The Conservancy Deploys Natural Invasive Vegetation Control

Invasive vegetation presents a constant challenge to the Conservancy’s mission to sustain a diverse native habitat in its Nature Preserves.  Often mechanical and chemical treatments are the only option.  Our successful volunteer Vine Day program to control woody vines like Grape and Bittersweet is one example, and the work with our professional partners at Weeds Inc. on Phragmites control is another.  Occasionally, though, we can enlist a natural partner.

One particularly troublesome weedy invader is Polygonum perfoliatum.  Its common names - Mile-a-Minute and Asiatic tearthumb – vividly describe both its rate of growth and also what you experience when you try to pull up the shallow roots!  Mile-a-Minute (“MAM”) is a native of eastern Asia and has become established in the mid-Atlantic U.S.  It is an annual, herbaceous, vine-like herb, that can grow up to 10 feet long.  A single plant can produce thousands of characteristic blue seeds that may persist in the soil for many years. 

A plant close up showing the characteristic triangular leaves, a ripening cluster of seeds and the prickled stems.

The plant’s long stems climb or recline on other plants and smother them, and the prolific seeds can lead to rapid spread.  Which creates a particular problem for areas where we are trying to establish young native trees and shrubs, such as in the George Lorimer Preserve.  Last year we noticed a MAM eruption along the fence of the new exclosure, possibly triggered by the earth-moving bringing dormant seed to the surface.  The newly planted flowers, shrubs and trees risked being overwhelmed - something had to be done!

Fortunately we knew who to call!  Back in 2008, the Conservancy was part of research conducted by Ellen Lake, a PhD student at the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware.  The project studied the effect of a weevil, Rhinoncomimus latipes, native to Asia, on MAM populations.  This insect depends on MAM for its entire lifecycle: eggs are laid in the stem, the larvae feed in the stem, the pupae drop to the soil where they hatch into adults that then climb up to feed on the leaves, and start the cycle over.  Three to four overlapping generations can occur during a growing season.  Our involvement was to provide plots in the Valley Creek Preserve so that the impact of the weevil on growth of plants such as Goldenrod and Elm trees could be measured.

Although results from our portion of the research were not clear (but we gained Elm trees now replanted in many Preserves!), it was established from all the research that the weevils are highly host-specific, they delay seed production, reduce seed size; and cause plant mortality.  Large numbers were shown to develop at some field sites, with reduction in MAM % cover and seed production.  There is no indication that the weevil impacts any other plant.

 Not only did the Conservancy gain the elm trees, we also distributed weevils in the valley Preserves, and they have been doing a great job – albeit only according to our subjective analysis.  It is now difficult to find areas where MAM is dominant.  However, to address the risk to the Lorimer site, we decided to give the local weevil population a boost by purchasing some more from the New Jersey Department of Agriculture Phillip Alampi Beneficial Insect Rearing Laboratory in Trenton, New Jersey. 

The insects arrived in custom shipping containers in mid-June, and a cadre of Conservancy Board members set out to deploy them.

The weevils are shipped in cups modified to keep them moist and fed for a couple of days.  Here they are being released onto a Mile-a-Minute plant beginning its climb up a supporting tree.

Here inside the Lorimer deer exclosure, surrounded by the burgeoning wildflowers, shrubs and trees, with the precious weevil cargo, are OLC Board members Mike Burg, Mac Wilson, Greg Sprissler and Tim Magee

 As you walk the Preserves, take the opportunity to look for Mile-a-Minute, and signs of our tiny control agent – perhaps most visible via the holes it makes in the plant leaves.  If you have gloves, reach down to the base of the plant and see how easily it pulls out of the ground.  Any weevils will quickly find another home, and you’ll be making life easier for our Blackgums, Oaks, Maples, Dogwoods, Viburnums, Asters, and Sneezeweed, amongst many other newly planted species!

Neighbors and Members Help Save Heritage Beech Trees

In July we reached out to neighbors and members asking for help in our emergency plan to save just a few of Airdrie Forest's magnificent, heritage American beech trees from Beech Leaf Disease.  Thanks to everyone’s generosity and matching Conservancy reserves, we've now taken the first big step to save eight spectacular specimens.  Here's our progress report.

The disease is caused by an invasive nematode Litylenchus crenatae, which overwinters in infected leaf buds, causing leaves to become malformed, thickened, shriveled, and shed, typically from the lower canopy up.  In a few years, the tree is dead.  

A set of infected leaves on a tree in Airdrie Forest Preserve

However, there is a treatment that significantly reduces nematode numbers in dormant buds and prevents leaf symptoms and dieback.  The treatment is injected directly into the vascular system of trees before the nematode enters the leaf buds in late summer.

Thanks to the initiative of Preserve neighbor Rebecca Linder, the Conservancy contracted with Alex Roberts of Mountain Arborist in Phoenixville to perform the treatment.  Alex worked with Rebecca and Conservancy volunteers to identify good candidates for the treatment: trees that are large, still relatively healthy, and near trails, for ease of treatment and most readily appreciated by visitors.  Alex applied the treatment during the first week of August in a scientific process that requires the nematicide solution to be carefully measured into about a dozen gallons of de-ionized water per tree, then pumped into the root flares with just enough pressure that the tree takes up the solution in its transpiration process.  All of which required carrying power and water into the Preserve.  

