Tips, tricks, and a quick peek into the everyday life of the conservation district.
As a Restoration Ecologist, Paul Cereghino recognizes the enormity of the challenge we’re facing in our region.
“If you think about every river and stream, every wetland, all the forested buffers, it's over 1,000,000 acres of land across the lowland Salish Sea. A lot of this landbase is degraded and needs restoration,” Paul explains.
Bountiful Buffers (sometimes referred to as working buffers or harvestable riparian buffers) combine multiple agroforestry practices to create a riparian buffer that achieves ecological benefits while also producing food, medicine, or materials.
Read MoreSilvopasture is the practice of deliberately integrating trees and grazing livestock on the same land. This typically involves either taking a stand of trees (such as a forest or an orchard) and integrating livestock, or establishing trees on land where livestock are already grazing.
Read MoreWhen Mark Batcheler was growing up in the Midwest, he swore he’d never have a career in farming.
“Everyone I knew had cows or worked on a farm,” Mark said. “As an adolescent, I thought, I’m never going to do that.”
Read MoreFood forests are designed to mimic a forest ecosystem and are mainly made up of edible and medicinal perennial species, with some annual crops mixed in.
Read MoreIf you visit Niky Schultz’s food forest, you might get the sense she’s planting her own little Garden of Eden, an edible landscape where bees nap in her “Pollinator Paradise” and salamanders swim like little dragons in her pond. It’s hard to believe that she’s spent most of her adult life living in apartments with only enough space for a container garden.
Read MoreAgroforestry can provide major benefits for farms—it also presents unique challenges. Unlike traditional monocultures, agroforestry requires farmers to understand the needs of multiple plants and how they interact with each other. It takes planning, adaptation, and patience to create a successful system. It also isn’t static. Many agroforestry practices incorporate trees that affect shade conditions as they grow. That means crops may need to shift over the years.
So why bother with all the trouble?
Read MoreNick Pate, owner of Raising Cane Ranch in Snohomish, has incorporated several agroforestry practices on his farm. His food forest also serves as a harvestable, multi-functional, or working buffer. The trees and shrubs in the food forest essentially act as a second layer to his native forest riparian buffer, which borders the Snohomish River.
Read MoreTucked towards the back of Raising Cane Ranch, beyond their farm stand and Highland cows, you’ll find a food forest filled with chestnut, walnut, and hazelnut trees, black currants, evergreen huckleberries, and aronia berries.
“It’s one of the most peaceful places on the property,” says farm owner, Nick Pate. “I just love working out there.”
Read MoreToday, we often think of forests as places to harvest trees, pass through, or leave untouched for wildlife. But growing and harvesting crops within a forest in a sustainable way doesn't just add the possibility of new income streams.
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Snohomish Conservation District | 528 91st Ave NE, Lake Stevens, WA 98258 | 425-335-5634
