-studies from more than 20 states. This is a great book for farmers to read. It details how farmers and ranchers around the US are enhancing biodiversity for wildlife and native plants on their properties. In some cases they are making it pay. In some cases there is government funding and cost-sharing. In some cases the land owners are rich people who made their money in other ways. For example, two of Ted Turner's large properties are among the case studies. Imhoff's book is written from the standpoint of addressing U.S. industrial agriculture. Nonetheless, I believe all US farmers will find useful information in this book. It is also a valuable contribution for influencing policy makers and larger landowners. It was suggested that Imhoff might make a good speaker for our conference.

Natural Vegetation of Oregon and Washington. Jerry F. Franklin and C.T. Dyrness. Oregon State Univ. Press. 1973. Reprinted with new bibliographic supplement in 1988 by OSU Press.

A Reference Guide to Sustainable Land Use in Arid and Semi-Arid Lands. Michael Pilarski. In International Green Front Report, 1988, Friends of the Trees Society.

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