Spartina in Island County

Spartina anglica is a cordgrass that has spread aggressively throughout Puget Sound since it was innocently introduced by a farmer in 1961. According to a Washington Department of Agriculture report in 2004, three counties accounted for 99 percent of the north Puget Sound and Hood Canal infestations: Island County (35 solid acres), Skagit County (350 solid acres), and Snohomish County (370 solid acres). Though concentrated in the north and central Sound, state and county agencies are working with local organizations and volunteers to help remove the problem before it spreads to other areas of Puget Sound. Without a natural grazer or predator, the plant accumulates sediments around it’s roots, and transforms marshes or mudflats into spartina meadows. Migratory waterfowl, who depend on a large diversity of native plants, lose important habitats. Commercial shellfish growers lose valuable shellfish acreage and harms our state’s economy. Juvenile salmon foraging areas are also disrupted as spartina colonizes eelgrass meadows affecting commercial and recreational fishing. Spartina can change the ecosystem of the areas it invades,  so that native plants and animals no longer find it suitable. Besides producing seeds that float on the water, spartina stores nutrients in large underground root masses which can withstand efforts at eradication by hand-pulling and mechanical removal. “Clones” that grow in different parts of an invaded area can grow to a size where they meet, creating a spartina meadow. Eradication of spartina is a multi-agency and multiple method process. One method of removing spartina is hand-pulling, which is particularly successful with younger plants that are not as established as larger ones. Various volunteer groups have contributed to this labor-intensive effort.On a larger scale, spartina is removed by herbicide spraying (air and land), mowing, and crushing. These methods, usually done by governmental agencies, often need to be repeated over a three or four year period to be effective. State, county and tribal groups are all working together to help eliminate this problem. With a continued multi-part attack on spartina, we can be hopeful that the problem may be controlled in Island County and Puget Sound. – Source: Island County Shore Stewards.