What is a plant salvage?
Our volunteers salvage small native trees, shrubs, ferns, and herbaceous plants from local areas scheduled for clearing. Salvages are a great way to practice plant identification and to meet fellow plant nerds.
The plants are cared for at NPSF nursery and eventually used by NPSP, Thurston Co. Steam Team, and other community groups to restore habitat and improve water quality in and around Thurston County. In addition to salvaging for NPSF, volunteers are also welcome to salvage plants for their home naturescaping, restoration, or green-stormwater projects!
When and where do salvages happen?
Salvages typically occur in the cold winter months (February-March), when the plants are dormant and less likely to perish from the stress of being moved around.
Locations vary by available salvage sites, and volunteers may join us for both rescuing plants and potting them up at our native plant nursery.
Volunteers are invited to help for however long they feel capable; whether that's all day, or for just one part. We appreciate your contribution, however long you can stay!
What does a salvage day look like?
Part 1: We meet at the salvage site, and volunteers are trained on-site how to properly identify and dig up desired native plants. Once plants have been salvaged, we ask volunteers with pickup trucks to help us transport them to our native plant nursery in West Olympia, where we pot-up the recovered plants.
Part 2: The afternoon is spent at our nursery, where new volunteers learn from the veterans how to properly pot the salvaged plants, and then organize them for later distribution. This is a great way to learn and practice native plant identification, especially winter-twig ID skills!