Buckthorn Work Plan Draft

 

Buckthorn Removal and Native Under- and Over-story restoration:

 

Areas of the Bethel College and Seminary Campus and nearby Ramsey County open space and Lake Johanna Regional Park are the sites where Buckthorn will be actively removed. Many of these spaces are natural ecosystems or a mixture of ecosystem and public use. The invasion of buckthorn over the last XXX years (attach Jeff's age structure) has almost exclusively replaced the native forest understory. For this reason we are proposing a multi-stage removal and restoration process to minimize the impact on the native fauna that depend on the forest understory communities.

 

Stage one: Removal of large and/or reproductive buckthorn with simultaneous replanting of native under and overstory species (see species list).

            Stage one will begin in April 2002 and be completed by December 2002. The Bethel College Deepartment of Biology and Environmental Studies and Bethel College Grounds Department will be responsible for coordinating stage one. Faculty with expertise in forestry and ecology will mark the trees to be cut, several classes (Environment and Humanity, Environmental Writing, Ecology, Human Ecology), other student volunteers, and during the summer, students supported by Federal and State Work Study funds will then remove trees that can be removed with hand tools (bow saws) and help haul cut materials to a chipper that can be brought close to the current work site via the campus nature/ski trail. Larger trees will be cut with a chain saw by Bethel College staff or faculty or Arden Hills City employees. All cut stems will be chemically treated with Garlon, and plots will be designed to test the effectiveness of these chemicals against plots that are not treated. We envision breaking the natural ecosystem areas A – F into subplots. Some will have the large buckthorn removed. Some will have the large removed and treated. Some plots will be "clear-cut" of all buckthorn, regardless of size. A subset of each of these plots will then be replanted, while others are left to natural regeneration. Each plot will continue to be maintained by appropriate future buckthorn intervention for that specific plot.

 

Stage two: Longer-term removal of "buckthorn understory" as the native understory recovers.

            After large buckthorn and buckthorn thickets have been removed or thinned, replantings will develop to replace the invasive buckthorn understory and and to supplement the overstory regeneration that has been suppressed by the buckthorn. As regeneration occurs, over the next five - ten years, all remaining buckthorn, regardless of size, will be removed. Any flowering or fruiting tree would be removed immediately through spring, summer, and fall surveys of the areas by faculty/student teams. Continued restoration plantings will be done as appropriate for the on-campus treatment plots. Stage two will be the entire responsibility of Bethel Faculty, Staff, and Students. Seedlings for replanting will be purchased from the DNR reforestry program as has been done for the last 10 years on our campus. We are also seeking funds to aid in the purchase of native shrubs and trees of older ages to provide age and species structure diversity typical of natural forest understory communities.

 

Stage One and Two would also be extended to Lake Johanna Regional Park and Ramsey County open space natural areas, although restoration costs would need to be provided by Ramsey County if replanting was needed in these areas.

 

Campus and Community Education Effort

 

1. We are proposing the development of a web site to synthesize buckthorn information and links and to act as a documentary on the project. The web site would be created, hosted, and maintained by faculty (Dr. Bob Kistler) at Bethel College. The site will be initiated prior to the beginning of the project, with the publication of maps and plans for the project.

 

2. We hope to be able to develop an educational component to inform the Arden Hills Community about both the on campus project and the need to remove buckthorn from surrounding public and private lands. Community resident Phil Fabel has agreed to play a role in this community education. Students in campus service learning projects could also aid in this ongoing education component.

 

Restoration Plans – Planting Lists:

 

Overstory Species:

Deciduous upland forest plots (A, B, E) ·       Green ash ·       White oak ·       Red oak ·       Pin oak ·       Red Maple Sugar Maple

Deciduous Lowland Forest (C, F and Lake Perimeter) Eastern Cottonwood Box Elder Salix nigra (willow) Red Maple Tamarack

Mixed Aspen Forest (D) Aspen White birch Red Maple

 

Understory Species (as appropriate for the habitat)

·       Red Osier Dogwood

·       American Hazelnut

·       Box Elder

·       Juneberry

·       Bluebeach

·       Staghorn Sumac

·       Moose ear