As previously mentioned, any small, isolated
invasions that can be treated by pulling or cutting, without needing
wetlands permits or herbicides, are good targets for interested land
stewards or other volunteers. Examples can be seen by looking for
invasions marked with a ‘hyphen’ (indicating a small
invasion) in the invasions chart. I can provide details on treatment
techniques. A summary of what works well (and what doesn’t
work so well) is here:
http://www.snyder-grant.org/Jim/Plants/invasives/treatments.html
.
The high priority Garlic mustard action has
already been described. The Friends of the Acton Arboretum will be
able to prioritize the remaining invasions, and I plan to meet with
them to go over what I’ve found. In particular, the future of
the Norway Maple action is up for discussion. (The original action
plan is described here:
(
http://www.snyder-grant.org/Jim/Plants/invasives/ArboretumNorwayMaples.html
)
I now believe this invasion is too extensive to be treated successfully with the level of effort we had been planning to apply. But certain areas of the Arboretum, such as the wildflower garden, might benefit from selective removal of the larger Norway Maples to allow more sun in. But that’s more of an issue for Arboretum planners, rather than an actual invasives control operation.
The occasional woody invasives at Bulette could be pulled by stewards or other volunteers as time and enthusiasm permit. The only intractable invasions I see in there are a large multiflora rose invasion and a bittersweet invasion, right near the entrance. These can be cut back from time to time to keep from spreading.
Most of the invasions at Camp Acton are near the entry trail. This same area is also rife with poison ivy, so invasive pullers need to use caution. There are two large garlic mustard invasion here that I would like to get started on soon.
At the Acton Assabet Canoe Launch, current efforts with the Knotweed are limited to keeping it down manually to allow the continued survival of other species until a more effective strategy can be implemented. My hope is that we will learn enough from the Wetherbee experience to make a good recommendation for the Canoe launch.
[2006 update: Gigi and I also identified invasive trees, and removed some of them. There is more work to do in this area.]
The woods of Grassy Pond are in good shape. The issue here is meadow maintenance, especially along the road. Burning bush, barberry, bittersweet & buckthorn all have a strong foothold, and should be attacked as time and enthusiasm permit. Also, there have been unconfirmed sightings of purple loosestrife at the edges of the pond.
The big question is what to do about the massive burning bush invasion on the South slope. Pulling the trees (with or without herbicide treatment) will leave a big scar in the landscape, which will look ugly, and will probably be quickly refilled with other invasives that like disturbed soil, unless we undertake an expensive replanting operation with a mix of native trees and bushes.
There is also a large slowly-spreading multiflora rose invasion near the Piper road entrance. I do not think we have the tools or techniques to deal successfully with multiflora rose growing in the woods yet. (In meadows, we just keep mowing it down).
This may be a staging point for a future biological control initiative against the purple loosestrife invasion (see above). In addition, since I’m the steward of that parcel, I’ve been removing invasive plants from time to time, and experimenting with manual control methods. My neighbors and I are also keeping a couple of large bittersweet invasions contained and off trees.
I’ve recently noticed that there appears to be a very large Reed Canary-grass infestation on the meadow near Half Moon Hill. I have no idea what to do about this – even the recommended control methods are described as rather ineffective.
A work day with a weed wrench might make a big difference in the buckthorn invasion that is crowding out the trails in some places, for example on the trail to Prescott Road.
Field mowing is keeping the bulk of invasives under control here, mostly Rosa Multiflora and Buckthorn. There is some bittersweet that will start strangling trees soon, especially in the blue trails that head south from the main red access trail. And some of the buckthorn is growing in the woods, where it will be a lot of work to remove.
Morrison Farm
[2006 update: Additional inventory and planning need to be done here. Gigi Hopkins has done a lot of work here, mostly on loosestrife and buckthorn, in the meadows nearer to Concord road.]
Nagog Hill
As previously mentioned, Nagog Hill has one of the worst bittersweet invasions I’ve ever seen. We will need a long-term crew to keep trimming it off the trees. There’s a bittersweet invasion next to the vernal pool near Nagog Hill Road that also deserves some action to protect the trees.
During 2006 there is going to be a lot of attention paid to the western side of the yellow trail at Nashoba Brook, with an updated boardwalk system as an eagle scout project, the Acton Stone Chamber project, some water-level control, and a bit of trail rerouting. There are many small invasions of various species in that area, but all this activity will keep stewards quite busy, so I recommend delaying any but the most easy or pressing invasives removal.
Nashoba Brook has a large bittersweet invasion near the Wheeler lane entrance, most of it a bit north of the trail down to the bridge. This needs a longer-term team identified for keeping the bittersweet from strangling more big trees. If this strategy succeeds, there is a smaller but still extensive bittersweet invasion at the southern end, along the right branch of the yellow trail as it leaves the Davis Road parking lot.
There is also a set of invasives associated with the meadow near the Davis Road parking lot. The mowing was extended last year – this should continue with the help of a bit more clearing, because the mowing serves to keep many of the invasions down
[2006 update: Dori SMith of Half Moon Hill alerted me to a large Garlic Mustard invasion all around the Wheeler Land entrance. Various crews of 1 or 2 people spent about 6 person-days removing 2nd-year growth. Much remains.]
There has been ongoing buckthorn & native tree removal near the blueberry barrens. I recommend getting formal permission for more glyphosate painting of stumps after cutting – the non-painted ones are coppicing back quite quickly. The Japanese barberry invasion is quite thick near the Broadview Rd entrance, but other barberry invasions I’ve seen seem to spreading slowly, so I think we have time for this one later. There would be educational value in removing the honeysuckle along the Parker street entrance trail, but again, I think all of this can wait until volunteer enthusiasm catches up.
Spring Hill is delightfully clear of identified invasives. I recommend we just keep monitoring here for new invasions.
Steward enthusiasm for invasives removal is high here (Thanks, Nan!) The big biodiversity issue is the extensive Lonicera invasion clogging the meadow/woods edge.
Spot removal of many species is well under way (Thanks Gigi!) The next step is researching, permitting, and executing a plan for removing knotweed (See Knotweed section above)
[2006: Gigi has prepared a detailed invasives map for Wetherbee, which I will shortly scan in and link to]
Lots of Garlic mustard to pull here, especially on the southern part of the yellow loop, and some along the Capt. Handley entrance trail. There’s also the only infestation I’ve seen of Giant Knotweed (or maybe it’s the hybrid Japanese/Giant known as Fallopia x bohemica. I’d like to make sure we correctly ID this stand before we attempt to remove it. It may be small enough to remove by hand – one day of intense digging one year, a few days of followup pulling the next couple of years. If that doesn’t get it, we may be ready for a glyphosate treatment in some subsequent year.
[2006 update: Nan and Jim spent an afternoon removing 2nd year Garlic Mustard here]
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