#Camassia Nature Preserve

[lichenloglichenblog]

Happy New Year to all of you out there in Lichenland!

These are from a New Year's Day stroll in Camassia Nature Preserve! The biomass of lichen is SHOCKING!

My resolution for 2023: lichen emoji!!!!

Lichen on!

[mapletwignursery]

I love hanging out with plant nerds and getting excited about the deep blue (and rarely, white) of camas and the pink of rosy plectritis. The wind blows and it looks like waves of sunset reflected water. Such a small area to remind of the vastness that once was when Indigenous people interacted with the land without the destructive presence of colonization. Now white people flood to these little preserves and pretend like we are saving something. As if our ancestors didn't take the camas fields for granted. As if they came to this land and didn't just see dollar signs in their eyes when they realized the floods brought such fertile soil here. It is an honor to nerd out about camas because it is still here. But we can't stop at thinking we have the power to protect what little is left. Are we protecting areas in wealthy and white areas like West Linn to stroke our own ego and stopping there, or are we going to truly support land back? (at Camassia Nature Preserve) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cc-1IuMLYTq/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[traviswardhorticulture]

New plant hunt is posted! Link in profile. 👆🏻 #Camassiascilloides #Camassia #WildHyacinth #TexasNative #TexasNativePlants #wildflower #camas #CedarRidgePreserve (at Cedar Ridge Nature Preserve)

[ensotheatre]

I work with the most spectacular people. . Every year Enso takes a small “retreat”, and this year we had a lovely (if very wet!) hike, followed by a delicious, homemade meal and endless laughter and games. . I feel phenomenally lucky to be surrounded by such generous souls. None of us make a living doing this. But all of us live to make this work. . A thousand thanks isn’t enough. Thank you, Ensemble. . Warmly, Caitlin . #ensoretreat #thankyou #myotherfamily #ensemble (at Camassia Nature Preserve) https://www.instagram.com/p/BoHuhrvBDu9/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1ox6dn5jvwncf

[roosterandfriends]

Located in the beautiful San Juan Islands, Yellow Island is a one kind nature preserve. This small island is home to over 50 wildflowers, many plants and trees, and visiting wildlife. Owned by The Nature Conservancy since 1971, Yellow Island is a truly wonderful place to learn about some of the native wildlife in the Pacific Northwest.

This island is about 11 acres in size and located in the San Juan Islands of the Puget Sound, just off the coast of northwest Washington. As a nature preserve, you’re able to experience the island in a very different way compared to the rest of the nearby islands. There has been a notable lack of grazing on this island over the years, which means that the unusual diversity of plants has been able to flourish.

The Nature Conservancy has also been able to do ecological research on the island to better understand grasslands in the northwest and the effect of invasive flora and fauna species. One of the ways the organization is able to do this is with a land steward, who lives on the island year round in a drift wood cabin to maintain the preserve, interact with visitors, and more.

Visiting

Yellow Island is open to the public, so it is possible to visit! There are some things to know before you go though. The public can visit year round from 10am to 4pm and the conservancy asks that you land and come ashore on the southeast beach, below the wooden cabin. The island is only reached by private boat and can be reached from Friday Harbor on San Juan Island, Fisherman’s Bay on Lopez Island, or Deer Harbor on Orcas. Many have actually kayaked to the island from Deer Harbor!

There are small but established trails to stay on, which allows for the local plants and wildflowers to flourish. Groups of more than six need written permission to visit and there’s no camping or overnight mooring allowed. No food or dogs allowed on the preserve, again to allow the local wildlife to flourish.

Wildlife on Yellow Island

As mentioned, there are around 50 types of wildflowers, trees, and many other plants that exist on this island. The springtime is an amazing time to visit, as many of the flowers will be in bloom! Western Washington’s only native cactus species (the brittle prickly pear cactus) can even be found on the island. The island is worth visiting just for the plants and learning about the native grasslands of the northwest. Some of the wildflowers and plants include:

Camas (camassia quamash), a purple flower that were once traded among local indigenous peoples that still holds cultural and ecological signficance. After harvesting and 24+ hours of heat, the bulbs of these flowers can actually be used as sweeteners and in addition to being traded, they were often given as gifts during events like weddings and funerals.

Meadow Death Camas (Toxicoscordion venenosum), a white bulb like flower with many little flowers clustered at the top. This flower got its name because it is deadly to ingest!

Indian Paintbrush (Castilleja), a bright red or orange flower. The bright colors of these flowers are actually the bracts (a specialized kind of leaf) of the plant and the actual flowers are tubular and green!

Brittle prickly pear cactus (Opuntia fragilis), a cactus with little pads that stays close to the ground. I almost missed seeing a little patch of the cactus while on the island! This species is western Washington’s only native cacti.

