Thoughts on The Rambunctious Garden

Last winter I read a book written by a young biologist named Emma Marris called "The Rambunctious Garden."  It was not about gardening in gardens, but rather a new way to look at the management on natural areas.  The first part of the book very methodically whacked away at some of the basic underpinnings of conservation work that I have held dear.  I squirmed my way through this occasionally thinking defensive thoughts. The second part talked about solutions and a new way of looking at things.

The concept that Emma most effectively whacked was that of the "baseline."  I grew up reading about the glories of the wild continent that the pioneers found.  Of immense forests of giant trees, long prairies full of bison and elk, and clear streams full of fish.  In Ohio all that was pretty much lost my the mid 1800's, and most of the nooks and crannies were "lost" by the mid 1900's.  Ever since starting with the Park District in 1985 I have labored to protect land and restore it to some fraction of its former splendor.  The land itself is a collage of land and soils highly disturbed by agricultural or other human activity, land and soils somewhat disturbed, and land and soils lightly or very lightly disturbed.  We have always tried to manage for a diversity of habitats following principles of conservation biology: bigger is better, connected is better, fire is a good tool.  In retrospect we have succeeded best by managing for structure.  That means designating where forests, grasslands, thickets, and wetlands will be protected or established.  That's a challenge right there.  The further one tries to dictate the composition of these communities the tougher it is.  If the 1800 baseline is the goal, then success is only achieved when the species that were present then have returned and the non-native interlopers have been eradicated.  I know plenty of people who will be miserable in a forest or meadow crackling with life because it does not meet this goal.  Emma points out that the goal was folly in the first place:
-  Nature was not standing still then, it had always been changing.  We just weren't there to see it.
-  People have shaken the earth up like a snow globe moving species all over the planet.  These newcomers are often more suited to do well in a heavily disturbed environment than the locals.
- "Pristine" areas that have minimal disturbance are still heavily impacted by the disturbed lands around them.
-  Climate change is further modifying the world making the baseline even more irrelevant.

All this does not mean one gives up, or that our actions are not important.  It means we should float downstream instead of fighting up through impossible rapids.  In southwest Ohio most of our protected land is what is what is now being called a "novel ecosystem."  They are mutts of native and non-native species.  There is no putting Humpty-Dumpty together again the was he was.  The new Humpty can be pretty cool though.  The bobolink sings in a field of eurasian grasses and weeds.  The Coopers Hawk nabs European house sparrows at the feeder.  The woodpeckers love Emerald Ash Borer larva.  All of them seem to be more adaptable than many biologists and land managers (like me.)  Perhaps some new principles to live by:

1. Identify those areas that continue to maintain pre-settlement biodiversity.  Prioritize action against invasive species there.  However, they will only maintain themselves as-is if the processes that maintain them remain.

2. Accept new components to habitats on heavily disturbed sites.  This might sound like surrender, it is really just being realistic.  Manage them for structure and don't worry so much about their exact composition.

3. Teach children and upcoming biologists that these new novel habitats are important and beautiful.  After all, it is most of the world that we now live in.

4. Promote native species, but don't go for an impossible baseline.

Reforestation Results to Date

It's been a while since the last post.  Here is a summary of the reforestation program that started in the fall of 2011.

The realization that Emerald Ash Borer is going to have a profound effect on the forests and natural areas of Five Rivers MetroParks drove home the fact that our forests had major regeneration issues prior to the bug's arrival.  Fragmentation of the landscape, invasive species and an overpopulation of deer have been shifting what species spread and thrive.  The winners have been the invasive shrubs, trees that spread easily on the wind or by birds, and species that deer don't like to eat.  Until the last few years the biggest winner has been white and green ash.  These successful colonizers are the dominant canopy tree invading abandoned fields and subsequently growing into young woods.  We are now in the process of losing nearly all of these trees.  The losers have been mast (nut) species that by their nature only spread a short distance and are very desired by wildlife as food as seeds or seedlings.

Efforts to date have focused on gathering seed and propagating seedlings of these mast species and planting them into fields and into woods heavily impacted by EAB.  The results have been mixed.  We have tried planting seedlings of various age classes, bare root seedlings, small container seedlings, large container seedlings, planting by volunteers, planting with tree planters, and direct sowing of seeds.  Going strictly by impressions from many field inspections, here is how things seem to be going:

It seems that the best success and least maintenance comes from the planting of large containers in the spring or fall, and machine planting in the spring.  Therefore, it seems prudent to shift to these primary methods.  Direct seeding may have merit but it is too soon to tell.

