On previous days, I have speculated about "If Eagle Landing Park could talk."  The park can talk if we ask the right questions in the right way. Nature speaks to us through scientific inquiry. We can measure and test. This is what EarthCorp has done, measuring the extent of invasive species. For example, ivy covers 65% of the park. If we ask the park, "How are you feeling?" the answer might be "65% smothered in ivy."  We can ask the same question in ten years and see if the ivy is reduced or eliminated.

Also, the naming of 365 plant and animal species is a measurement that can be compared to a later measurement. We can compare what species are present to what species exist in a healthy old growth forest. When we ask ELP a question, the answer could take a while. To become an integral part of this ecosystem takes time. I can perform my white blood cell function immediately. Becoming a brain for the park, remembering and planning, takes time.

One question we can answer immediately, or at least by the end of the year, is, "How does ELP compare to the forest in 1850?"  Stumps remain of very large Douglas-firs, so we know the land had large trees before it was logged.  Also, many of the native species present in the park were here when I first began coming to this land in the sixties.  Ray Larson of the UW completed a study of the plants growing in the Seattle area before 1850.  This list contains 164 species, although some of those species belonged in habitats not found in ELP, such as lakes, bogs, and streams.  Arthur Lee Jacobson's book Wild Plants of Greater Seattle lists 514 species of vascular plants as being native to this area.   Currently, I would say ELP has about 75 native species of plants.  Diversity equals health, to a large extent, for several reasons.  Diversity would indicate the forest had not been disturbed in a long time, allowing more species to find their niche.  While that's not the case with ELP, diversity would mimic the health of old forests.  Also, diversity protects against catastrophes such as disease, fire, and landslides.  Having diversity of native plants would allow for quick recovery after a fire or slide, and diversity would prevent a disease affecting one species from having too great an impact on the forest.

This page on EagleLandingPark.org lists existing native species and invasive weeds.  This list is one potential palette of plants that a healthy forest might have.

During this restoration process, one species of plant will not need to be added to the park: sword fern.  It already covers large portions of the park.  If it spreads into areas cleared of ivy, that's fine, but the park doesn't need any more sword ferns.  It is one plant that seems to have held its own against ivy.

Two miles today. 35 total.