David Williams finds natural history stories wherever he looks and has incorporated these stories into his new book, "The Street-Smart Naturalist - Field Notes from Seattle." In the oaks of Martha Washington Park and Seward Park he sees something reflecting not only the natural, but the human history of the area.
Washington state has only one native oak, the Garry or Oregon white oak, and it doesn't appear to like living in Seattle very much. According to Williams, "It's more common south of Tacoma, particularly on the prairies around Nisqually and Ft. Lewis, and on islands in Puget Sound."
They prefer sunny, open, well-drained sites - and if the trees are reading what people write about Seattle weather, it could be why they don't like it around here.
The real reason probably has something to do with Seattle's pre-settlement history. "In describing our area's oaks, early naturalists often mentioned the broad, flat terrain, luxuriant grass, and abundant wildflowers, of Puget Sound prairies. These prairies were [and still are] important refuges for threatened animals, such as the western gray squirrel and western pocket gopher, and two butterflies, the mardon skipper and valley silverspot, as well as several plants, including Torrey's pea and smallflower wake-robin."
There are only three localities in Seattle where Garry oaks can be found. Besides the lone tree growing at 730 Belmont Avenue, at Oak Manor, on Capitol Hill, groves of Garry oaks are found at Seward Park and Martha Washington Park. Growing with the Seward Park trees are two other rare plants for Seattle and western Washington: snowbrush and poison oak.
"The site of the Seward oaks faces south and the grove grows on relatively thin, well-drained soil that sits directly atop bedrock, instead of the more typical Vashon till, Lawton clay, or Esperance sand."
Near by grows the Martha Washington oaks at Oaklawn Place and Oakhurst Street (hurst is an ancient word meaning "grove of trees"). Williams sees this as evidence that oaks were either common or unusual enough in early Seattle to merit street name recognition. "Add to these clues an early name for land around the Seward Park peninsula, Clark's Prairie, and it is clear that an unusual plant community grew in this area," he writes.
As for why we have oaks in south Seattle, Williams cites sources that place a connection between acorns, native peoples and fire. "Acorns were a prominent food source for native peoples. Tribes from around Puget Sound collected acorns from the Nisqually plains which they roasted, ate raw and used for bread making." Intentionally setting fires would discourage seedlings from Douglas-Fir, hemlock and red cedar, guaranteeing that Seattle's big conifer trees stayed out of the prairies.
Williams gives credence is given to this hypothesis because, "For some unknown reason, possibly aggressive nonnative squirrels or lack of fire, Seattle's native oaks are not reproducing and I have found neither sapling nor seedling in the city."
David Stekel may be reached at editor@sdistrictjournal.com.
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