Cornerstone Volunteer Planting Day

This fall, you are invited to join the Institute for Applied Ecology and the Polk County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) to help plant endangered Willamette daisy and Delphinium oreganum at Cornerstone, a Polk County SWCD property. All are welcome! Join us to help plant native plants in prairie habitat, while contributing to the recovery of the land. We will be planting 3,000 daisy plugs and around 1,500 Delphinium corms.

Polk SWCD acquired Cornerstone in 2016. As part of a long-term vision, these 87 acres will continue to hold onto, and expand, the grassland and oak savanna with portions of Oak woodland with a transition to mixed woodland and conifer forest in the southern portion of the property. To achieve these long-term goals, the existing woodlot will be harvested and replanted as grassland and oak habitat types, developed and managed to match and complement the existing oak areas. Significant efforts will be required to establish a native grass understory in this area to prevent the expansion of invasive vegetation populations. Additional areas restored to native prairie will improve Cornerstone’s ability to house additional sensitive bird species, increase native forb species populations and forage quality for oak associated birds, mammals, and invertebrates, as well as wet meadow and riparian species who frequent or reside in nearby areas.