{"id":62,"date":"2021-01-26T17:58:26","date_gmt":"2021-01-26T17:58:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/sciencestories\/?page_id=62"},"modified":"2021-04-19T23:04:11","modified_gmt":"2021-04-19T23:04:11","slug":"flora","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/sciencestories\/flora\/","title":{"rendered":"Flora"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Pacific Northwest is known for its beautiful forests, streams, and wetlands in which native plants, lichen, and fungi thrive.  As the region\u2019s population has grown, native plant habitat, a necessity for native fish and wildlife, and a vital cultural resource has declined and become fragmented, threatening many species.  Three Science Stories projects focus on the hopeful message of habitat restoration.  On a large scale, The Making of a Meadow<\/em> project focuses our attention on the transformation of the Union Bay Natural Area from a lake to a city dump to a restored coastal wetland and urban park.  The Pacific Northwest Native Plant Website and Magic Books <\/em>project entices readers to restore native plant habitats on a micro-level in urban backyards, schoolyards, and neighborhoods, by learning about native plant and animal relationships through the seasons. The Herbarium<\/em> project was inspired by a new native plant garden in the artist\u2019s yard and focuses our attention on the beautiful patterns that plants create.  Burgeon<\/em> explores the tension between beautiful, picturesque images of nature and the near-constant threat of environmental change. Finally, Enmeshed<\/em>, helps us to understand that lichen, is more than a symbiotic relationship between a fungus and an alga.  Instead, it is a micro-ecosystem of many interdependent species and can be a metaphor for human relationships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n