The Nature Conservancy has a slideshow of the island, including some great photos of the wildflowers. But a great blog to check out for the island’s wildlflowers is from Monika Wieland, who went to visit the island in 2012 and photographed many different flowers! You can check that out by clicking here.

But there are other forms of wildlife on and around the island as well! Harbor seals can often be seen on or near the island and there was even a seal birth on the island in the summer of 2016! Additionally, the occasional orca pod can be seen passing by and river/mink otters can sometimes be found on the island. Bald eagles have been known to sit on the tall trees and bumblebees happily flock to all the wildflowers! There are so many other animals that call this island (and the surrounding area) home, including many invasive species like Canada Geese.

Photos

Yellow Island [Nature Preserve] Located in the beautiful San Juan Islands, Yellow Island is a one kind nature preserve. This small island is home to over 50 wildflowers, many plants and trees, and visiting wildlife.

[archy320-blog]

Camas: Meadow Management & Consumption

Photo of the Camas Meadows Natural Area Preserve in the Wenatchee Mountains of Washington State (Washington State Department of Natural Resources)

Camas, or Camassia, is a native root plant in the Pacific Northwest. The edible variety of the plant has a blue or violet colored flower, and can be found growing in moist meadows (Lyons & Ritchie, 2017). This root was a starchy staple in the diets of many Indigenous peoples in the Pacific Northwest, and is an excellent case study for showing that Native Americans actively managed their resources rather than simply gathering them. Although camas meadows are far less numerous in the area today, they still exist throughout western Washington. I thoroughly encourage you to visit one while the flowers are in bloom to see just how beautiful these root plants are.

Camas fields were a coveted resource, and many wealthy members of the Coast Salish claimed ownership of different meadows that was passed on to their descendants (Moss, 2011). Most fields were managed by women, and the camas itself was usually harvested in springtime and could be dried for storage (Lyons & Ritchie, 2017). Camas is a root vegetable, so tools to harvest it needed to be able to dig deep into the ground. According to Stein, women used digging sticks made out of pointed wood with handles made out of bone or wood that allowed for the leverage necessary to pull the roots out of the ground. Archaeological evidence of camas digging has been found at the English Camp site on San Juan Island via the discovery of digging sticks (Stein, 2000).

Camas meadows were actively managed by the people who owned them. Indigenous people were said to have “cleared of stones, weeds, and brush, and later burned over to maintain the prairie” (Lyons & Ritchie, 2017, p. 348). Different gardening-like practices in relation to camas have been documented throughout the Pacific Northwest. Weeding after harvest has been documented in Upper Skagit, replanting practices have been attributed to Lummi, and reseeding has been connected with both Lummi and Nooksack (Suttles, 2005).

Camas was typically steamed in earth ovens over the course of a few days. An earth oven that might have been used for camas steaming has been found at English Camp; it’s around 2 feet across and dates to no earlier than 1,000 years ago (Stein, 2000). I say that this oven might have been used to cook camas because it is pretty much impossible to detect and identify plant remains because they decay so quickly. After being steamed, the bulbs might be dried and stored, ground into flour, or smashed into loaves and then stored in cattail bags (Lyons & Ritchie, 2017).

At this point, you might be wondering “what does this root taste like?” Lummi elder Herman Olsen describes them as tasting “like sweet potatoes after they’re baked, roasted, or barbecued” (Stein, 2000, p. 82). I have recently had the pleasure of tasting camas root for the first time, and I would have to agree with Herman Olsen. They taste like small sweet potatoes, however to me their texture was a bit grittier. Overall they were fairly tasty, and I would recommend you try them if you get the chance! 

References:

Lyons, N., & Ritchie, M. (2017). The Archaeology of Camas Production and Exchange on the Northwest Coast: With Evidence from a Stsailes (Chehalis) Village on the Harrison River, British Columbia. Journal of Ethnobiology,37(2), 346-367. doi:10.2993/0278-0771-37.2.346

Moss, M. L. (2011). Northwest coast: Archaeology as deep history. Washington D.C.: Society for American Archaeology.

Stein, J. K. (2000). Exploring Coast Salish prehistory: The archaeology of San Juan Island. Seattle: University of Washington Peess/Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture.

Suttles, W. (2005). Coast Salish Resource Management: Incipient Agriculture? In D. Deur & N. J. Turner (Authors), Keeping it living: Traditions of plant use and cultivation on the Northwest Coast of North America(pp. 181-193). Seattle: University of Washington Press.

Washington State Department of Natural Resources. (n.d.). Camas Meadows Natural Area Preserve[Photograph found in Wenatchee Mountains of Washington State]. Retrieved from https://www.dnr.wa.gov/CamasMeadows

[traviswardhorticulture]

#Camassiascilloides #Camassia #WildHyacinth #Camas #TexasNative #TexasNativePlants #CedarRidgeNaturePreserve #HikeDallas (at Cedar Ridge Nature Preserve)