Featured Project Archive

Bee Pollinators - April 2017

On the west campus, the Department of Enterprise Services is continuing to partner with the Olympia Beekeepers Association in 2017. In late April, the Olympia Beekeepers Association installed two new honeybee hives on the front lawn of the Governor's Mansion on the Capitol Campus. The association also provided hives at the mansion in 2016.

View information regarding the 2017 honey bee hives at the mansion.

View information regarding the 2016 honey bee hives at the mansion.

On east campus, DES grounds staff have installed three mason bee houses on the plaza. The bees will hatch from cocoons in April and will immediately begin to pollinate nearby spring blooming plants such as pears, hawthorns, crabapples and red-flowering currant. Mason bees are native to Washington. They do not produce honey but are very efficient in transferring pollen from plant-to-plant.

Ecolawn - Summer 2016

The Department of Enterprise Services conducted an 'ecolawn' pilot project on parts of the Capitol Campus grounds beginning in April 2016. The pilot project was conducted at several campus locations. At some sites, the existing grass was allowed to grow out. At other areas, the Enterprise Services campus grounds staff removed existing vegetation then replanted the area with an ecolawn seed mix consisting of fescue grasses, white clover and a variety of annual and perennial flower species. Signage with information about the project was be placed at the test plots. Read more information on the pilot project.

Puget SoundCorps Urban Forest Restoration – February, 2016

The Department of Enterprise Services received a grant to have a Puget SoundCorps crew on campus during the month of February to perform more urban forest restoration work. The crew started their work on February 2 and will conclude on February 25.

Week 1 and 2 Update:

Heritage Park:

The team began cutting English ivy at the base of mature maple and alder trees on the east slope of Heritage Park. The goal is to kill the ivy which will reduce the weight on the trees, making the trees less likely to blow over in wind storms.
They began clearing ivy on the ground in an area of the forest that will serve as a slope restoration demonstration garden. Once the ivy is removed, compost will be added to the soil and a mix of site appropriate native plants will be planted later in the month in order to re-stabilize the soil.

Centennial Park:

The team began removing invasive plants such as English ivy and Himalayan blackberry from under the Dan Evans redwood tree in the center of the park.
They pruned out other invasive plants growing on the north slope of the park in preparation for the planting of site appropriate native plants that will serve to stabilize the soil on this slope and provide seasonal interest to pedestrians on the Union Ave. sidewalk.

Governor’s Mansion Native Plant Demonstration Garden:

No work scheduled for this project this week. Work will begin next week on removing invasive plants in preparation for planting new native plants.

Week 3 and 4 Update:

Heritage Park:

The team continued cutting English ivy at the base of mature maple and alder trees on the east slope of Heritage Park. The goal is to kill the ivy which will reduce the weight on the trees, making the trees less likely to blow over in wind storms.
They finished clearing ivy on the ground in an area of the forest that will serve as a slope restoration demonstration site. Compost was added to the soil and a variety of slope stabilizing native plants including sword fern, Osoberry, red-flowering currant and vine maple were planted.

Centennial Park:

The team finished removing invasive plants such as English ivy and Himalayan blackberry from under the Dan Evans redwood tree in the center of the park.
Site appropriate native plants were planted on the north slope of the park to stabilize the soil and provide seasonal interest to pedestrians on the Union Ave. sidewalk.

Governor’s Mansion Native Plant Demonstration Garden:

The team removed English ivy growing at the base of native plants in the demonstration garden.
With guidance from Micki McNaughton, a Department of Natural Resources urban forester, the crew undertook restoration pruning on native shrubs that had outgrown their space. This effort also improved lines of site for the Washington State Patrol.
A variety of native plants, including Osoberry, red-flowering currant, bleeding heart, goat’s beard, inside-out-flower and foamflower were planted in open pockets throughout the demonstration garden.

The Puget SoundCorps crew is part of the Washington Conservation Corps program administered by state Department of Ecology. The Washington Conservation Corps is affiliated with the federal AmeriCorps program.

The purpose of this urban forestry restoration project is to protect water quality in Puget Sound by improving the health of trees and forested sites on the campus.

Healthy trees help reduce soil erosion – especially on steep slopes – and filter surface water runoff that often contains contaminants before the pollution enters Capitol Lake and Puget Sound, according to the Department of Natural Resources, which manages the Urban Forestry Restoration Project. Trees also provide habitat for native plant species and their pollinators.

