Post #10 Planting our future forests

Here in Pound Ridge the forests lack a dense understory of native bushes, wildflowers, shrubs and young trees.  Why?  White tail deer.  While we can't blame the state of our forest solely on one factor (the deer), but there seems to be a strong consensus among scientists, conservationists, and land managers that the deer are playing a large role in shaping the forest's architecture.

The Armstrong Preserve.  Notice that the understory is very sparse and consists solely of Pennsylvania sedge.  

While it's true that the white tail deer is native to this area, the current herd density is high enough to strongly affect the rest of the forest.  Here is a good primer to get up to speed on the Deer issue in the southern New England area.  Today's Blog post is not really about the deer, its about the trees.  Pound Ridge, New York is mostly forested. The trees range in age from roughly 15-200 years old with most trees falling between 50-150 years old.  Take a walk on one of the Pound Ridge Land Conservancy's preserves and you will notice that there are no young trees - an entire age class (1-15 years old) is missing.  In speaking to some of the veteran land managers in the area it seems that the recently instated deer hunting programs have yet to achieve desired results (more forest regeneration).  Herein lies the problem- every day, our forest looses trees- people prune or cut them down and storms blow them over- and the white tail deer eat the forest's seedlings (young trees).  If this trend continues our forests will grow more and more sparse over time. See The Nature Conservancy's report on New York's forest regeneration here.  If we want to preserve the forest in our backyards we must do something about it.  

This map displays a forest regeneration index for New York State.  Red indicates 'poor' regeneration. 

There is hope, and it looks like this:

The first bed in my tree nursery which currently consists of red oak, American elm and shagbark hickory.   In about 3 or 4 years these trees will be planted back in the wild.   

Go walking this week and you sill see thousands of newly emerging trees on the forest floor.  I've seen oaks (4 kinds), ash, hickory (2 kinds), maple, birch, tulip and elm growing in the shade of their parents.  I've even seen some older saplings (2-3 years) growing in piles of brush which apparently act as natural deer fences.  Most of these baby trees will live all through the summer but when the air starts to cool, herbaceous plants start to wither and the deer's food supply starts to fade, death will come to our forest's future.  To circumvent this process I have started a native plant nursery at the Armstrong House Education Center where I currently grow trees to be planted in the forest.  At the nursery I will acquire plants in two ways: 1)  propagate trees and shrubs from seed (see this awesome book) and 2) transplant seedlings from the forest into my nursery.  Once there, the trees will spend 3 or 4 years protected from deer before they are planted at a chosen site.  It is the second method -transplanting wild trees into deer protected areas - that I am urging you to do as well.  As stewards of your own backyard forests, the protection and cultivation of a few trees is an easy way to make a lasting difference.

Planting trees is to create a better future.  Drive around Northeast Westchester County- the big trees are stunning.  They line streets, mark important buildings and grace cemeteries and farms.  We must remember that many of these giants were intentionally planted a long time ago and the only way to ensure big trees for the future is to plant trees today. You can protect and plant baby trees to mark special occasions in your life- the birth of a child, your kid's high school graduation, your retirement- and let the memory grow with you and your family forever.  A white oak tree planted the week of your child's birth would be over twenty feet tall by the time they graduated college.  Along with planting beautiful landscaping trees (like dogwoods and which hazels), consider planting native trees in the forest behind your house.  If we don't replant our forests they will continue to grow thinner and our beautiful historic landscape will be lost.      

Isn't it bad to take seedlings from the wild?  I have seen many seedlings growing on people's property where the deer don't browse, which is good news.  The bad news is that these trees are found growing where people don't usually want trees to grow (next to your foundation, pool, or garden).  Instead of marching into the forest to find your seedlings, just search around your home.  If you resort to removing seedlings from the forest on your property, make sure to do it properly.  If done with care, transplanting and protecting a seedling increases its chances of survival.  Remember, in the forest the deer eat almost all unguarded seedlings.                

How do I transplant properly?  The #1 rule with transplanting baby trees is avoid desiccation!  Don't let the plant dry out!  Don't transplant on a dry day, don't transplant on a windy day, don't transplant on a sunny day, don't transplant to an area of complete sun.  Instead, choose an overcast day with rain in the near future.  If it is not forecast to rain for a couple days then be prepared to apply water manually.  While in the process of transplanting you must keep the soil and roots wet.  When transplanting, don't forget the roots- dig up a root ball (the size of a small bowling ball) with your seedling.  Here are Tips for transplanting.  As you research more about safely transplanting trees you will read that it is best to transplant trees in the early Spring (before leaves open) or in the Fall (after leaves drop and before the ground freezes). Although this is true, it is not always possible;  we are forced to transplant first year trees which are impossible to see before they leaf out in the Spring.  Transplant as early as possible and do not transplant in the summer.  An alternative to transplanting at the wrong time is protecting your trees while you wait for the right season to transplant.  To protect potential transplants, place a small fence around them.

Working together.  Protecting and planting trees is something that every landowner can do to help ensure a forest for the future.  My goal is to team up with other local conservationists to support a region-wide initiative to replant our forests.  Contact me if you are interested in learning more about forest regeneration and what you can do to protect and plant trees for our future.