So why would we have to “restore” something that seems so abundant and beautiful in our area? Well, the next time that you’re out for a hike enjoying the spring wildflowers, take a closer look at what’s really growing beneath the trees. Chances are it’s a bouquet of tenacious, non-native plants commonly known as “invasives”. We’ve already heard of the Usual Suspects: multiflora rose, garlic mustard, honeysuckle – to name a few. And even some new arrivals, like swallowwort. Altogether, there are at least a dozen species of non-native plants that have become problematic in our local woodlands. Some native species are also a nuisance, such as the bamboo-like thickets of beech sprouts that arise from disease-stricken larger trees. Together, these form a condition known as “interfering vegetation”. Interfering implies that it competes with other important values and objectives for our woods, be it better wildlife habitat (and poorer tick habitat!), an aesthetically-pleasing place to hike and hunt, or harvesting the firewood that heats our homes.
The gradual buildup of this interfering vegetation beneath the forest in recent decades is primarily caused by two factors: disturbance and deer. Disturbances can be both human-caused such as timber harvesting, and natural such as storm damage or pest outbreaks like the Emerald Ash Borer. Deer, for as much as many of us enjoy seeing them on the landscape, are Public Enemy Number One to farmers, foresters and woodland owners concerned about the sustained health and productivity of their woods. An adult deer will selectively browse several thousand tree seedlings a day as part of its diet. And just like humans, there are things they really like to eat from the buffet line, like baby oaks and maples – and things that they don’t: the invasive shrubs and some natives like beech. Consequently, these less-palatable plants gradually overtop the periodically-nibbled offspring of the mature trees in our woods. The result is an aging woods with a bleak future.
Solutions have been elusive to date due to the high-cost of protecting young trees, whether they are planted by us or by natural design. In 2017, CCE foresters began experimenting with a new strategy known as “Slash Walls”. Slash is the debris left over from harvested trees and the low-quality trees and shrubs that are weeded out during an improvement thinning. Slash Walls utilize this debris to form a continual windrow around the perimeter of the regenerating area to keep deer out long enough for the seedlings to grow in to saplings and eventually beyond the reach of hungry deer. This typically will happen in less than ten years. In the meantime, the abundant young trees of desirable species will largely outcompete and suppress the invasives, while at the same time forming a high-quality wildlife habitat known as “Early Successional Habitat” or ESH. The Nature Conservancy, Audubon, and the NYS DEC are just a few of the groups working today to create more of this valuable habitat on the landscape. Slash walls have given them an important new tool, while at the same time given us hope of growing back the next generation of woods that will be as good or better than the current one. For more information on Slash Walls, visit the brand-new “Slash Wall Resource Center” at: www.slashwall.info. Once there, you’ll also find a short new video highlighting the benefits of Slash Walls or you can watch the video here:
Post Brought to you by
Brett Chedzoy
Senior Resource Educator in Agriculture and Natural Resources
bjc226@cornell.edu