Alex setting up the injection system, with his portable generator to the right and the pump system and treatment tank behind him to the left.

The treated trees are in Airdrie East: four along the trail at the southern edge, and four by the trails at the NW corner.  For now, the trees are marked with blue tape; we'll be replacing that with permanent tags, so please look out for them!

We expect that the treated trees will be significantly healthier next year, with full recovery by the next year.  Although that will then be the time to apply the treatment again, to keep the nematode at bay for another two years.  We're planning, also, that next year we'll be able to treat just a few of the most magnificent trees in the Conservancy's other upland forest, in Diamond Rock Preserve.

To those of you who have helped, thank you!  To everyone, please keep our Beech trees in your heart and mind going forward.  Truly, you would be helping to preserve our heritage.  [Click here to donate to the Beech Tree Fund]  Please clarify in the comments that this is for the Beech Tree Fund.

Search for Kindness Rocks along the Trails!

The Kindness Rock painting event in partnership with the Tredyffrin Township Arts Commission, described in our April blog post, lifted the hearts of all who attended.  Now, thanks to a team of Boy Scouts from the Devon 50 troop, you can walk the Preserve trails, find one or two of the rocks along the way, and appreciate the message and its artist.

As a reminder, Kindness Rocks are decorated with uplifting messages and fun designs.  They can brighten a day, spread joy and foster a sense of connection in the community.  The painting event was held just inside the entrance to the Lorimer Preserve.

Now, Boy Scouts Ethan Shin, Matthew Shin, and Noah Slawecki have made their contribution to this project while earning their scout Community Service badge.  They walked each one of the Conservancy’s Tredyffrin Preserves carrying a set of rocks with pre-mapped drop-off locations.  Along the way, they contributed to Preserve maintenance by clearing over-hanging brush from the trails. 

The rocks are placed alongside trails: at the base of trees, on fallen logs, amidst the vegetation, on tree stumps and on signs.  Here are two examples for you to discover - and here’s a clue - look in Airdrie Forest and Valley Creek Preserves for those two (and others)!

The scouts installed a poster on each Preserve kiosk to inform visitors about the project.  The poster reminded visitors about the painting partnership with the Arts Commission, described the rocks and their purpose, and the distribution project.  Visitors are invited to pick up the rocks to appreciate the message and its painter, but to be sure to replace the rocks for others to find.

The photo here shows Noah Slawecki, Matthew Shin and Ethan Shin at the kiosk in Diamond Rock Preserve along the Horseshoe Trail, with the poster fixed to the Upcoming Events board underneath the Preserve and Conservancy information.

Open Land Conservancy is really proud to have been a part of this project, which brought together diverse residents from throughout the community.  Please take a walk in nature and look for these surprises along the way!

Enthusiastic Team Tackled Greenbriar Thicket in Valley Hill Preserve

The Conservancy’s newest Preserve, Valley Hill, has been little visited since its acquisition four years ago.  In addition to access and terrain challenges, even the weather conspired against us: the months-long snow cover made a planned February volunteer day impossible.  However, that meant that the crew that came out in April were treated with a beautiful spring day to admire and care for the pristine woodlands.

The nearly 11 acre Preserve straddles the East Whiteland/Charlestown Township line on the quartzite ridge extending west from the Conservancy’s Diamond Rock Preserve.  It was donated to the Conservancy in 2021 by Rob Kendig.  The land and the adjacent house where Rob was raised had been in his  family for a century or more.  Aerial photos from the 1940s indicate that the parcel lay within a larger section of woods, suggesting that, with the exception of occasional logging, the property has likely been forested since at least the early part of the 20th Century.

The great consequence of that history is the low incidence of the invasive vegetation that is found in our prior farmland Preserves.  The Preserve was found by our vegetation consultant to “contain a quality selection of the woodland communities present on North Valley Hill, from dry oak-heath woodlands to an acidic spring seep wetland” – the latter in fact part of the headwaters of Valley Creek.

However, invasive species are gaining a foothold along the forest edges, and it was in particular an infestation of Greenbriar at the south-east corner that our team set out to target, under the leadership of Preserve Manager and neighbor Tim Pappas.  The control strategy was to cut the shrubs at the base and spray the stumps with a herbicide to kill the root, without any broadcast spraying that would impact desirable vegetation.  Although this was indeed a labor intensive effort, the team was focused and made excellent progress.

The team after a hardworking and fruitful morning.

We are so grateful to the volunteers and Board members that came out to give nature a helping hand.  We also recognize two key contributions that made the undertaking possible.  Thanks to Charlestown Township for allowing us to park on Township property across the street, and to Eagle Scout Jack Gosse and his team, who early last summer built the spectacular switchback trail down the steep initial slope that made it possible to reach the target area. 

We continue to seek ways to improve access and maintain the high quality vegetation so that all Conservancy members have the opportunity to “forest bathe” in this precious woodland.

Kindness Rocks Painting Event in Partnership with the Arts Commission

Celebrating community and the outdoors, the Conservancy partnered with the Tredyffrin Township Arts Commission to host a Kindness Rock painting event at the Lorimer Preserve.  The event lifted the hearts of all who attended – and hopefully, too, all those Preserve visitors that will find a rock along the trails.

