'Reading' The Landscape
30/12/08 09:58
Continue previous work of breaking down woody debris
[dead wood, branches] in floodplain area, below dam.
Use loppers to cut down invasive species, such as Amur
honeysuckle, multiflora rose, autumn olive, but also
native vine tangles. Anticipated short term benefit is
better air movement and drying of fuel for a planned
burn later this winter.
I took photos of large grape vines and the oxbow pond. The former had been cleared of leaf litter to prevent fire damage. They will need additional clearing away of fuel, along with selected young trees before the above mentioned burn.
Musings: All management work is predicated on knowing as much as possible about the past history of the land. A great guide to me has been a small book that I read a long time ago by Mary Thielgaard Watts, Reading the Landscape. (I really need to dig it out again as a refresher.) So, let’s attempt to read our landscape here.
The dominant tree species are mostly early successional. Their sizes suggest that they became established after dam construction and straightening of the Shoal Creek channel in the early 1960’s. An aside: This event is the subject of a chapter in an apparently little known book by Les Lines, An Audubon Primer – What We Save Now. The more recent cohort of trees include several climax oak and hickory species that we are attempting to favor with our management activities. This has been done by eliminating competing trees that we consider of lower long term value and by other measures.
The ground in many areas is very uneven, lots of small surface irregularities. This may well be due to clearing work and equipment staging in this area at time of lake construction and also explain the generally weedy nature in many spots and the severe invasion by non-native species. Did pockets of native species survive? They must have indeed, as the overall richness of woodland species is downright impressive and improving greatly with our stewardship. One new species, just discovered two years ago is puttyroot orchid.
One area forms a linear pond after heavy rains that we have called the ‘oxbow’. It is separated from the current Shoal Creek channel by a wide sand field. Is it natural or man made? Will we ever know? As an another aside, an elderly local hiker I met many years ago mentioned that he recalled that much of the area was part of a 40 acre wheat field, back in the 1930’s. None of the areas were ever suitable for tillage. After a lot of erosion, evident to this day, some fields were sown to tall fescue and the “greatest erosion control”, sericea lespedeza. Of course, like Kudzu, it wasn’t and is a major pest today.
Evaluation of our activities is ongoing. We have supplemented existing species and introduced many appropriate additions. Some of these that have done especially well and now provide wonderful additional spring color are the spring annuals blue-eyed Mary, Miami mist and Corydalis. Also doing well is American beak grass. It provides much needed woodland burn fuel. But - that may in time affect the woodland annuals negatively. The saga continues.
I took photos of large grape vines and the oxbow pond. The former had been cleared of leaf litter to prevent fire damage. They will need additional clearing away of fuel, along with selected young trees before the above mentioned burn.
Musings: All management work is predicated on knowing as much as possible about the past history of the land. A great guide to me has been a small book that I read a long time ago by Mary Thielgaard Watts, Reading the Landscape. (I really need to dig it out again as a refresher.) So, let’s attempt to read our landscape here.
The dominant tree species are mostly early successional. Their sizes suggest that they became established after dam construction and straightening of the Shoal Creek channel in the early 1960’s. An aside: This event is the subject of a chapter in an apparently little known book by Les Lines, An Audubon Primer – What We Save Now. The more recent cohort of trees include several climax oak and hickory species that we are attempting to favor with our management activities. This has been done by eliminating competing trees that we consider of lower long term value and by other measures.
The ground in many areas is very uneven, lots of small surface irregularities. This may well be due to clearing work and equipment staging in this area at time of lake construction and also explain the generally weedy nature in many spots and the severe invasion by non-native species. Did pockets of native species survive? They must have indeed, as the overall richness of woodland species is downright impressive and improving greatly with our stewardship. One new species, just discovered two years ago is puttyroot orchid.
One area forms a linear pond after heavy rains that we have called the ‘oxbow’. It is separated from the current Shoal Creek channel by a wide sand field. Is it natural or man made? Will we ever know? As an another aside, an elderly local hiker I met many years ago mentioned that he recalled that much of the area was part of a 40 acre wheat field, back in the 1930’s. None of the areas were ever suitable for tillage. After a lot of erosion, evident to this day, some fields were sown to tall fescue and the “greatest erosion control”, sericea lespedeza. Of course, like Kudzu, it wasn’t and is a major pest today.
Evaluation of our activities is ongoing. We have supplemented existing species and introduced many appropriate additions. Some of these that have done especially well and now provide wonderful additional spring color are the spring annuals blue-eyed Mary, Miami mist and Corydalis. Also doing well is American beak grass. It provides much needed woodland burn fuel. But - that may in time affect the woodland annuals negatively. The saga continues.