Oak Island Trail - September 2023
Fall is officially here, so I decided to spend the rainy day hiking the Oak Island Trail on Sauvie Island. This is mostly an Oregon White Oak appreciation post, but I included a few other notable plants I saw like Broadleaf Wapato, Sneezeweed, and Western Goldenrod. This was my first time exploring this area on Sauvie Island because it’s been closed everytime I tried to visit (for nesting/migrating birds). Luckily, today I had the chance to go in and appreciate some intact oak savannah habitat. It’s pretty rare to see this today since only 1% of oak savannah in the Willamette valley remains. If only I could go back in time to see what this landscape was like pre-colonization. Some of the Oregon White Oaks I saw out here were massive too - below you’ll see a picture of me next to one for scale.
At this point of the year, most of the wildflowers were tapering off, but that also means it’s seed collecting time! This is your friendly reminder to get out there and start collecting some seeds (sustainably).
Quercus garryana
Quercus garryana
Quercus garryana
Me for scale
Lichen medley
Helenium autumnale
Sagittaria latifolia
Sagittaria latifolia
Sagittaria latifolia
Symphyotrichum subspicatum
Euthamia occidentalis
Euthamia occidentalis
Mahonia aquifolium