Rock painting for positivity involves decorating rocks with uplifting messages, images, or designs and leaving them in public places for others to find.  This act of art and kindness can brighten someone's day, spread joy, and foster a sense of connection within a community.

 The event was held just inside the Preserve entrance from the North Valley Road parking lot on April 11th.  Arts Commission member Pattye Benson managed the supply of rocks with a base coat suitable for painting with the colored fine- and broad-point markers that the Arts Commission also provided.  The Conservancy provided tables and chairs so the artists could be comfortable as they worked!

We were blessed with a gorgeous spring day.  70+ community members of all ages gathered to paint, explore the preserve’s 88 acres, and share a little joy.  Participants turned simple stones into bright, uplifting works of art—creating one rock to take home and a second to leave along the trails to surprise and inspire fellow visitors.

Above is stalwart Conservancy volunteer Dan Maskarinec - more used to wielding Preserve hand tools than art implements! - working with his daughters Josie and Adeline, who now want to host their own painting event!

A selection of the rocks painted during the event, spread out to dry after a sealing coat to protect them from moisture.

Turnpike Expansion Impacts George Lorimer Preserve

Clearing Underway Along the Northern Boundary

Visitors walking the eastern section of the George Lorimer Preserve—particularly the area between Vanguard School and Summerhill—will notice a significant change in the landscape. Tree clearing has begun on Pennsylvania Turnpike property adjacent to the Preserve, marking the first visible step in a major project to widen the Turnpike as it passes through western Tredyffrin Township.

As you walk east from the Preserve’s northwest corner behind Vanguard School, you will see the Preserve trail to one side and cleared land on Turnpike property to the other. This area, once wooded, will be transformed into a stormwater management basin designed to capture runoff from the Turnpike’s expanded roadway.

Project Overview

The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission is undertaking a project to reconstruct and widen approximately four miles of the Turnpike, from milepost 320 to milepost 324 (the Route 29 interchange to the Valley Forge Service Plaza). The project will expand the roadway from four lanes to six—three 12-foot travel lanes in each direction—along with a wider 26-foot median and 12-foot shoulders. Additional work includes replacing bridges over local roads and installing limited sound and retaining walls.

Construction is expected to last four to five years, with an estimated total cost of $338 million.

The Turnpike Commission has shared a project map showing the full scope of work. Bridges marked in green have already been replaced, while those shown in black will be replaced as part of this project.

Why Stormwater Matters

The Turnpike runs close to many Conservancy preserves, including George Lorimer, Diamond Rock, Cedar Hollow, Cool Valley, and Valley Creek. Runoff from the roadway ultimately flows into Valley Creek, making effective stormwater management critically important.

The newly cleared area near Lorimer will become part of an interconnected system of stormwater basins. These basins are designed—importantly, for the first time—to capture runoff from the Turnpike’s impervious surfaces, which will increase significantly with the roadway widening.

Permitting and Oversight

Permitting for the project was handled entirely by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). As a result, the project was not subject to Tredyffrin Township’s permitting process, including the Township’s stormwater ordinance and woodland conservation ordinance.

We are deeply grateful to Valley Forge Trout Unlimited, which appealed the DEP-issued NPDES (National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System) permit. Their efforts led to improvements in the volume of runoff the basins must handle and increased assurances that the basins will be properly constructed and function as intended.

Because the Township’s woodland ordinance does not apply, trees removed during construction are not required to be fully replaced. However, the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission states on its website:

“The PA Turnpike is coordinating with Tredyffrin Township and various state, federal, and local agencies to minimize environmental impacts. This includes working with conservation organizations and environmental departments to address watershed concerns.”

The Open Land Conservancy will continue to engage with the Turnpike Commission wherever possible to protect our preserves and enhance their long-term ecological value.

What Visitors Will See

Plans for the stormwater basins near George Lorimer Preserve show a series of interconnected basins with an overflow outfall at the northwest corner of the site, draining toward Vanguard School property. Visitors can expect to see an earthen berm approximately 10 feet high surrounding the basins, seeded with a standard erosion-control mix dominated by red fescue and including birdsfoot trefoil, a moderately invasive legume commonly used for stabilization. A standard chain-link fence will run along the property boundary.

A copy of the basin landscaping plan is provided below. In the plan, the Turnpike is shown at the top, with the Preserve trail running from the lower left toward the center right.

Questions?

Questions about the Turnpike widening project may be directed to:

Mohammad M. Mohammad
Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission
700 South Eisenhower Boulevard
Middletown, PA 17057
mmohammad@paturnpike.com

Deer Management

The population of white-tailed deer in our nature preserves and the surrounding area is much greater than the ability of the land to support them; some estimates suggest 10 times larger than desirable. If left unchecked, our woodlands will eventually disappear, as older trees die or are sickened by disease and invasive species like the emerald ash borer. Where trees were once able to regenerate their populations, the deer herds now consume all new growth long before it can mature. Where native shrubs and wildflowers once carpeted the forest floor, only non-native species now survive, to the detriment of native songbirds and other key species that make up the chain of life on which we all depend.