English ivy, Himalayan blackberry and other non-native, invasive plants harm trees by competing for water and nutrients, sometimes killing the trees. Many of the undesirable plants grow in dense thickets that harbor rats and other pests, creating a public safety hazard.

’Green’ Campus landscape practices emerge from the grounds up - July 2015

An experiment is underway on the grounds of the Capitol Campus led by the people who take care of the campus grounds.

Some of the first results – in shades of reds and yellows – are now on display at the corner 11th Avenue and Washington Street, near the Natural Resources Building.

DES groundskeeper Thomas Lambert places paper around a newly planted Echinacea. The paper is used as an organic method for controlling weeds.

For the past few years, DES groundskeepers have been shifting to more environmentally-friendly care and maintenance practices. These changes are designed to lower operating costs while maintaining and enhancing the beauty of the Capitol grounds.

'I appreciate that there is a culture here at DES that encourages employees to come forward with their ideas for improvement,' says Mary Harrison, lead groundskeeper for the east Capitol Campus.

State law requires the use of integrated pest management practices on the campus grounds and other public landscapes around the state. According to the state Department of Agriculture, integrated pest management is a coordinated decision-making and action process that deploys the most appropriate pest control methods and strategies in an environmentally and economically sound manner.

While the approach calls for the limited use of pesticides – in most cases a last resort – Harrison and other DES groundskeepers wanted to do more.

Oregon Tilth training

For that reason, Harrison and fellow DES groundskeepers Ash Cox, Thomas Lambert, Dan Kirschner and James Skinner sought training from Oregon Tilth, a nonprofit organization that certifies, educates and advocates for organic agriculture and landscape practices.

Nearly a thousand plants, including hundreds of Asiatic lilies, were added to a landscape bed near the Natural Resources Building in 2014. The landscape bed will be maintained without the use of chemical pesticides.

The Oregon Tilth provided training led to the development of a new set of campus landscape managing goals, including:

Eliminating the use of pesticides in targeted areas of the east campus and reducing overall use across the campus.
Improving soil quality for better plant health.
Experimenting with different types of organic weed control methods.
Integrating more native plants into campus landscapes to reduce water use.

DES groundskeepers also have updated their strategy map with the aim of reducing campus-wide pesticide use by 15 percent in the next year. Several east campus areas are now being maintained pesticide free.

New green, sustainable approaches

The groundskeepers have also experimented with using vinegar and mineral-based herbicides to control weeds. And they have been using cardboard, paper and burlap to prevent weeds from sprouting.

Some pesticide use on campus is unavoidable. For example, the ornamental cherry trees on the west campus must be sprayed for cherry bark tortrix, an invasive insect, because there is no effective alternatives and the trees may die if they are not treated.

Groundskeepers are also reusing wood chips left behind after campus trees are removed or trimmed. Instead of having the debris hauled away, groundskeepers are spreading the wood chips on landscape beds to prevent weeds and save labor costs.

The groundskeepers have also begun to use arborist wood chips instead of beauty bark because it is better for trees and shrubs, according to the Washington State University Extension Center. Arborist wood chips are made up of bark, wood and leaves that release nutrients slowly to the system and absorb large amounts of water that is slowly released to the soil.

The DES groundskeepers are also reusing leaves saved from the previous fall, tilling it into campus landscape beds to activate the soil microorganisms and improve the soil’s water and nutrient holding capacity, so less irrigation is needed.

Green practices aim to lower operating costs

Protecting the environment isn’t the only reason for implementing sustainable landscape practices. Another goal is to stretch limited staff resources and lower operating costs over time. State budget cuts in 2009 resulted in a 25 percent reduction in the number of DES grounds staff leaving only 13 FTEs – one per 20 acres – to manage the 486-acre campus.

Groundskeepers hope the new sustainable landscape practices result in labor savings, so they can focus on other work besides weeding landscape beds.

Early experiment at Natural Resources Building

In 2014, DES removed some red maple trees along Washington Street behind the Capitol Court Building and near the Natural Resources Building on the east side of the campus.

While the trees produced spectacular fall foliage, their roots were causing adjacent sidewalks to heave and buckle, creating a tripping hazard. Removing the trees and repairing the sidewalks left bare spots in the landscape.

Rather than replace the trees and bark the bare spots, Enterprise Services groundskeepers decided to put a new model in place for designing and installing landscape beds using organic and sustainable landscape principles.

