Oak Woodland Restoration at Martha Washington Park - Agriculture with Traditional Roots

Did you know that parts of Seattle were originally Oregon white oak (Quercus garryana) woodlands tended by the Duwamish people? Join long-time Native Plant Stewards David Perasso and Antonio Flores for an update on their work at Martha Washington Park in Seattle.

Oregon white oak (Quercus garryana, or Garry oak) is Washington's only native oak. Oaks and associated understories are distinct ecosystems that support over 200 vertebrate and hundreds of invertebrate species. The flora of an oak understory can be very similar to that of a prairie and is a critical component of an oak woodland. Martha Washington Park in Seattle has a stand of mature Garry oaks and for the last 11 years neighborhood volunteers have been regenerating the understory with the support of WNPS and Green Seattle Partnership. The experience of the last 11 years at Martha Washington Park provides insights as to how an understory garden, or prairie garden, could be maintained in the setting of an urban park.

David Perasso has been a Green Seattle Partnership steward since 2011 and has taken on wetland and oak restoration projects. Taught by his grandfather, parents, aunts and uncles, he began gardening when he was 6 years old. In 1998 he started working with native plants in California. Coming to Seattle in 2004 he soon joined the WNPS and began working with Washington native plants propagating ferns and running a small, backyard native plant nursery. His recent projects are a wetland restoration project at the Beacon Food Forest and a Garry oak woodland restoration at Martha Washington Park.

Antonio Flores