04/30/2026
Big changes are coming to the Padilla Bay uplands!
During your next visit, you might notice several of our fields have been covered in black tarps. These tarps, which are made of recycled billboard vinyl, will stay on the fields throughout spring and summer to heat and kill the non-native pasture grasses underneath. In the fall, the tarps will be removed, and our staff and community volunteers will seed the fields with native wildflowers like camas, golden paintbrush, sea blush, and globe gilia. This is the next stage of our coastal prairie restoration project, which aims to restore 15 acres of native grassland habitat by 2028.
If you’d like to see these plants up close (including a flowering golden paintbrush!), check out our prairie demonstration bed by the interpretive center on your next visit.