Harrison, Cox and Lambert added leaves saved from the previous fall campus cleanup and organic compost to the bed, tilling it into the soil to improve water and nutrient holding capacity.

They then planted nearly a thousand plants, including many native shrubs, such as snowberry, red-flowering currant and Oregon grape. They also planted hundreds of Asiatic lilies, daylilies, coneflower and columbine for their vibrant flower colors.

After the planting, they laid down cardboard to suppress weeds and reduce water evaporation. Finally, they applied a three-inch layer of coarse wood chips to further suppress weed growth and conserve soil moisture, to reduce the amount of supplemental irrigation needed.

In addition to adding beauty to the site, the overall goal of the project is to implement a new model for designing and installing landscape beds on the campus: One that reduces costs to maintain the is landscape area.

'I want the campus to be a healthy and beautiful place that visitors and state workers can enjoy,' says Harrison. 'All of the grounds staff is part this effort: It has been a team effort.'

Heritage Black Walnut Tree at Labor and Industry Building - April 2015

Winter view of the Black Walnut tree.

Summer view of the Black Walnut tree.

DES gardeners Scott Hobbs (left) and Steve Pond (right)

There was room for only the bare essentials in the covered wagons used by pioneers coming to the Pacific Northwest by way of the Oregon Trail. Fruit and nut bearing trees were among those bare essentials. A magnificent example of one of those trees — a century-old nut tree planted by one of Tumwater’s early settlers — can be found along the main entrance road to the Labor and Industry Building in Tumwater.

The aged black walnut tree, Juglans nigra, survived the construction of the Labor and Industry Building (LNI) in the early 1990s. But the development of the building included the planting of a triple row of tightly spaced Douglas fir trees along both sides of the main entrance road. While the firs added a feeling of formality to the building’s approach, they quickly began to crowd out the heritage black walnut.

Thanks to the vision of Steve Jones, Department of Enterprise Services (DES) building manager, and the hard work of Steve Pond and Scott Hobbs, DES grounds staff, 18 of the firs were recently removed from around the walnut, giving the tree more light and the potential for normal growth and development.

A professional arborist was also hired to remove dead wood and thin the crown of the walnut to restore a more visual balance. The wood from the Douglas firs was chipped and used on site around the black walnut as a natural, organic mulch, to help conserve water and moderate soil temperatures for the tree’s root system.

Because the City of Tumwater requires that one new tree be planted for every tree removed, the grounds staff has also worked hard to plant a nice collection of Western red cedar, vine maple, Japanese snowbell and Persian parrotia trees at the northern boundary of the LNI site along Israel Road, as replacements for the Douglas firs.

Stop by the LNI Building at 7273 Linderson Way SW, in Tumwater to view the stately black walnut tree and try to imagine how the landscape looked in the 1800s when it was planted.

Puget SoundCorps Urban Forest Restoration - February 2015

Week 4

English Laurel, an invasive plant.

Another pile of Ivy ready for the dumpster.

More wood chips cover the mansion lot.

Invasive plants are removed on north edge of Centennial Park.

Week 3

Remainder of alder trees have been limbed.

This team is genuinely excited and happy about the work they are doing.

Week 2
Puget SoundCorps crew for week 2 pauses for a photo.

Alder trees have been limbed.

Wood chips will be spread over cleared areas to suppress future ivy growth.

Native osoberry plants in bloom can now be seen by visitors thanks to Alder pruning.

Week 1
Puget SoundCorps crew displays their removal efforts.

Organic sheet mulching to suppress weeds.

This method helps prevent weeds without introducing hazardous chemicals in to water runoff.

Throughout February, a five-person crew will remove ivy and other invasive plants from the hillsides above Heritage Park and in Centennial Park.

Week 4 Update

Heritage Park:

Other invasive plants in the woodland such as English laurel have been killed.
Parks grounds staff has begun loading ivy and homeless camp debris into dumpster.

Mansion Lot North:

DES grounds staff brought more wood chips from cove and SoundCorps crew finished covering area with chips.

Centennial Park:

SoundCorps team removed invasive plants on north edge of park, creating nice views into the park and of the Dan Evans coastal redwood.
Debris was taken to cove by parks grounds staff.
SoundCorps crew is hoping to return for a day in late March to install the native planting on the north side of the park, which will help to further stabilize this slope, reduce water runoff and suppress the return of invasive plant species.