In keeping with our mission to protect native habitat for all species, the Conservancy is joining our neighboring land trusts in actively managing the deer population through a highly regulated program of bow hunting.  Trained archers with Chester Valley Deer Management Association (CVDMA) will hunt in selected Conservancy preserves during archery hunting season, as regulated by the Pennsylvania Game Commission.  CVDMA has hunted on Tredyffrin Township parklands for nearly twenty years and is highly regarded by Township staff and others who use their services. Their hunters are thoroughly trained and follow strict safety protocols.

Things to know:

• Most hunting takes place in the hours right after dawn and before dusk.

• Hunters operate from tree stands that are located away from trails.

• Our preserves remain open while hunters are present. Careful consultation with similar local organizations demonstrates that these properties remain safe to visit.  Signs are posted in all preserves where CVDMA is active.

• We continue to pursue other means of protecting our woodlands. The Conservancy uses tree tubes and fences to protect new plantings, and hopes to expand such usage, but the cost of this approach limits its usefulness to a very small percentage of the land we protect.

Any questions about this may be submitted via the Contact page of this website.

Preserve Managers tend to Valley Creek planting

Machetes, False nettles, thriving shrubs, and North Valley Road history

A year ago we wrote about the progress of the 2023 planting in Valley Creek Preserve, despite that year’s dry summer.  This year we’ve been treated to more steady rainfall and high temperatures, and trees and shrubs so well planted two years ago by OLC’s phenomenal volunteers - Thank You! - are flourishing.  A diverse habitat (including volunteer Sycamore and Honey locust trees and False indigo bushes) is replacing the prior Phragmites monoculture and the dying Ash trees.  The one year Burnweed phenomenon from last year is over, but different challenges brought a similar need for intervention, and OLC’s Preserve Managers came to help.

First, here’s a look at the section of the planting north of the driveway.  You can see the new plants bursting from protective tubes and cages, behind the foreground growth of a plant called False nettle, the genus Boehmeria.  This is a native plant, a crucial food source for the caterpillar stage of several butterfly species, including the Red Admiral, Eastern Comma, and Question Mark butterflies, and it provides shelter and a food source for various other beneficial insects and pollinators.  Google AI notes that “its ability to tolerate various conditions, from moist to moderate drought, makes it useful for restoring wetland habitats and stabilizing stream banks”.  And here it is, helping out all on its own!  For humans, the tender young foliage is edible, and can be used similarly to spinach in cooking, but most importantly for those of us venturing amongst it, it does not sting like its cousins in the genus Urtica¸ Stinging nettle.

The False nettle and accompanying grasses are reasonable complements to our plantings, which can grow above them and as they do so, claim the all-important sunlight and growing space.  In the meantime, though, the plants need a little help to keep those uninvited guests from invading the protective cages.  Also, a number of the trees were being impeded by the nets at the top of the tubes intended to keep out birds and wasps, and needed to be freed.  That’s where our Preserve Managers and Greg Sprissler’s machetes came in!  The machetes turned out to be the perfect tools to cut a path from tree to tree and to clear around the tubes and cages, allowing access for nets to be cut and cages to be cleared.  Not to scare anyone, but here’s the crew that came in to help Preserve Manager Ray Clarke on a beautiful late summer morning…..

Left to right: Bob Schuster, Tim Magee, Tim Lander and Greg Sprissler.

Readers may be interested in a couple of the shrubs that are doing so well in their cages, originally planted by OLC’s terrific partners from Resolution Life.  Here’s a Bottlebrush buckeye, Aesculus parviflora.  This shrub grows to 6 – 12 feet and produces flowers in erect “panicles” 8-20 inches long resembling a traditional bottle brush.  The flowers give way to pear-shaped capsules containing polished, brown seeds.  The plant is highly poisonous to humans if eaten, and deer seem to avoid it, although will eat it in extreme conditions.  Here is one of ours, cage cleared of grasses and nettles, producing its first, rather weird, seed pod:

Other members of the Aesculus family include the Ohio buckeye tree and its European relative the Horse chestnut, Aesculus hippocastanum.  It is this tree, alternating red and white varieties, that lines North Valley Road between Swedesford and Yellow Springs roads, passing OLC’s George Lorimer Preserve.  The trees were planted around a century ago by local residents, who formed Great Bear Tract to preserve and beautify the rural road across the valley from Paoli.  The group persuaded utility companies to bury their lines and eventually donated the land that became OLC’s Airdrie Forest Preserve.  Visitors should be on the look out for the spectacular spring flowering of these trees. 

The other shrub of interest is the Smooth alder, here being shown off by OLC President Tim Lander.  This is a plant that is native to the northeast US, although not common in OLC Preserves.  But it likes moist soil near streams, and its flexible stems and fibrous root system made it a good fit for our riparian restoration.  We hope our plants will reach a mature height of 8-12 feet in 10 years.  A point of interest: Alders produce nitrogen for themselves by the activity of nitrogen-fixing bacteria located in root nodules.

(Alert viewers of this photo will notice that the Phragmites has not given up!  We plan to treat remaining plants in coming weeks).

Members and visitors are welcome to get in touch with us (info@openlandconservancy.org) to volunteer for the maintenance tasks that will help transform the habitat in our Preserves.

