Minto-Brown Park Wapato Treks

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The camas season seems done, very early this year, the flowers now turned to seeds already. I have seeds from the pods in my yard already collected and waiting a visit to some  deserving field to caste them about. I will likely freeze them for a few weeks beforehand.

So its good to begin the pivot to wapato (m’amptu- Kalapuyan) (Sagittaria- Latin). The plants in all areas are coming up well this year (2024 Labish trek) (2024 Wallace Trek). Plenty of water and good soils and sunlight have made them healthy this summer. I went to Minto-Brown Island Park last week and got some images of the native patch there. This looks to be a patch of “thinleaf” variety. It is unclear if this is a subgroup of wapato, or a transplant of a different strain, or a native variety which is “thinleaf” due to the soil conditions, or genetics of this particular patch. We may find out in later years. Regardless the “thinleaf” plants are in a slough off the Willamette, near the boat launch at Minto-Brown.

 

Thinleaf Wapato

 

Thinleaf wapato

The native patch is very sparse, not densely packed at all. This could be the nature of the water  with more saturation here than other patches. It could also be the variety of wapato as well, the patch is dealing with a significant threat in the invasive marsh plants in this slough.

More thinleaf wapato.

Transplanted wapato, at end of “Salem” slough.

This patch was planted last year by members of the Grand Ronde tribe, Salem City Parks and I. We planted about 200 plants along the shoreline here. By all indications the plants are doing very well, perfect environment with just the right mixture of marsh soils and water. A month ago we could not get close to this area due to the water levels which overflowed the path 30 yards away. There is also no watercraft using this area, its too marshy, so the area is untouched except by a few fishermen and some trash and pollution from the city.

Wider view of the “Salem” Slough

 

Wapato growing in the marsh and up on the banks as well.

 

Closeup, look at how wide this leaf is compared the first three images of the Thinleaf variety.

 

More detail of the wide leaves of this wapato

The transplanted wapato was propagated by tubers. I think seed would work too, but we have to allow for a 2-3 year wait for seed to propagate. I suspect the seed from these plants will not propagate for 3 years, so expect sometime in 2027 for there to develop significant density of this patch, in five years we should have a good annual cycle of seeding and propagation. I am guessing within 6-8 years the whole of this slough will be full of wapato, barring some natural or man-made calamity.

It would be great for folks to control their activities in this area, help keep it clean and limit their impact on the area if possible. Right now this is a sensitive ecosystem and we need to allow time for the plant to become permanent. I expect there to be successive effects in the attraction of wildlife and waterfowl and other native plants here as well.

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