Lessons Learned

• Good site prep is key.  2 sprayings may be necessary to eliminate competition and seed bank of  competition
• Tree shelters can be very effective defense against deer, but if installed poorly can kill the tree within.
• Don't plant oaks into less than full sun.  They must have light.
• Volunteers must use proper planting technique.
• Tree shelter stakes must be driven 18" into the ground to stay lodged.
• Tree shelters should be inspected 2x per year to clear weeds and straighten if necessary.
• Bare root tree roots should not have more than momentary contact with the air or sun.
• Dipping bare roots into micorhizzal dip helps growth rate.
• Select tree planting locations before volunteers arrive.  
• The bigger the tree planted the more likely it will survive and grow.  Getting above the tall vegetation quickly is key.
• Plan ahead to ensure the tree species matches the planting site.

Native Shrubs Important but Overlooked

On Saturday, 12-1-12 four volunteers and two staff (including Volunteer Coordinator Yvonne Dunphe)  planted about 200 native shrubs and small trees at Germantown MetroPark.  These shrubs were grown from seed by the Marianist Evironmental Education Center in Beavercreek.  They were planted to create an edge habitat composed of native shrubs and trees.  Each plant was protected from deer and rabbits by a plastic shelter.

Volunteers Mike Stanton, Mike Shade, Patrick Kennedy, and Marga Huban proudly pose after planting 200 native shrubs at Germantown MetroPark on December 1.  Great job everyone!!

Southwest Ohio has many species of sun-loving shrubs and small trees that lived in openings in the forests and along the edges of prairies and wetlands prior to human settlement.    Many are very important to wildlife.  Wild hazelnuts and plums have edible nuts and berries and make thickets for nesting birds.  Hoptree is a major food plant for the giant swallowtail butterfly, and many others like blackhaw viburnum and American crabapple are important parts of "edge" habitats. Many species of birds like yellow breasted chat, blue-winged warbler, and willow flycatcher need edge habitats. Unfortunately most of these plant and bird species have become quite uncommon in southwest Ohio.  The loss of fencerows and edges to clean farming over the years, the massive colonization of open areas by invasive shubs (bush honeysuckle, autumn olive, common buckthorn etc), and invasion of openings by trees are the likely reasons for their decline.

Wild Plum (Prunus americana)

American Crab (Malus coronaria)

Hoptree or Wafer Ash (Ptelia trifoliata)

American Hazelnut (Corylus americana)

Managing for edges is difficult, mainly because they are actually land in transition.  Without some kind of disturbance they are inevitable invaded by canopy trees and become young forests (often poor quality ones).
Edges and thickets are often too thick to mow with conventional equipment such as a bushog, and too labor intensive to do it by hand.  As a result, they are often lost to succession.

A few years ago Five Rivers MetroParks solved this problem with the purchase of a Fecon.  This tough, tracked tree/shrub whacker can turn the biggest honeysuckle or buckthorn into mulch.  After some follow-up spraying the old thickets of invasive shrubs are ready to be restored with native shrub species.

Habitat management plans in Five Rivers MetroParks natural areas are designed to maintain a variety of habitats and plant and animal species.  At the core of most natural areas is some mature forest.  Plans call for the forest to be protected and managed to achieve mature status, and to get larger on adjacent land.  Managed/restored thickets (controlled succession) zones border the forests, and open grasslands border the controlled succession, usually on the park boundary.

90's Direct Seeding Effort Revisited

In 1990 Doug Smith, a MetroParks staff member at Carriage Hill Farm noticed there was something wrong with succession in the nearby Carriage Hill MetroPark.  Doug was the Restoration Specialist at the Farm, in charge of restoring the farmstead there to its condition in the 1880's.  Doug knew (and knows) a lot about woodworking, and was really good at making just about anything from historic bridges to period furniture.  He also knew quite a bit about trees, and noticed that the natural succession taking place on the nearby abandoned farmland was not growing trees that would ever be useful to a woodworker.  Oak, hickory, walnut, and tuliptree, his favorites were few and far between, with virtually no small ones around.  Doug proposed planting these hardwoods into a designated timber management area to produce lumber for future generations.

In 1991 we designated about 20 acres for this task and the farm staff had the ground plowed and disked up.  For trees we went to see my dad, Gervais Nolin, in Fairborn.  I knew Dad had LOTS of acorns in the fall and to him disposing of them was a big nuisance.  We went to his place and hauled off many bags stuffed with acorns of white and bur oak and took them back to Carriage Hill.  The acorns were mixed with some black walnuts and hand broadcast over the field.

