(Olympia, Wash.) The Evergreen State College is launching a new book with illustrations and descriptions of nearly 150 plants found in glacial outwash prairies from Tacoma to Rochester, Washington. Vascular Plants of the South Sound Prairies will serve as a field guide and will include descriptions of the climate, geology, vegetation, restoration ecology, and sensitive species associated with these endangered ecosystems.
As part of the book release, a talk is scheduled on the Puget Prairie Flora Project and prairie restoration. The free, public event will take place Wednesday, April 27 at 7 p.m. in Evergreen’s Communications Building Recital Hall (2700 Evergreen Parkway NW, Olympia).
Thirteen years in the making, the field guide began as a class project led by botanist and Evergreen faculty member Frederica Bowcutt, Ph.D. Ultimately the project involved more than 40 Evergreen students as well as scientists from Centralia College and the Center for Natural Lands Management.
Evergreen, a nationally-acclaimed public liberal arts college, takes a distinctively interdisciplinary approach to education. In this model, ecology, botany, geology and environmental studies can be taught together with the visual arts and graphic design to create a well-rounded work like this book.
“Vascular Plants of the South Sound Prairies showcases our students’ and faculty members’ hard work as well as Evergreen’s productive partnerships in the community,” said Bowcutt. “It is also an example of Evergreen’s unique interdisciplinary model and the results that a full-time learning community of students and faculty can yield.”
The field guide costs $10 and can be purchased at the event or ordered online at evergreen-greener-bookstore.com.