Conservancy Continues the Lorimer Preserve Riparian Project

Visitors can not have failed to notice the transformation of the former small pond area over the past year and a half.  The dam has been removed, the stream channel restored, and the area fenced and planted - all thanks to the efforts of our excellent contractors and dedicated volunteers.  We're eagerly awaiting Spring to see all that hard work burst into life!

In the meantime, we're continuing to expand the project to create meaningful area of diverse native trees, shrubs and herbaceous vegetation to provide habitat for woodland bird species such as wood thrush.  At the end of February, our mowing contractor All Seasons Landscaping brought in forestry mulching equipment and removed all the invasive Amur honeysuckle in the three acres immediately downstream of the old dam.

The photo below shows the site as it is now, and the poster following describes the overall process to come.

Cedar Hollow Boardwalk, Trail Clearing, & Step Replacement

A new boy scout Eagle project has made a major improvement to the trail in the St Peters Road section of Cedar Hollow Preserve.  Will Scheidt, an Eagle scout candidate from Devon 50, demonstrated not only excellent organizational skills in managing a 35 scout and parent work force, but also, exceptional computer skills by using a CAD drawing, which is a 2D or 3D illustration that uses computer-aided design (CAD) software to show the components of the project and to make a beautiful laser-engraved sign. commemorating the project.

The goal of Will’s project was to make the St Peters trail more accessible to hikers.  Key features of this project included widening the trail by removing invasive plants, such as multiflora rose, barberry and autumn olive.  As well, two key features were constructed.  First, Will built a 16 foot walkway across the gully that separates the St Peters’ parking lot from the trail head. This will give hikers easier and safer access to the trail.

 The second construction element was the replacement and addition of steps up the steep hillside to the ridge above Bulls Corner Road at the south-east corner of the trail.  Here is a photo of some of the step-building crew taking a well-deserved break.

And finally, here is Will with Preserve Manager and project visionary Tim Magee checking out the completed steps on one of this year’s beautiful Fall days.  Will took pains to repurpose some of the original steps made from tree limbs.

Also key to Will’s success were his parents, Kim and Scott, who provided emotional and logistical support, plus pizza.

Members and visitors are encouraged to check out this seldom-visited section of Cedar Hollow Preserve.  Parking is in the spacious lot off St. Peters Road.  The one third of a mile loop trail passes ruins of quarry worker cottages and an old scout cabin, and links to trails to the Atwater residential development and an overlook at the west end of Bulls Corner Road.

Brush Fire in Airdrie Forest Preserve

On the morning of Sunday, November 3, a brush fire was reported in the eastern portion of the Airdrie Preserve, near the site of the former Scout Cabin. Multiple fire companies responded and brought the blaze under control within two hours. The fire did not cross any trails, and all Airdrie trails remain safe to use. Please be aware that a Burn Ban is in effect for Chester County through November 25, and that smoking is prohibited in all Conservancy preserves at all times.  

Please consider supporting your local fire company through a membership or other donation. Without the fast work of our volunteer first responders, damage to the preserve could have been far worse.

Deer Management

The population of white-tailed deer in our nature preserves and the surrounding area is much greater than the ability of the land to support them; some estimates suggest 10 times larger than desirable. If left unchecked, our woodlands will eventually disappear, as older trees die or are sickened by disease and invasive species like the emerald ash borer. Where trees were once able to regenerate their populations, the deer herds now consume all new growth long before it can mature. Where native shrubs and wildflowers once carpeted the forest floor, only non-native species now survive, to the detriment of native songbirds and other key species that make up the chain of life on which we all depend.

In keeping with our mission to protect native habitat for all species, the Conservancy is joining our neighboring land trusts in actively managing the deer population through a highly regulated program of bow hunting.  Trained archers with Chester Valley Deer Management Association (CVDMA) will hunt in selected Conservancy preserves during the 2024-2025 season, as regulated by the Pennsylvania Game Commission.  CVDMA has hunted on Tredyffrin Township parklands for nearly twenty years and is highly regarded by Township staff and others who use their services. Their hunters are thoroughly trained and follow strict safety protocols.

Things to know:

• Most hunting takes place in the hours right after dawn and before dusk.

• Hunters operate from tree stands that are located away from trails.

• Our preserves remain open while hunters are present. Careful consultation with similar local organizations demonstrates that these properties remain safe to visit.  Signs are posted in all preserves where CVDMA is active.

• We continue to pursue other means of protecting our woodlands. The Conservancy uses tree tubes and fences to protect new plantings, and hopes to expand such usage, but the cost of this approach limits its usefulness to a very small percentage of the land we protect.

Any questions about this may be submitted via the Contact page of this website.

A Tale of Two “Weeds” in Valley Creek Preserve

It has been so dry here in Tredyffrin – barely an inch of rain in the last month – that it’s difficult to imagine any vegetation growing heartily.  But a walk in Valley Creek Preserve quickly gives the lie to that, and points us to emergency planting maintenance work required!

First the good news, though. Alongside the creek towards the very southern end of the Preserve is a brilliant patch of Vernononia noveboracensis, New York Iron weed. The photo here barely does it justice – zoom in on those brilliant purple flowers, but see also the terrific write up by Ashley Kulhanek in Buckeye Yard and Garden Online:

https://bygl.osu.edu/index.php/node/2226

A couple of extracts from her article: 

• The U.S. Forest Service notes that there are 17 species of ironweed in North America.

