Our crew worked an interesting project at Fort Worden State Park in Port Townsend. The critically imperiled sand-verbena moth (Copablepharon fuscum) uses the yellow sand verbena (Abronia latifolia) for 100% of it’s life cycle. These rare, clumping plants grow on Washington’s dwindling sand dunes.

A large area of supportive habitat near the Fort Worden Lighthouse is impacted by non-native grasses and sedums, including European beachgrass (Ammophila arenaria) and a garden variety of sedum (Sedum acre). There are also clumping grasses facilitating the growth of mosses and liverworts that don’t normally grow on sand dunes and are reducing the natural habitat of yellow-sand verbena.

Our crew is removing the invasive grasses, mosses and sedum which will then be planted with new yellow sand-verbena later this year.

In total, the Peninsula Environmental crew removed 4.9 tons of invasive material in 6 days.