tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-201378124228558245.post1652845104712299003..comments2024-03-28T17:07:55.110-07:00Comments on Strategies for Stewards: from woods to prairies : July 9, 2017: Restoration Tour of Somme Prairie GroveStephen Packardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01811489977185760340noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-201378124228558245.post-69679181192852159802017-07-27T05:07:36.467-07:002017-07-27T05:07:36.467-07:00Frank, thanks for your generous words.
We do hope...Frank, thanks for your generous words. <br />We do hope that this work will be important to the future. <br />People like you can help make it so.<br /><br />As for the Japanese hedge parsley, we appreciate your pulling - <br />but we haven't pulled it in years. To consider our thinking about it, check out: http://vestalgrove.blogspot.com/2013/08/accepting-defeat-as-strategy-toward.html <br />The full title is: "Accepting Defeat as a Strategy Toward Victory." Sounds lofty, no?Stephen Packardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01811489977185760340noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-201378124228558245.post-23205709786882782072017-07-26T20:13:47.039-07:002017-07-26T20:13:47.039-07:00I was able to visit Somme Prairie Grove for the fi...I was able to visit Somme Prairie Grove for the first time in five or more years this past weekend. It was very informative reading this with the site fresh in my mind.<br /><br />Thank you, and all of the hard working volunteers here, so much for all of what you have done and accomplished at Somme over the past 40 years. I was filled with an overwhelming joy and excitement as I hiked through the site, just so much good going on here. Somehow we need to spread this magic your stewardship team has developed. I think the work you all have done here is going to be important to the future of humanity. There are almost no other examples of healthy savannas, and particularly oak woodlands for people to see and enjoy.<br /><br />PS: I pulled a little bit of Japanese hedge parsley, but you have some to get in both Somme Woods and Prairie Grove... a particularly big patch around point 3 on your map!FrankOnABikehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02267797775403219384noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-201378124228558245.post-90847594623574467442017-07-12T16:10:44.002-07:002017-07-12T16:10:44.002-07:00I does seem paradoxical, but if more consideration...I does seem paradoxical, but if more consideration is given it also makes sense. The rank weeds that grow in areas where brush has been cleared are taking advantage of the sudden release of nutrients. As the total nutrients present are depleted by this release, native species that are well adapted to low nutrient availability will thrive. The result of restoration on sites with a low total amount of nutrient is diverse, but will still be missing species that require a richer soil and are typically restricted to remnants. I think this could be equated with the question “Why don’t we simply remove the top few inches of soil to eliminate weeds before starting a restoration?” Removing all the above ground vegetation with the result of both releasing and removing nutrients may affect the long term ability of the ecosystem to recover. The only way we could know is if someone does a side by side comparison. James McGeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12813312887957290703noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-201378124228558245.post-50588712616605885442017-07-12T11:33:59.448-07:002017-07-12T11:33:59.448-07:00Thanks for the virtual tour. Every time I drive th...Thanks for the virtual tour. Every time I drive through Chicago I think of the Somme Prairie Grove. Some day I hope to visit. Also really enjoyed the book "Miracle Under the Oaks." Thanks to all the dedicated site stewards down there! DavidDavid Cordrayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06890014621715331651noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-201378124228558245.post-85009749372763857202017-07-12T07:59:45.510-07:002017-07-12T07:59:45.510-07:00Interesting comments, James. It will be good to kn...Interesting comments, James. It will be good to know what you learn from your experiments.<br />Cutting patches of invasive shrubs from an overgrown pasture may have different impacts from clearcutting a natural forest. <br />A major plant of the Somme pastures was poverty oaks - a species that often indicates previously depleted soils.<br />Seemingly contradictorily, the weeds and invasives that grow in the former brush areas at Somme are often rank and vigorous for many years. They seem to have a lot of nutrients at their disposal. Yet conservative prairie species are often said to have do well in impoverished soils (as they do over time in the non-brushy poverty oaks area). Stephen Packardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01811489977185760340noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-201378124228558245.post-44253234377090274232017-07-12T04:58:50.106-07:002017-07-12T04:58:50.106-07:00A very enjoyable read! Thanks Steve. I have not ...A very enjoyable read! Thanks Steve. I have not been to Somme in a while, but if I go alone I will have this guide with me! BTW - was not aware of a bacterium inoculant that is beneficial to NJ tea, perhaps we can try this at Deer Grove.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03500809880873256610noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-201378124228558245.post-71846069177470923762017-07-11T20:41:19.886-07:002017-07-11T20:41:19.886-07:00At point 5 where you cut the former brush and seed...At point 5 where you cut the former brush and seeded into bare ground, I must wonder if progress toward quality has been slower because of a lack of nutrients. At the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest researchers clear cut an entire watershed and applied herbicide to vegetation for three years to prevent regrowth. The researchers then measured the nutrient output from the watershed where water exited at a concrete weir constructed on water impermeable bedrock.<br /><br />“Net losses of minerals from the deforested watershed were huge. The concentration of Ca2+ in the creek increased fourfold, for example, and the concentration of K+ increased by a factor of 15. Most remarkable was the loss of nitrate, which increased in concentration in the creek sixtyfold.”<br /><br />“This study demonstrated that the amount of nutrients leaving an intact forest ecosystem is controlled by the plants themselves, when plants are not present to retain them, nutrients are lost from the system. These effects are almost immediate, occurring within a few months of deforestation, and continuing as long as plants are absent.”<br /><br />“Biology, Fourth Edition”, Campbell, pp. 1158-1159<br /><br />As you know, I have been trying to control buckthorn using girdling and frilling while leaving the dead stems to decompose. I am trying this technique in both a degraded savanna and degraded prairie. It would be interesting to compare the restoration trajectories of leaving the dead stems to rot versus removing or burning them.James McGeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12813312887957290703noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-201378124228558245.post-7102382788108223912017-07-11T17:24:14.371-07:002017-07-11T17:24:14.371-07:00Thanks for the enjoyable post. Would love to see ...Thanks for the enjoyable post. Would love to see this prairie-savanna complex someday. Patrickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16904738094480377113noreply@blogger.com