Conserve Wildlife Blog

Posts Tagged ‘habitat restoration’

Photo from the field

Tuesday, September 27th, 2011
Planting trees for wildlife and people!

by Ben Wurst, Habitat Program Manager

Volunteers helped plant over 200 tree seedlings last week at a former golf course in Cape May, NJ. © Ben Wurst

For the past 3 years Conserve Wildlife Foundation of NJ has been working to restore habitat at an old golf course in lower Cape May County. We have concentrated on reforesting many of the old fairways at the site, now known as Cape Island Wildlife Management Area. This past week we planted around 300 native tree seedlings from Pinelands Nursery there. All of the species planted will benefit wildlife by providing food and cover. It will increase biodiversity and reduce fragmentation of forested habitat. We planted white and scarlet oak, pitch pine, gray birch, bayberry, serviceberry, persimmon, beach plum, and tulip poplar. Seedlings are protected by tree tubes (help reduce light browse by deer and rabbits) and weed mats (reduce competition from cool season grasses) to help increase survival rates.

Trees also benefit you and I. They capture carbon dioxide and release oxygen. Planting trees is one of the most effective and least expensive ways to reduce carbon in the atmosphere. They can reduce heating and cooling costs if planted around your home. They can also help increase your home’s property value. Fall is the best time to plant trees. When planting a tree make sure to dig the hole twice as deep and twice as wide as the root ball. Plant to a depth where the collar of the truck is not below ground level. Amend the soil if necessary and only put up to 2″ of mulch against the trunk. Here are my picks for best native trees to plant for wildlife (and you) in your yard:

Shade trees: Sweet gum (awesome fall foliage!), tulip poplar (great pyramidal shape when mature, great shade tree), oak spp. (produce acorns and good shade trees, scarlet oaks have stunning fall foliage). Plant these on the south side of your house to reduce cooling costs in summer.

Conifers: red cedar (good wind break, dense cover for wildlife, provide berries for songbirds), american holly (beautiful red berries in winter, good cover for wildlife from heavy snow). Plant these along the NW side of your house to act as a windbreak from cold winter winds.

Watch a video clip about our work at Ponderlodge that was featured on NJTV on September 22.

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Photo from the Field

Thursday, October 7th, 2010
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act provides food for migratory birds

by Ben Wurst, Habitat Program Manager

This past spring, in April, over 1000 native shrubs were planted at a habitat enhancement site called Ballanger Creek, pronounced “Baaa-lan-ger.” The site is located within Bass River State Forest in Bass River Township and is being funded by a grant from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The purpose of the project is to create and enhance wildlife habitat while stimulating the creation of jobs in the local economy. Volunteers helped plant these shrubs in an area along the edge of an old fallow field (click on the “Learn More” link for before/after photos). The purpose is to provide a buffer between Route 9 and a housing development and provide food and cover to migratory birds and other wildlife. This summer was very tough for the new plantings. Many shrubs could not handle the drought-like conditions, while others did quite well.  Of those that survived some went dormant early to survive the drought. Others in areas that had shade during the hottest times of day were able to produce fruit or berries like arrowood viburnum (pictured below).

Over twelve species of birds feed on the plump blue-black berries produced by the native shrub, Arrowood viburnum (Viburnum dentatum). The fruits ripen in early August and persist through October. Large thickets of arrowood can also provide important nest sites for many species of birds.

We are currently working on the third phase of the project which is to remove old fill from the edge of freshwater wetlands. Work on this phase is expected to begin in 2011. Later this month we will be planting some left over shrubs from the spring planting at the site. If you’re interested in volunteering please contact me for more information.

The work upon which this publication is based was funded in whole or in part through a grant awarded by the Northeastern Area State and Private Forestry, U.S. Forest Service.

“This institution is an equal opportunity provider.”

We are currently working on the third phase of the project which is to remove old fill from the edge of freshwater wetlands. Work on this phase is expected to begin in 2011.

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Photo from the field

Saturday, September 18th, 2010
Natural Succession at its finest

By Ben Wurst, Habitat Program Manager

A former golf course called “Ponderlodge,” now referred to as Villas WMA and officially part of Cape Island Wildlife Management Area in Lower Township, NJ is slowly reverting back to forested habitat. Forests and trees are good for migratory and resident wildlife, the environment, and people! Trees provide food and cover to migratory birds. Many early successional woody species like, Winged sumac, Black cherry, Sassafras, and Mulberry are already established on old fairways on site. Other trees like White oak, Willow oak, and Pitch pine are sprouting from seed, especially in areas where the overstory of trees acts like a nursery for these to grow quickly. As you may know trees naturally sequester or capture CO2. Over time, large amounts of carbon are stored as biomass in the parts of a tree (leaves, branches, roots, and trunk). A one acre reforestation site can sequester an estimated 3 metric tons of CO2 in one year. In 20 years that’s 65 metric tons of CO2 that is removed from the atmosphere. Once many of the fairways that we are working dilagently to reforest with the NJ Division of Fish and Wildlife are reforested, over 170 acres forested habitat will exist on site.

A former fairway at Ponderlodge. Four years after this property was acquired by Green Acres its fairways are being to succumb to forest succession. © Ben Wurst

This summer has been tough on many of our plantings. The severe drought in Cape May County has killed a large amount of seedlings that were planted in early 2009. However, when planting we choose to overstock or plant at a higher density to allow for some mortality to occur. Only the strong survive and will be more adaptable to future droughts!

Next year we plan to plant more seedlings on additional fairways to convert “fairways to forests.” We will be needing volunteers to assist with the plantings. If you’d like to volunteer to help plant trees send me an email and I’ll let you know when we’ll be planting (sometime in March).

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This Ain’t the Midwest…

Monday, June 28th, 2010
Switchgrass seeds

Native grass and wildflower seeds are loaded into a no-till planter. Photo: M. Hall

By MacKenzie Hall, Private Lands Biologist

New Jersey isn’t a corn belt state and probably isn’t what you picture when you think “prairie.”  Fair enough.  But New Jersey is an incredible medley of ecosystems, and for the past five years we’ve been working to make sure that native grasslands remain in the mix. 

Switchgrass, big bluestem, and other native warm-season grasses provide excellent habitat for ground-nesting birds like the threatened bobolink and grasshopper sparrow (which is why we like them).  But they have many other uses, too, such as livestock forage, mulch, and even bio-energy (which is why farmers like them). 

Planting native grasses

Pat Hilton plants a prairie mix for wildlife and agriculture. Photo: M. Hall

More and more NJ farms are incorporating warm-season grasses and bird-friendly practices.  Pat Hilton just converted eighteen acres of her Readington Township farm to native grasses and is delaying the hay harvest on another thirty acres.  This will allow ground-nesting birds to fledge their young before the grass is cut. 

Pat’s rolling farm – call it “midwest-reminiscent” – is highly suitable for grassland wildlife and has already attracted eastern meadowlarks, kestrels, grasshopper sparrows, and northern harriers.

After another busy restoration season, we’re delighted to watch as the summer sun brings these grassland ecosystems to life.

Are you a farmer or farm owner?  Check out the NJ Landowner Incentive Program for a grassland grant.  Applications are due July 15, 2010!

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