• New York ironweed can be distinguished from its cousins by the presence of hair-like tips on its flower bracts.  Even when the flower opens, those stringy hairs remain under the flower head.

• Its habitat is much like that of giant ironweed, often found in wet soils in full sun along streams, or in prairies and pastures.  (That’s the Conservancy!)

• These beautiful, tall, vibrant purple native flowers are a welcome sign of late summer and a BOON to many insects. They are a valuable late season nectar source for many insects and butterflies, and their pollen is a required resource for specialist long-horned bees.

Ashley says that “You can never have too much IRONWEED”, but the other weed that has flourished in the disturbed conditions of last year’s tree planting is BURNWEED.  So much so, in fact, that it threatens the growing space of our new trees and shrubs, and demands a little preventative maintenance.  And at the same time, we were able to free up any trees already pushing out of the tubes and getting tangled in the bird netting – a good indicator that the plants are thriving!

But first – Burnweed, Erechtites.  Again the internet is a wonderful resource for information and lyrical language – here’s Nancy Lawson, writing at https://www.humanegardener.com/burnweed-life/

• American burnweeds are free spirits, throwing caution and seed to the winds and popping up irreverently in new places each year.  And why shouldn’t they?  Life is short when you’re an annual plant who must sprout, flourish, reproduce, grow old and die in one season.  It’s especially precarious when you’re an annual plant under constant threat of being yanked and sprayed.

• Burnweeds don’t care what you think, rising above—sometimes even seven feet above—all the insulting remarks made about their worthlessness and unconventional appearance.  They dare to sport bold leaves and tiny flowers, an anatomical combination that seems to have grossly offended the human arbiters of floral and faunal value past and present

• The bees, wasps, and butterflies in my habitat would beg to disagree with those assessments of one of their favorite late-summer plants.  Far from being “useless,” Burnweed flowers provide nectar for many insects.

Which is all very well, but when the plant is overwhelming our precious new trees, it has to be controlled!  Somewhere in the photo below, behind all the Burnweed is a tube with its new tree:

Here it is, now with fewer competitors for sunlight and nutrients:

This next photo gives you an idea of the full planting area:

And to end on a bright note, here is one of the caged Sweet bay magnolia trees from last year’s planting by the Resolution Life team, undaunted by the surrounding Burnweed and proliferation of grasses, and doing so well that it decided to flower in September!

Members and visitors are welcome to get in touch with us (info@openlandconservancy.org) and volunteer for the maintenance tasks that will help transform the habitat in our Preserves.

Lorimer Restoration Continues!

Visitors to the George Lorimer Preserve will have seen the gradual greening of the graded area where the small pond used to be.  Maybe, like us, they will have been amazed at the burgeoning rye grass, broadcast seeded in mid-December 2023 to help control erosion!  While this has been happening and the ground is settling, the Conservancy has been working on the long term planting plan always envisioned as Phase 2 of the project.  On August 1st we took the next step by installing professional fencing to protect that planting from deer browse.

The first step was to decide the overall strategy.  We started from the Conservancy Mission: “to protect and enhance wildlife habitat”.  Board member Margot Taylor spearheaded the process to decide the particular wildlife for which to design that habitat.  We consulted with our friends in the birding community and determined that the Wood thrush would be a desirable target species that could be attracted to the restoration site and surrounding woodlands.  PA Birds of Conservation and PA Action Plan both included Wood thrush, Hylocichla mustelina, as a species to protect and preserve its habitat.  The species has been observed in Lorimer Preserve.

The Pennsylvania Heritage Program website’s PA Community Prediction Tool for Site Restoration was used to assist with selection of a target restoration vegetative community and plant species list based on common species found in similar natural communities.  This led us to zero in on the Red maple/Blackgum Palustrine Forest community.  Hopefully our blackgums will look as magnificent in future Falls as the one below:

We also decided early on, based on the successful growth in the deer exclosure at the old scout cabin site in the Airdrie Forest Preserve (take a visit to check it out!) that the best strategy for getting that community established in the face of the pressure from deer browse, was to

• Enclose the planting in a sturdy, professional deer fence

• Invest in larger plants, typically the #5 and #7 container sizes

We then looked for professional partners to help implement such a strategy.  Thanks to advice and references from our contractor friends and from organizations like Natural Lands, we found restoration contractor Land Studies and fencing contractor ProFence willing to work with us to scope a project based on virtual assessments of the site.  These estimates then formed the basis of grant applications.

The Conservancy is hugely grateful to the Marshall Reynolds Foundation, the generous funders of the transformative 2023 signage project, for continuing to support our ambitions.  Together with the balance of the Valley Creek Trustee Council funding (saving largely due to Board member Scott Bush’s environmental engineering expertise), we have secured the funding to make this next phase possible.

Our first step was to engage our trail mowing stalwarts from Dave Ludwick Landscaping to mow the area.  Then, two fenced deer exclosures (one of each side of the stream) were installed by an excellent ProFence team on August 1st.  The fence consists of 96 inches tall High Tensile Woven Wire, with posts of 5-6 inch round, 12 feet long Southern Yellow Treated Pine, spaced every 15 feet.  Each exclosure includes an 8 foot gate for planting and maintenance access.  Here is a photo of the team and their tool cart finishing up the project after a ten and a half hour day in 90 degree heat, with supervisor Lester and installation experts Wendell and Travis.

