The Puget Trough prairie landscape mosaic is unique in western Washington. Its prairies are one of the rarest habitats in the United States, but the prairies and associated oak woodlands and conifer woodlands have undergone over 90 per cent destruction. Although preservation and restoration efforts have begun, these efforts are not keeping up with the rate of conversion and degradation of the remaining prairies. Critical to the long-term integrity of the prairie landscape and ecosystems is an expansion in the size of existing reserves and in the number and sizes of prairie patches, and in patch connections. This thesis presents a study of how the management and restoration of small, degraded urban prairie patches in Pierce county may help preservation and restoration efforts and how landscape pattems and ecological principles can inform management plans and restoration design in the prairie landscape mosaic.

A series of maps from ecoregion to site-specific scales were generated to locate historic and existing prairies around the Puget Trough. These maps revealed some useful spatial relationships among the prairie patches including the location of matrix and outliers; the present day discontinuity of prairie patches; and the diminishment of patch numbers and sizes. The maps also disclosed a significant urban area north and east of Fort Lewis, WA, in Pierce county which contained a number of small, degraded urban prairie patches.

The revealed landscape patterns were combined with restoration values and functional attributes of the prairie landscape mosaic in order to create a set of criteria which was used to evaluate and prioritize a group of 14 urban prairie patches. From this group, one site in the Parkland area ranked high in its class. It was selected as a model for preservation and restoration of a small, degraded urban prairie patch in combination with some adjacent patches.

A neighborhood-scale inventory was conducted in the Parkland area to locate prairie patches, oak woods, conifer woods, creek conditions, and other factors; from these data, a new map was generated which made visible subtle landscape pattems. Then, a long-term design/management plan was written which utilized some of the revealed landscape pattems from all scales, some of the functional attributes of the prairie ecosystem, and selected values in order to preserve and restore a group of small, degraded urban prairie patches in tbe prairie landscape mosaic.

Specific pattems, principles and values were chosen from the management plan to inform a sitespecific restoration design for a four-acre, disturbed grassland in the neighborhood-scale model. The restoration design for the Parkland Wildlife Habitat and Education Preserve illustrates how, on a specific site, prairie landscape pattems can be re-established by increasing patch size, diversitv, adjacency, shapes and connections by using a variety of passive and active restoration techniques. It also represents a model for enhancing structural complexity and ecosystem biodiversity by decreasing exotic shrub patches, increasing open prairie, and establishing oak woods and riparian woods; and for increasing wildlife habitat for prairie butterflies, birds and salmon. Because of the location and nature of the Parkland site, other qualities can also be preserved and restored: a sense of place and a parklandlike landscape ideal; a public open-space, and a view of Mount Rainier; unique prairie mound structures; and an education preserve as desired by the local community.