The Issue: Biodiversity
Cedar and Maple trees are growing out of control. They are preventing sunlight from penetrating the canopy of our woodland forest and are therefore impeding the successful growth of an understory and impairing the ability of our dominant oak, ash, and hickory trees. The understory of a forest provides food and shelter for many species. The lack of an understory is decreasing the biodiversity of the wildlife inhabiting the woodland forest.
Our Long Term Plans/Goals:
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Provide conditions for a healthy understory to develop.
- Sunlight Penetration, Adequate Soil Nutrients, Physical Space to Grow
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Encourage the continued growth of dominant existing trees.
- Oak, Ash, Hickory, and Shaggy Bark Hickory
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Encourage an increase in wildlife habitation and in the biodiversity of the woodland forest.
- After the forest is restored to a stratified woodland, we hope some of the following organisms will return to our land:
- Mammals: Red Bats, Indiana Bats, Long Eared Bats, Gray Foxes, & White-Tailed Deer
- Birds: Cooper's Hawks, Sharp-Shined Hawks, Tanagers, Painted Buntings, Red Headed Woodpeckers, Chestnut Sided Warblers, & Bobwhite Quail
- Reptiles and Amphibians: Osage Copperheads, Timber Rattlesnakes, Milk Snakes, Central Newts, Rough Green Snakes, Three-Toed Boxed Turtles, & Prairie King Snakes
- Insects: Monarchs, Giant Swallow Tails, & Several of The Rarest Ant Species
Implementation:
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We isolated and marked a 1 square acre(48,400 ft.) plot of an overgrown woodland in Warrenton, Missouri.
(N 38°40.107', W 091°13.26')
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We the surveyed the area and identified trees.
- We determined the diameter breast height of dominant trees that fit within our basal count (trees bigger than a thumb's width held 25 inches away from the eye).
- Counted the number of each species of tree in the area.
- Took a core sample from a cedar tree and an ash tree(Cedar at the top, ash on the bottom).
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Using a soil survey of Warren County, Missouri, we determined the soil type to be: Winfield (WNF).
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This soil is great for a woodland wildlife habitat and the following types of vegetation:
- Hardwood Woody Plants
- Coniferous Woody Plants
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We cut down cedars and maple trees that were approximately 1-10 cm in trunk diameter.
- We cut down some cedars at eye level just to bring in more light and free up space.
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We Marked larger(those with a trunk diameter greater than 10 cm) cedar and maple trees for removal by chainsaw.
Implementation(Future Work):
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Remove marked cedar and maple trees with a chainsaw.*
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Send a controlled fire through the marked area to clear out existing underbrush and any remains of the cut down cedar and maple trees.**
- This will enable the continued growth of dominant trees in the area as well as allowing for sunlight penetration and will replenish the soil with nutrients. As herbaceous perennials and annuals send roots down they inject carbon into the soil increasing its nutrient holding capacity, water infiltration to greater depth where it has a better chance of aquifer penetration, and providing a dark surface in the winter and spring which stimulates microbial action in the soil improving nutrient cycling and mycorhyzal diversity, all of which lead to a positive feedback loop strengthening all strata of the woodland.
The Results:
After cutting down as many cedar and maple trees as we could, there was already a very noticable difference in the amount of sunlight that was entering the forest. There was also a notable difference in the amount of space between the dominant trees in the forest.
Before:
After:
Getting The Word Out:
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We created this site to spread the word about how anyone can improve the health of a forest or their own backyard.
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We have an article in the October 2008 Panorama (Ladue High School's Newspaper) and a link to this site on our high school website's index page.
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Check out our "For You" page to to learn about the Honeysuckle problem in your area.
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Check out the "Facts" page for facts and statistics about invasive species and Honeysuckle.
*Cedar and maple trees grow quickly and crow out other native species. Once tall enough, they will establish a canopy above existing trees and block all sunlight from coming through to the understory(which will eventually die if nothing is done to remedy the problem). Also, in areas with a high risk for forest fires, cedar trees in particular burn quickly and burn much hotter than many other trees. The increase in heat and fire temperature caused by the burning of cedar trees can often overwhelm the mostly fireproof Oak trees(which can withstand the temperature of a most natural forest fires).
**This must be done after a frost in order to provide maximum control of the fire. Actually it is to provide minimum collateral wildlife loss of life. By waiting till after the first HARD frost you allow the most vulnerable species, the amphibians and reptiles to go dormant and you allow seeds on standing plants to mature so they may recolonize.