The first few years we could see some little oaks sprouting, but mostly very tall goldenrod and other herbaceous species.  Then we started noticing that rabbits were chewing the little oaks in the winter, sawing them off like little beavers.  At the same time white-tailed deer were having a population boom, and they loved eating the oaks that got by the mice.  Should any oak have the temerity to withstand this browsing they inevitably were used by bucks to rub the velvet of their antlers.  As a result the trees were cut, eaten, or de-barked every year.  This was pretty discouraging so we admitted defeat and pretty much gave up on the project.  A few years later the staff at the farm decided they needed some more ground for crop production and plowed up much of it for that purpose.

Conservation Technician Rob Ligas standing in thick stand of white and bur oak planted  by seeding in 1991.

Fast forward to 2010.  Conservation Biologist Mike Enright was laying out zones for the new controlled bowhunting program at Carriage Hill.  One day he came into the office and asked if anyone knew where all theyoung oaks out there came from.  What?!  How many?  Oh at least a couple hundred.  We went out there soon after that and I was delighted find it just as he said, several hundred bur and white oaks ranging in size from 2 -20 feet high.  Some had obviously been chewed, eaten, rubbed many times only to sprout again.  Many had multiple stems, and the whole area had become overgrown with shrubs, particularly Amur honeysuckle and autumn olive.  Mike and his staff went to work clearing out the invasive shrubs and found that many more stunted survivors were out there.

Since then the trees have been pruned to allow one lead stem, additional tree species have been planted (and protected by tree shelters), and the failure has turned into a least a partial success.  It could have been a much greater success if we had not given up and allowed it to be plowed for crops.  Oh well, live and learn.  In this case, don't give up!

Direct Seeding Efforts Completed

Seed collected from the successful "Go Nuts" campaign http://www.metroparks.org/Reforestation/GoNuts.aspx
was planted at Carriage Hill MetroPark on November 9.  A twenty acre field at Carriage Hill MetroPark was plowed and disked by a local farmer.  MetroParks Conservation Staff Steve Sherman, Alyssa Balter, and Matt Parker distributed the precious harvest. Sherman drove the ATV in lines across the field while Parker and Baltar flung the seeds from the back.  The farmer then disked the seed into the soil.

Matt Parker and Alyssa Balter fling the harvest while Steve Sherman drives.

The seed was worked into the ground by disking

Planting area at Carriage Hill MetroPark

Mixed mast harvest from "Go Nuts" campaign

The seeding rate was about 4 gallons of mixed seed per acre.  The buckets of mixed seed contained white oak, bur oak, swamp white oak, chinquapin oak, pignut hickory, shagbark hickory, mockernut hickory, shellbark hickory, flowering dogwood, Ohio buckeye, and blackhaw viburnum.

This was the first try at large scale direct seeding for MetroParks since the 1990's.  That planting was at first deemed a failure.  In fact it turned out to be rather successful, which just goes to show that land restorers should not write off a project too soon because the results are not visible right away!  The next post will be about that interesting effort.

Successful Seed Collection!

Five Rivers MetroParks had a very successful seed collection season.  The agency initiated the "Go Nuts" campaign to inform and galvanize the public to collect oak and hickory seeds to be used for reforestation.

Volunteers came in all ages!

Freshly collected seed

It was a great mast year for white oaks and hickories, and enthusiastic supporters did not let us down.  Volunteers were encouraged to collect the seeds from natural areas, do the "float test" to determine if the seed was viable, and turn them in to one of two facilities for processing.  .  At Cox Arboretum Hort Tech Meredith Cobb and her team of dedicated "Tree Corps" volunteers put in many hours work to sort, test, bag, and label the seeds.  Altogether about 200 gallons of viable seed was collected.  Most seed collected was oak and hickory since these important canopy trees are not spreading well.  Species collected in bulk were white oak, bur oak, chinquapin oak, swamp white oak, shagbark hickory, pignut hickory, and bitternut hickory.  Lesser quantities of mockernut hickory, shellbark hickory, red oak, and shumard oak were also collected.  Many other species were collected in smaller quantities, particularly native shrubs and understory species such as spicebush and  flowering dogwood.

About 1/3 of the seed collected is being kept at Cox Arboretum to be used in late winter to propagate about 14,000 seedlings for the popular and successful Forest Foster Tree program.  This program gets the seedlings started, then distributed to volunteers who care for them at home over the summer.  They are then planted at MetroParks restoration areas the following spring.

