The Missouri Flat Creek Bioregionalism Restoration
History of the Bioregion:
Bioregional restoration can be a therapeutic device to get us back into the “field,” to foster identification with other life-forms and to rebuild a community with nature- and gain a better sense of place (Abberly et al. 1999 ). The Pacific Northwest and more specifically, the Palouse is known for its unique geographic,
cultural, and environmental history. Although images of salmon, large coastal forests, and mountains may come to mind with the mention of PNW, that is only half of the story, and may be why when living in the eastern side of Washington, it can be forgotten that despite heavy agricultural land-use, it is rich in history and the area can still be a place to connect back to nature. Geography/ Geology: What makes it unique? Due to upwellling and basalt floods we gained a landscape with undulating hills that look as though a quilt is being shaken out before place on a bed (refer to cover photo). The vast wheat and lentil fields as far as the eye can see are attributed to a series of catastrophic floods that narrowly missed the Palouse, however managed to maintain the wind deposited glacier-rich loess. Although this had happened over 11 million years ago due multiple episodes of a gigantic glacier damming lake Missoula- melting and reforming- these great ‘waves’ have resonated and shaped the landscape, land use, and the culture we presently have on the Palouse. The environment: The Palouse prairie only has roughly 1% remaining, giving rise to several non-profit organizations within the Palouse working on conservation efforts and educational outreach. The culture: The Palouse was settled for a couple of reasons, one being the fresh water upwelling from artisanal wells, a second being the abundance of grasses to raise cattle- it was an afterthought that the area could be farmed. Once it was discovered that it has incredible fertile soil, (soil that could produce twice the yield of fields in the Midwest) the area experienced a large influx of farmers. The town began to grow and the area was rapidly changing from Palouse prairie to agricultural land use by the 1890s. The culture of Pullman, although deeply committed to the cougar name, is not necessarily committed to the environment in which the ‘cougs’ live. The culture of Pullman is currently mainly focused on the coug-nation or university-driven news due to the influx of students 9 months of the year. Many are unfamiliar with the history behind the settlement of Pullman, and its original Meadow-stepped habitat, often times gravitating to the area mainly for education only. Nonetheless, we hope to use the restoration as an opportunity to create an all-encompassing education intervention to encourage a better ecologically informed sense of place in students and permanent residents alike. History of the Missouri Flat Creek Restoration and The City of Pullman:
Why did we need a restoration? In the town of Pullman, even at a finer scale we can see the impacts that the Missoula floods had on shaping the events that occurred over 100 years ago. In March of 1910, Pullman experienced a major flooding event caused by a myriad of factors. One factor includes the geomorphology of the Palouse. Due to the basalt floods, the Palouse has incised river channels, meaning there is very little groundwater infiltration leaving rain or snow to runoff as surface water. Once the channel is saturated, the water has nowhere to go but over the bankfull edges. Secondly, Pullman is built within a 100-year floodplain, meaning that the area that the city has placed its buildings, houses, and businesses had previously been an area that the water would flow if the incised channel were saturated. Lastly, repeated extreme weather events- heavy snowfall followed by rain- led to a high volume of water that the South fork river and its tributaries- including the Missouri Flat Creek could no longer hold, giving way to a flooding that was about two stories high (Look in 'History' album). How the restoration gained momentum:
Loretta Anawalt had started a citizen movement within Pullman to beautify and maintain the beautiful and unique ecosystem Pullman resides in, founding the Pullman Civic Trust in 1980. Loretta Anawalt along with the PCT, became a voice for the waterways within Pullman, showing initiative by becoming the stewards of the South Fork River and continued to do so up until her passing in 2011. In 1996, the Missouri Flat Creek came onto Loretta’s radar when it had flooded again, this time not as extreme, but had gained enough attention for the city to jump into action. The city and Palouse Conservation District collaborated to create a long-term solution for the flooding by attaching a restoration the reconstruction of Grand Avenue- a main road for Pullman. The Restoration was broken down into phases:
Phase 1: The Re-engineering
1. Grand Avenue was re-engineered to be slanted towards the creek, if the creek were to flood again the water would bank off of the street and pushed back into the channel.
2. The creek itself was dug out using an excavator, widening the creek and removing the built up sediment and debris that was restricting the channel.
3. Lastly, the creek was fortified with basalt rip-rap, ensuring erosion control and to maintain the re-engineered structure. Phase 2: The Re-introduction of Native Meadow Steppe Vegetation
A collaboration began in 2011 with the WSU Environmental Science 101 Class and the City of Pullman Stormwater services: to date the Missouri Flat Creek has already had over 5000 volunteers, over 500 native plants planted (including ponderosa pines, mackenzie willow, coyote willow, and red osier dogwood) and 7 years of water quality data collected. The ES101 students collect water quality data once a semester, checking the macroinvertebrates present, water chemistry (including turbidity, nitrate, and temperature), substrate measurement, cross section, flooding tolerance of vegetation, and canopy cover. Current State of the Restoration:
We are currently in the second phase of the restoration, however we are gaining momentum. The beginning of the restoration in 2011 had met a few roadblocks, including the invasion of Reed Canary Grass. Fortunately we are beginning to see the benefits of our labor- the native vegetation is maturing, the reed canary grass is restricted to the wetted edges and berm in the creek, and we have been branching out to our community partners and other Washington State University courses. The restoration is beginning to merge into Phase 3: bioregional restoration. How are we creating a bioregional restoration? Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Clearly being a town that is inundated with young students that do not consider the area a final stop, or even a temporary home, there will be no difference in attitudes towards the environment if we do not change our perspective on the restoration or how the city views students and vice versa. What can drive an intervention in the attention of a restoration is bringing the subject matter into new light, and in a way that everyone can understand. Course of action #1: Show the permanent residents of Pullman that the students do care about the place they live for 4+ years, and show off their skills and ideas of how they envision the city to be better. Course of action #2: Show the students of Pullman that the permanent residents also have a sense of identity and place to the area that isn’t just with the university-
We did this through 3 platforms:
A) Ecological Art Exhibit (Album):
Fine Arts- with Joe Hedges
Exhibit at Thomas Hammer. B) Creative Writing Poems (Album):
Creative Writing- with Linda Russo
All Poems are available in video and hard copy
C) Landscape Architect Showcase (Album):
Landscape Architecture- with Steve Austin
Coming this November 2017
D) WSU Clubs Involved:
Environmental Science Club- now specializing in experiences at the Missouri Flat Creek
Future of the Restoration:
Pullman is good at celebrating sense of place from a cultural standpoint- artist community, farming community, cougar community, however in order to establish a holistic sense of place, the community should be also celebrating ecological significant events. By starting out with a platform such as the rehabilitation of MFC, we can begin to create an ecological mosaic as well as change the previous connotations of creek.