Board member Margot Taylor, Preserve Manager Greg Sprissler and Conservancy Vice-President Ray Clarke met on site with Andrew Miller, Land Studies Project Manager and Arborist, seen in the photo below taken by Margot.  Standing by the project sign, they discussed the excellent results of the project so far, and considered the details and refinements required to coordinate with the fencing and to establish the desired community.  Planting is expected in October/November.

Habitat for a Tiny Conservancy Resident!

The Mission of the Conservancy includes the purpose “to protect and enhance wildlife habitat”. That responsibility includes not only acquisition and maintenance of open space, but ensuring responsible use. When that habitat is right under our – and our dog’s - feet, we have to be especially careful! This is why it is so vitally important to keep your dogs leashed in the Nature Preserves, as modeled by visitor Elizabeth Potter below.

The ground level habitat is especially valued by ground-nesting birds. One such species that might not immediately come to mind is the Song sparrow. During this year’s Spring breeding season we were lucky to spot a successful brood right next to a Valley Creek Preserve trail.

One of the least appealing plants in our Preserves is the Stinging nettle Urtica dioica.  It’s a major nuisance – giving visitors and volunteers that irritating, but transient, sting by overhanging trails in the wetland Preserves and impeding our attempts to plant trees in the riparian buffer (ask the students from our Center for Families teams!).  On the plus side, nettles have some benefits: they are the larval food plant for several species of butterflies and moths.  Which in turn are food for our avian residents.  

It turns out that they also provide cover for ground nesting birds.  This little friend was agitated by a Preserve visitor and flew up from the undergrowth alongside the trail.  This is a song sparrow; you can check out the alarm call (and its song and other cool facts) here:

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Song_Sparrow/overview

This prompted a careful foray amongst the stinging nettles, when the source of the parental concern became apparent.  Tucked at the base of a false indigo (Amorpha fruticosa) shrub and protected by those natural hypodermic needles on the nettle stems was this tiny nest with brown speckled eggs:

Even well-hidden, that nesting strategy seems high risk, and maybe loss of safe habitat partly accounts for a population decline of about 27% between 1966 and 2019, according to the North American Breeding Bird Survey.  In general, though, song sparrows are widespread and common across most of the U.S. and are common in our area.

So, the curious visitor returned a couple of weeks later, to a twofold relief: 1) at least two well-grown song sparrow nestlings, and 2) sparrows, not the often-parasitic brown-headed cowbirds.

A week later, those babies had taken flight and were beginning their life alongside Valley Creek!

THE SONG SPARROW

He does not wear a Joseph’s coat of many colors, smart and gay

His suit is Quaker brown and gray, with darker patches at his throat.

And yet of all the well-dressed throng, not one can sing so brave a song.

It makes the pride of looks appear a vain and foolish thing to hear

In “Sweet, sweet, sweet, very merry cheer.”

A lofty place he does not love, he sits by choice and well at ease

In hedges and in little trees, that stretch their slender arms above

The meadow brook; and then he sings till all the field with pleasure rings;

And so he tells in every ear, that lowly homes to heaven are near

In “Sweet, sweet, sweet, very merry cheer.”

-Henry van Dyke

Residents and Visitors in Valley Creek Preserve

Sarah Monroe is a neighbor to, and frequent hiker in, Valley Creek Preserve.  She brings her Canon EOS Rebel T7 camera and its 300 mm lens along, and we’re happy to share some spectacular shots from her visits over the past months.  We encourage you to visit and check out the Preserve wildlife for yourselves!

The creek and its wetlands are home to a wide variety of aquatic species.  Sarah was examined by a seemingly curious American mink,

and she also spotted what looks like a muskrat creating some beautiful golden ripples.

In the past we’ve shared trail cam photos of a beaver, and the trees and shrubs recently felled with the characteristic teeth marks suggest that it, or maybe a relative, is still around, but it has not put on a recent show.

Sarah has been spotting many juvenile eagles passing through the Preserve, and captured this suitably imperious bald eagle.

And finally, at ground level, her camera got up close and personal with a grumpy male Eastern box turtle.

Lorimer Preserve Project Update

Our update last November reported on the beginning of the dam removal and stream channel regrading.  Preserve visitors and readers of Landmarks will know that our excellent contractor, Flyway Excavating, completed the construction work in mid-December.  It’s time for an update on the status and next steps!

The useful Chester County GIS website Chescoviews. (https://arcweb.chesco.org/CV4/) has just posted an update to its basemaps so we can see aerial views of the site before and after the project.  The photo from March of 2023 vividly shows the eroded by pass ditch and the narrow north wall containing the pond.

The next photo, dated September 2023, but in fact taken after December 2023, shows the stream channel meandering through the site, the stone riffle designed for grade control and passage of trail mowing equipment, and the matting which stabilizes the site until it is planted.  The stream channel looks full in this photo, and indeed it has proved very stable despite the extreme rain of recent months.

The project was made possible with grants from Chester County and the Valley Creek Trustee Council.  The Administrator of the latter program, Jeff Schmid, of the PA Fish and Boat Commission, came from his Bellefonte office to inspect the project.  A photo with Preserve Manager Greg Sprissler (on the left) offers a ground level view from downstream.

