![]() Other water birds use this wood for resting as well.įallen wood eventually becomes the domain of barnacles, and ultimately, wood borers. Herons use the emergent wood to combine their daily chores of foraging and resting, and they can extend their foraging beyond low tide by standing on emergent wood when the water is too deep for wading. Fallen trees rest in the mudflats, often partially exposed even at high tide. Trees edging shorelines such as these supply a regular source of woody debris to the marine environment.Īs dying trees lean over the water, they provide hunting perches for eagles and kingfishers, and suitable wood for cavity nesting birds. Pickleweed and fleshy jaumea grow at the edge of the mudflats, where their succulent leaves are inundated twice daily by the tides.Īlthough abundant flora dominates the shoreline view, scattered dead and dying trees are perhaps the more significant features. The low bank is knit together by the roots of Douglas fir, cedar, native roses, Oregon grape, and oceanspray. I crawled out on an old log to watch the incoming tide, and reflected that undisturbed Puget Sound shoreline like this becomes rarer every day. As if to prove it to me, a flock of chestnut-backed chickadees arrived to forage in the apple trees, hanging precariously from topmost branches to gather insects.ĭespite the heat, I was drawn to mudflats fringing the extensive shoreline. The two uses overlap where old orchards mix with native service berry and Indian plum to create a tangle of fruits used by both human and wildlife tenants of the farm. The farm is a blend of wildlife habitat and agricultural areas. Harmony Farm was a busy place that evening, for the dry weather was just right for the flayers working the north field. Her 50 acres on the east shore of Henderson Inlet was protected with a conservation easement in 1991. I slipped downhill, past the cedar swamp, and nodded toward Harmony Glover’s home. With the mercury at 98 degrees that July evening, I was grateful for the dim canopy of upland forest to start my walk. Harmony Myer Frances Glover Notes from the Field: Harmony’s Place It is a great blessing to accept the Capitol Land Trust conservation easement as an umbrella of protection “in perpetuity” to keep the many special qualities of the place for generations of family and friends of the farm and of the earth. My Dad, Rolla Myer, had several “no hunting, no shooting – wildlife sanctuary” signs made, which showed the world our great love of the woods, fields, shoreline, bay and wetlands all with their rich flora and fauna and scenery.Īll these years we’ve treasured these acres and as a stewardship responsibility to family, the community, the country and the world. We worked on the WPA, in the Olympia Cannery, and picked berries to buy our new home, with the patient help of a federal land bank loan. ![]() The banks were closed when my Dad and Mr. ![]() ![]() Since it was the beginning of the Great Depression there was no money for our neighboring rancher to buy our huge cattle ranch in the grass hills north of Boise, Idaho. My family – mother, father, sisters and brother – came to the Sampson place in 1919 to make it our home. Conserve marine shorelines and estuaries.Conserve wetlands, riparian areas, and associated upland forests.The diversity of animal species is most certainly a product of the “edges” where different habitat types meet.ĬLT Strategic Conservation Goals Achieved: Over one hundred species of shorebirds, waterfowl and songbirds visit the property, as well as many mammals, including raccoon, black-tailed deer, coyote, red fox, Pacific jumping mouse, river otter and a variety of bats.Half of the property consists of fresh and salt water wetlands, a riparian corridor, and a large agricultural field, while another 25 acres is upland forests of Western redcedar, Douglas fir and bigleaf maple.Harmony Glover donated a conservation easement to Capitol Land Trust in 1992.55 acres located along the eastern shores of Henderson Inlet in Thurston County. ![]()
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