2024 04 01 NPAM Intro to WA Prairies Thorpe 1920x1080

Prairies are one of the rarest ecosystems in Washington. Prior to colonization by non-Indigenous people in Washington, prairie and oak savannah habitats covered an estimated 180,000 acres of western Washington. Today, less than 3% of these prairies remain, with the remaining having been converted to farmland and development. There’s a similar story in eastern Washington, where more than 99% of the once-vast Palouse Prairie has been converted to agriculture. This talk by Andrea Thorpe, Natural Resources Program Manager at the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission, will provide an overview of the diverse prairie ecosystems in Washington state, their importance to several of the state’s rarest plant and animal species, and some of the work being done to conserve and restore these ecosystems.
Andrea Thorpe, Ph.D., is the Natural Resources Program Manager at the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission. In this position, she is responsible for guiding the natural resource stewardship throughout Washington’s state parks system, that includes 124 parks and properties covering over 138,000 acres. Andrea has a broad background in applied ecology, with particular expertise in plant ecology. Her previous work experience includes serving as the Washington Natural Heritage Program Manager in the Department of Natural Resources, the Director of Science at the National Ecological Observatory Network (a continental-scale ecological observatory funded by the National Science Foundation), and Director of the Conservation Research Program at the Institute for Applied Ecology (a nonprofit dedicated to restoring and managing native species and ecosystems). Andrea has a doctorate in ecology (focused on impacts of invasive plants on plant and microbial communities and nutrient cycling) from the University of Montana, a masters in ecology (focused on the population ecology of a rare plant) from San Diego State University, and bachelor of science in natural resources from Oregon State University. In her free time you can often find her out on a trail somewhere in the woods with her dogs.