We have been talking with contractors and granting agencies about the next steps.  Our approach is guided by the Pennsylvania Wildlife Action Plan, which is designed to improve the scientific basis for making conservation decisions, with special emphasis on wildlife species of greatest conservation concern, specifically birds.  For our site, the Plan and our birding community friends suggest habitat that favors Wood thrush and related species including Kentucky warbler, Ovenbird and Worm-eating warbler.  In order to create a habitat large enough to make a difference, we will not only plant the newly graded area with a mix of herbaceous plants, shrubs and trees, but we will also replace three acres of invasive bush honeysuckle downstream of that site.  If all goes well, particularly with our grant applications, the work will be completed in the Fall.

We are hoping that this project site can become a “restoration laboratory” for all residents to experience according to their interests.  Those good with computers can help analyze the data from the monitoring equipment we will be setting up.  There will be opportunities to plant many trees and shrubs, and to help with fencing.  And we hope residents can stop by and learn from the planned site tours.  Stay tuned!

The removal of the dam widened and deepened the stream channel upstream of the project site, which made it more difficult to step across the water at the foot of the new trail from the parking lot.  Eagle Scout candidate Mats Michlitsch and his team from the Paoli 1 troop came to the rescue with a sturdy boardwalk.  Visitors can now gratefully keep their shoes dry!

This project is a great example of the wide-ranging benefits provided by OLC’s long-standing partnership with scouting and the Eagle Scout program.  The list of Eagle projects is a very long one (bridges, kiosks, fences, erosion control structures, trail construction, tree planting, etc.!) and we are very grateful indeed to all the scouts and their families.

Lorimer Stream Restoration Project Under Way!

As members and George Lorimer Preserve visitors will know, the run-off from intense rainstorms of recent years has eroded the small pond by-pass channel so widely and deeply that we have had to move and fence the trails, and that the pond berm is threatened.

We have been working on a solution with engineers, grant sources and permitting agencies since 2020 - and now the work is about to begin!

The pond will be drained, the earthen walls removed, and the waterway restored to a free-flowing stream.

Our contractor is Flyway Excavating.  They will be preparing the site beginning November 17th, and expect the work to last about three weeks.

Trails near the small pond area will be closed during the construction.  Signs are posted giving detour options for walking.

WOODLAND CONSERVATION ORDINANCE

CLICK TO READ WOODLAND CONSERVATION ORDINANCE

Tredyffrin Township has been experiencing an increasing loss of trees, recently estimated at a net loss of 64 acres of trees per year. This is due to many factors, including development, storm damage, and property owner preference. To address this loss the Township has recently adopted a Woodland Conservation Ordinance, which applies to properties whose owners plan to remove more than five viable trees within a given year. A summary of the ordinance is attached, and the full version may be found at this link. The link includes a helpful list of native trees known to do well in southeastern Pennsylvania.

The Open Land Conservancy strongly supports the ordinance and encourages residents to familiarize themselves with it, to support it, and where appropriate, provide information to the Township to assist with its enforcement. General questions about the ordinance may be sent to the Tredyffrin Environmental Advisory Council at tredyffrin@tredyffrin.org with the subject Environmental Advisory Council.

Our Reasons for Being: Nature Photography at George Lorimer Preserve

OLC volunteers Tim Magee and Ray Clarke had a moment of serendipity in the George Lorimer Preserve parking lot in late August, with a stunning demonstration of why OLC’s mission to protect natural habitat, and provide opportunities for the community to enjoy it, is so important.

While unloading fencing material to store for upcoming tree plantings, they met Jeff Alexander. Jeff is remarkable because: a) he offered to help with some heavy lifting, and b) because he came out of the Preserve with a truly impressive camera set-up - a Nikon D7200 with a Nikkor 200-500mm lens, seemingly long enough to reach out and touch the subject!

Photography by Jeff Alexander

And then he showed our stunned duo some of the photographs he had just taken in the Preserve, reproduced here along with others taken in Cedar Hollow Preserve the next day. Regular visitors to Lorimer may well have seen the long time resident green heron, but likely never in such stunning detail, along with their lunch and what looks like a salad side dish. Kingfishers and their machine-gun rattle are common sights and sounds in OLC’s main riparian Preserves, but less frequently seen in Lorimer, and never close up in any location.

(Click through to see a slideshow.)

The small birds from Cedar Hollow Preserve are less flamboyant, but Jeff has brought them up close for your enjoyment. A house wren, a couple of common yellowthroats, and what Vice- President of Birdtown PA and OLC keynote speaker Phil Witmer thinks may be a nashville warbler – although the head looks dark and opinions welcome!

Finally, please take a moment to join the frog in hoping it’s not going to be the heron’s lunch, and to revel in the colors of the swallowtail butterfly and its thistle host.

This encounter was so fortunate because Jeff actually lives two states away in Abingdon, MD, and was in the area for a couple of days looking for photography/hiking spots while his fiancée was working at her company’s corporate office. He tells us he found out about OLC through a web search that identified the George Lorimer preserve as close by with very high ratings.

Kudos to OLC’s website team! And especially thanks to Jeff for the spectacular photos and for taking the time to send them along.