Naas Tour on May 28
| Published: May 23, 2011 – 6:44 pm
For Release – May 16, 2011
Whidbey Camano Land Trust
Contact: Cheryl Lowe, Land Steward
(360) 222-3310
Greenbank, WA
Greenbank, Washington — The Whidbey Camano Land Trust invites you on a walking tour of the Naas Natural Area Preserve in Ebey’s Prairie overlooking Admiralty Inlet on Saturday May 28 from 10 a.m. – 12 noon. The prairie will be blooming and the golden paintbrush will be in its glory. Mark Sheehan, Project Manager for the site, will explain how the Land Trust is restoring this prairie.
The walking tour is an opportunity to see the springtime beauty of prairie wildflowers and hear about the Land Trust’s work to restore this rare habitat on Whidbey Island. Once a significant part of Whidbey Island’s landscape, today less than 1% of the original native grassland remains. One of the rare species associated with prairies is the golden paintbrush, a smaller yellow cousin of the common scarlet paintbrush. The golden paintbrush is listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act; only 12 populations occur naturally in the world. Five of those sites are in the grasslands of Whidbey Island prairies. For several years, the Land Trust has been actively working to restore the golden paintbrush on its 33-acre Naas Natural Area Preserve.
Go to the website www.wclt.org/projects/naas-natural-area-preserve to read more about the project and the Land Trust’s work to restore prairie and recover the golden paintbrush population.
Parking is limited, so please meet at the Coupeville Park and Ride parking lot (201 South Main) at 10 a.m. to coordinate carpools.
