Washington Native Plant Society: Central Washington Chapter

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Central Washington Chapter

The area is probably best known for its spring floral display in the shrub-steppe, and rightly so, since it is often spectacular. But with an elevation range of 12,000 feet, from the sandy shores of the Columbia River to the perpetual snow of Mt. Adams, with coniferous forests in between, a large variety of plant communities may be found. In addition to the dry side plants, many wet side species spill over the Cascade crest into the moist valleys at high elevations. Nearly 1500 vascular plant species have been found in Kittitas and Yakima Counties, making it a great area to look for flowers.

Central Washington Chapter is one of the charter chapters of the Washington Native Plant Society, and originally served most of the center of the state. Because of the long distances involved in attending chapter activities, other chapters were formed to the north and south; now the area covered by the chapter is essentially just Yakima and Kittitas counties.

Chapter meetings are held in the evening on the second Monday of each month, January through April and September through November. The meeting site is either the Yakima Arboretum in Yakima or the Science Building at Central Washington University in Ellensburg, the choice often being made to minimize the travel distance for the speaker. From April 1 through August, the chapter schedules field trips, with the aim of having a field trip at least every three weeks on average. The majority of the trips are in Yakima or Kittitas County, but over time there have been field trips to most of the adjacent counties. Newsletters are mailed out for January, March, May, July, September and November.