Mixed seed ready for planting

The remainder of the seeds are being used for an additional reforestation technique, direct seeding.  Two small 5- acre fields (Germantown and Carriage Hill MetroParks) and one large 20 acre field (Carriage Hill MetroPark) were prepared for planting. Seeds from the fall collection were mixed together to match the soils of each site.  On October 26 and 27 volunteers planted the two smaller sites with specially made acorn dibble sticks made from pvc pipe.

Nut planting with pvc dibbles at Germantown MetroPark

The larger site is going to be planted with a tractor mounted salt spreader in the next couple of weeks.  I'll post about how that goes.

Time to Plant Some Oaks!

Chuck Chambers measures a big white oak at Englewood MetroPark

Oaks as a group are a very important part of our mature forests.  MetroParks cover map data reveal that oaks as a group make up 25% of the canopy of our mature forests, the largest component.  They are long-lived, slow growing, commercially valuable, produce big crops of food for wildlife, and most are drought and fire resistant.  Oaks are shade intolerant.  This means that they have to have sunlight and cannot grow in the shade of other trees.  Acorns and young oaks are designed to colonize open areas where they can get the sunlight they need.  Around here we have eight species: northern red (Quercus rubra), chinquapin (Q. muhlenbergii), bur (Q. macrocarpa),  Shumard (Q.shumardii), white (Q. alba), swamp white (Q. bicolor), shingle (Q. imbricaria), and black (Q. nigra).

Strangely though, its pretty difficult to find a young oak out there.  The big ones in the woods still produce big crops of fall acorns, but almost none of these seeds become a tree.  This phenomenon and problem is not unique to southwest Ohio, it is happening all over the eastern and midwestern United States.  It seems we are destined to lose some our most valuable and important forest trees.  This chart shows the components of young forests in MetroParks, note the lack of oak.

What is happening to oaks?  The three main things that are preventing oak reproduction around here are:

Dull Woods Conservation Area:
 A very nice fragment.

1. Fragmentation-  Acorns are spread mostly by squirrels and blue jays.   Squirrels carry acorns a short distance and bury them individually for snacking later.  Fortunately for oaks the squirrel's memory must not be that great and some acorns are forgotten.  If they were buried in an open area they have a chance to grow into a mature tree.  Because of this, oaks seeds don't disperse very far from the parent tree.   Unfortunately for oaks, our local forests have been reduced to small patches and isolated woodlots.  Therefore, only a fraction of the landscape, the part that is near an existing mature oak, is open to oak colonization.


2. Too Many Deer-  White-tailed deer love to eat acorns, and they especially like oak seedlings.  Any oak that does manage to take root in a good spot is likely going to be eaten by a deer.  Oaks and deer have always had to co-exist, but with densities these days of over 50 animals per square mile, oaks don't have a chance.

3. Lack of Fire-  Oaks have evolved such that trees and their seedlings are resistant to fire.  Prior to about 1930 fire was a common occurrence in many of the forests of the United States.  In the eastern United States the Native Americans, pioneers, and early settlers commonly used fire to create and maintain open landscapes and forests.  Fires around here were not the big crown fires that we see on television out west.  They were low ground fires that burned up the leaves and sticks.  They also burned up the seedlings of most trees.  But oaks had an edge, they could withstand this, and their reproduction was good.  Nearly all of the large oaks that we still see today likely had their start after one of these fires.  Smokey the Bear was very effective though, and fire is no longer part of woodland management around here.  As a result, seeds of other trees such as black cherry, locust, and sugar maple are the ones that get a start.

How can we help oaks?  In more forested parts of Ohio the most common method is clearcut logging.  Openings are created in existing forests containing oak by removing all the trees in a small area.  Acorns and existing young oaks are then free to grow in the sun and make a new oak forest.  This works especially well in hilly, wooded southeastern Ohio.

Young Oaks Thriving Thanks to Tree Shelters

 Around here we don't have much forest land, and clear cutting what we do have would not be a good idea.  What we can do is plant oaks into old fields and other open areas where it would be good to have them.  If a young oak can get above the competition and browsing deer it will do fine.  In fact, given the drier weather we have been having it makes even more sense to plant oaks.  I'd recommend figuring 4 dollars per oak seedling though.  Good bare root seedlings can be purchased for about a dollar a tree, but you'll also need a tree shelter and stake to protect it for the first several years.

If you want to volunteer to help grow and plant oaks on the MetroParks go to
www.metroparks.org/forests
 and sign up!