I had a site visit yesterday from a Service Forester with the South Puget Sound Region of the WA State Department of Natural Resources. We walked the property for three hours, took a core sample from one of the average sized Douglas-firs and counted about 70 years of rings, identified an abundance of wild ginger and water parsley in the forested wetland, and discussed a wide variety of plans to support plant and wildlife diversity. We have a clear course towards completing the tree survey for the forest management plan, going with two stands, one for the one acre forested wetland, to the south/west of the stream, and one for the other nine acres.

Not surprisingly, holly and the ivy are the main invasive plants of concern, but overall, the forest is in very good condition. There might even be a possibility of cost sharing the invasive removal and planting the new generation of trees with an eye towards warmer, drier times ahead.