The Puget SoundCorps crew worked very hard and exceeded the original expectations for this project. The DES grounds staff work collaboratively with the SoundCorps team to help accomplish the project goals.

Week 3 Update

Heritage Park:

Short fence and a buffer strip on either side of the fence has been completely cleared of ivy. The buffer strip has been covered with wood chips from branches removed from alder trees.
Tall fence has also been completely cleared of ivy which opens up visibility into the woods.
A dumpster for the ivy will be delivered. Parks grounds staff will load ivy and homeless camp debris into the dumpster using the DES excavator.
Ivy has been cut and removed from lower sections of the alder trees. This will kill the ivy that is currently growing up tree, and should reduce the occurrence of trees falling over.
All piles of alder trunks and branches have been chipped with a parks grounds staff person supervising.
DES Communications arranged for a presentation on how the team’s work is positively impacting Capitol Lake and Puget Sound water quality.

Mansion Lot North:

Piles of invasive plants/weeds were removed by grounds staff.
More wood chips were deposited and SoundCorps crew will spread them next week.

Centennial Park:

SoundCorps team will remove invasive plants.
Debris will be taken to the cove by parks grounds staff.

Week 2 Update

Heritage Park:

Continued clearing of ivy on north side of project area.
Continued limbing up of alder trees.
Piles of alder trunks and branches have been chipped. The wood chips will be spread to help suppress future ivy growth.
The SoundCorps Crew was visited by members of the Washington Community Forestry Council which advises the Commissioner of Public Lands on urban forestry issues and provides support for the DNR Urban and Community Forestry Program.

Mansion Lot North:

Invasive plants/weeds have been dug up and placed into piles. DES grounds staff is planning on using the excavator to load the debris into the tractor bucket for disposal. Parking stalls will be blocked off to accommodate access to the area with tractor. Coordination will occur between the parking office and the Temple of Justice.
Additional wood chips have been spread to suppress future weed growth.

Both areas are owned by the state and maintained by the Department of Enterprise Services. The project is part of a multi-year effort by Enterprise Services to monitor and manage the stability of the west Capitol Campus hillsides above Heritage Park.

The Puget SoundCorps crew pulling the ivy is part of the Washington Conservation Corps program administered by state Department of Ecology. The Washington Conservation Corps is affiliated with the federal AmeriCorps program.

The purpose of this urban forestry restoration project is to protect water quality in Puget Sound by improving the health of trees and forested sites on the campus.

The SoundCorps crew will start Feb. 2 at the north side of the Governor’s Mansion parking lot on west Capitol Campus, removing invasive species that have encroached in a restoration area that the SoundCorps previous cleared in 2013.

Later in the month, the crew will remove English ivy and small tree saplings near the bottom of the Heritage Park switchback trail. They will then remove invasive species in Centennial Park, located on the south side of Union Avenue between Washington and Franklin streets, replanting the area with native plants.

For more information about the Urban Forestry Restoration Project, visit the Project online or contact Micki McNaughton, Urban Forestry Special Project Coordinator, at 360-902-1637 or micki.mcnaughton@dnr.wa.gov.

Sid Snyder Underground Utilities project - August thru December 2014

Urban and Community Forestry Month - October 2014

Friday, October 3, was a glorious sunny day for the Department of Enterprise Services, Department of Natural Resources and the City of Olympia is kick-off October as Urban and Community Forestry month in Washington State. Three overgrown and hazardous black locust trees were recently removed from 11th Street and Franklin Avenue in Olympia. Some of the old wood from the black locust trees will be repurposed by a Department of Natural Resources sponsored program at Cedar Creek Correctional Center. A prototype bench was on hand Friday to show what could be done at Cedar Creek’s newly functional mill and wood processing program. The DES grounds staff replanted with three Starlight dogwoods that were donated by Puget Sound Energy. These dogwood trees, which mature at 25’, are much better suited to this site under power lines. They will also provide much seasonal beauty – large white flowers in the spring, strawberry-like fruits in the fall and brilliant red and purple fall foliage colors. October is a great time to plant trees in western Washington. Consider what new tree you might want to add to your home or business landscape.

Every week brings new landscape and plant features to enjoy and appreciate. The capitol campus even includes a community garden managed by the Kiwanis Club of Olympia where food is raised and donated to the Thurston County Food Bank.