qʷiqʷəlut (little marsh) work party

1845 Port of Tacoma Road,Tacoma WA 98421

13 May, 2023

Description

We need your help! Spring is a beautiful time at qʷiqʷəlut (“little marsh”), but it's also a time when we're trying to help native plants outcompete invasive weeds. Come join us, get your hands dirty, and see the tideflats like you've never seen them before! All abilities are welcomed and snacks will be provided! For FIVE years now, 350 Tacoma (with the support of City of Tacoma Environmental Services) have been working to restore a long-neglected but resilient tidal marsh located deep in the industrial Port of Tacoma, nestled between an oil terminal and a container shipping yard. As part of the Tacoma Open Space Program, we host regular work parties at the site to remove invasive weeds, restore native habitat, and pick up litter. Tidal and salt marshes, seagrasses and mangroves, are powerhouses when it comes to carbon sequestration — two to four times more than terrestrial forests — and are therefore considered a key component of nature-based solutions to climate change. Our goal is to love this little two acre open space back to health by restoring and preserving native habitat for wildlife. The salt marsh was initially named for a French chemical company — Rhone Poulenc — that once operated on this site, but in consultation with the Puyallup Tribal Language Program we worked to restore a native Twulshootseed place name: qʷiqʷəlut (“little marsh").