Forests sequester and store carbon, filter water, help retain topsoil and sustain biodiversity. Much of North Shore Preserve is forested with common conifers such as Douglas fir, Western red cedar, grand fir, and Western hemlock. Common hardwoods on site include bigleaf maple, red alder, and Douglas maple. The forest understory supports shrubs such as salal, snowberry, baldhip rose, oceanspray, and low Oregon-grape.

Portions of the Preserve were cleared decades ago for pasture or other uses. Rather than continuing to mow large areas of grass, the Land Bank chose to eliminate carbon emissions associated with mowing, save staff time and support wildlife by restoring these areas to forest.

Following approval of the Land Bank’s Interim Stewardship and Management Plan, staff, contractors and volunteers planted over 13,000 trees and shrubs across roughly three acres in early 2024. In early 2025, we installed an additional 4,800 plants in remaining gaps. To prevent herbivory by deer, we enclosed part of this acreage in temporary fencing repurposed from another preserve. Other areas outside of the fence were planted with deer-tolerant shrubs such as snowberry, tall Oregon grape, Nootka rose and gooseberry.

We will maintain the plants over the next several years and remove the fencing in about ten years. Thanks to the inclusion of multiple flowering and fruit-bearing species, these forest and shrub areas will provide important resources for pollinators, birds and bats.

For more information regarding this project, please contact Preserve Steward, Peter Guillozet at 360-289-0052 or at peterg@sjclandbank.org.