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Xerces Goes Island Hopping for Bees

By Eric Lee Mader on 24. September 2015
Eric Lee Mader

How do you restore a 50-acre native wildflower meadow for bees on an island in the middle of the Columbia River?

It’s simple. Working with the Port of Portland, and seed company Pacific Northwest Natives, we loaded up a barge with a tractor, a truck, a drill seeder, hundreds of pounds of seed, and half a dozen tough farmers, then we floated out to the island and started planting.

Special credit goes to our fantastic crew, contractors, plant ecologist, and pollinator ecologists, who between them can calibrate a 1,000-pound drill seeder, get us unstuck from sandbars, make emergency welds and equipment repairs in the middle of nowhere, and formulate complex seed mixes designed to support dozens of local species of bees and butterflies.

In addition to the seeding done by Tenbusch Farms, Port of Portland staff carefully planted by hand 2,000 camas lily bulbs.

Stay tuned for future updates on this project, and expect a massive wildflower show in spring 2016!

(photos by Xerces Society / Jim Eckberg)

 

Everything but the kitchen sink had to be shipped across to Government Island.
Everything but the kitchen sink had to be shipped across to Government Island.

 

It was heavy work to haul 1,000 lbs of equipment across the beach.
It was heavy work to haul 1,000 lbs of equipment across the beach.

 

Two years of planning and preparation led up to this moment, the first run of the seed drill across a carefully prepared soil.
Two years of planning and preparation led up to this moment, the first run of the seed drill across a carefully prepared soil.

 

Unexpected repairs interrupted progress.
Unexpected repairs interrupted progress.

 

Full steam ahead! With everything working again, the seed drilling was successfully completed. There’s rain in the forecast for the next few days, so the seed should have good conditions for germination.
Full steam ahead! With everything working again, the seed drilling was successfully completed. There’s rain in the forecast for the next few days, so the seed should have good conditions for germination.

 

The final task: Port of Portland staff plant 2,000 camas lily bulbs by hand.
The final task: Port of Portland staff plant 2,000 camas lily bulbs by hand.

 

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