Removing Fallen Trees

January has been a rough month for getting any heavy work done in the field. Warm temperatures and frequent rains left the soil highly vulnerable to compaction and other damage resulting from inappropriate management activities. It has only been in the last few days that I’ve been able to perform any intensive work, and that has been limited to hilltop areas that drain and dry out quickly. I removed the girdled trees that had fallen in my planned grassland area. A few stumps, some scattered twigs and flattened areas of grass were all that was left after I finished picking things up.

Following the removal of the downed trees, I brought in JR, the brush mower, and mowed the entire work area. Removing the trees and mowing the field were not necessarily required activities in my plans to convert the area to a grassland condition. The fallen trees would quickly decompose and the tall prairie grasses would eventually take over the site. My actions here were in response to the need to easily access the area to locate and eliminate invasive shrubs. Keep in mind that it’s only been a few years since this particular patch of ground was a thicket of Multiflora Rose and Autumn Olive. The site still harbors viable seed and is producing several new seedlings that must be found and killed each year. Anything that interferes with my ability to travel freely through the area in search of these invaders must be removed.

The area is planned to be grassland, but it will not be completely free of trees. This Blackjack Oak, Quercus marilandica, currently surrounded by the standing dead, will one day be surrounded by tall native grasses.

This double trunked Flowering Dogwood will also be left alive. An anthracnose outbreak nearly three decades ago eliminated this species from the woodland understory at Blue Jay Barrens. It has still not returned to the woods, but a few survivors along the field’s edge became the progenitors of flowering Dogwood trees growing in the open fields. I allowed this species to remain in certain designated areas of the fields, and now have dozens of nice sized specimens producing copious amounts of fruit and seed each year. This individual is doing quite nicely despite one of its trunks being disfigured by the choking embrace of a Japanese Honeysuckle vine, yet another invasive species needing to be controlled here.

After mowing the area, I noticed a leaning tree poised to land directly atop the Flowering Dogwood, and a pair of grape and honeysuckle festooned trunks similarly aiming towards the lovely oak. Not wishing the oak or dogwood to be damaged by their menacing neighbors, I removed the threats myself in a safe and controlled manner.

In order to facilitate invasive shrub control, I also removed some fallen branches from the sumac patch.

The patch of Dwarf Sumac was left intact and standing dead stems were not touched. These sumac thickets harbor their own suite of boring beetles, leaf eaters, lichen colonies and other organisms drawn to this type of habitat. I tried to disturb it as little as possible.

The removed wood roughly tripled the size of the brush pile at the edge of the field. Logs were placed on the east facing side of the pile. Skinks and fence lizards are particularly drawn to logs situated in this manner.

Tree branches were dismantled down to individual stems which were then piled as densely as possible. This fosters rapid decomposition, so the pile quickly reduces in volume. The logs are stacked so that they will fall back into the pile as the small branches decompose. It has been pointed out to me numerous times that my brush piles do not follow the classic wildlife management design, which has the goal of providing escape cover to game mammals. My piles serve a broader interest and are utilized by a wide range of reptiles, birds and mammals.

The dead trees will continue to fall for the next couple of years. During that time, the tall prairie grasses will move in and become established. By then the incidence of invasive shrubs should be limited to new arrivals carried by birds as seeds from neighboring properties. For now, I’m pleased with the way things are progressing on the site and hope that all continues favorably.

Status of Girdled Trees Project

Back in May 2015 I girdled and applied herbicide to the large trees in this area in an attempt to create a grassland corridor between two areas of healthy prairie.  I thought it would be a few years before any of the killed trees began to fall.  Things are progressing much more quickly than I imagined.

In only a year and a half, about a third of the girdled trees have already fallen.  With one exception, all of the fallen trees have been Tuliptrees. 

Some of the trees dropped into the neighboring prairie.  Since this area is still being treated to eliminate invasive shrubs, I’ll remove the fallen trees to make it easier to find and destroy any invading sprouts.

The trees broke just above the girdle ring.  The girdling was done high enough on the trunk that a tall stump remains.  It’s best to leave the stump tall enough to be visible in the grass.  This way you are less likely to fall over or run your mower up onto the stump.

It looks as though the dead trees hosted quite a few wood boring insects.  I was surprised to see the extent to which the wood had been penetrated.

Woodpeckers appear to be taking advantage of the insect laden tree trunks.  I thought some of the trees were large enough to serve as woodpecker nesting sites, but I don’t think they are going to be standing long enough to serve that purpose.  I’m expecting this tree to fall soon.

In June 2016, about a year after being girdled, the Tuliptrees were still producing leaves on a few branches.  I was having some doubts that I had successfully killed the trees.

The trunks themselves gave some positive evidence that I was getting the desired results.  Impressive fungus growths suggested that decomposition was occurring beneath the bark.

A variety of fungus species were present.

I was impressed by the number of fungus species that were able to so quickly take advantage of the recently killed trees.

This area will soon be dominated by tall grass, but it won’t be without a few trees.  I have left several young Blackjack Oaks, Quercus marilandica, to grow among the grass.  Blackjack Oaks have a special relationship with several prairie invertebrates, and are well worth saving.  There won’t be enough trees left to hinder the growth of the prairie grasses, but there will be enough to enhance the quality of this small area.

You can read about the original girdling project by clicking HERE.  

Prairie Corridor Project

The final phase of a project intended to create an open corridor between two prairie areas has now been completed.  What was once a vicious tangle of invasive Autumn Olive and Multiflora Rose, now looks almost park-like.  A finish mower and a couple of picnic tables would make this a wonderful place to relax, but I have a different goal in mind.  My hopes are that this area will convert to prairie vegetation and act as a pathway to allow organisms to move freely between an existing prairie area to the upper right and a second to the upper left.  The only task left is to get rid of the few large trees.

I’ve chosen to kill the trees in place by girdling and applying herbicide.  Girdling is the act of removing a strip of living bark around the base of a tree.  This essentially stops the transfer of energy from the leaves to the roots.  Girdling alone will typically kill the top of the tree, but a forest of sprouts will emerge below the point of the cut and the tree will grow on.  To ensure the death of the entire tree, I have applied a 41% solution of glyphosate to the exposed inner bark at the lower part of the wound.  There should be no regrowth here.

The Allegheny Mound Ants that had been foraging up the tree were slightly befuddled by the loss of their path to the ground.  On some trees it took 15 minutes or more before they finally crossed the gap and went on their way.  These ants can be found on every tree in the more open areas of Blue Jay Barrens, but they do not go into the closed canopy woods.

Girdled trees included some growing in the Winged Sumac thicket.  Eventually, shade from the trees would have caused the death of the sumacs.

The dead trees should be a wonderful place for beetle larvae and woodpeckers.  Several of the trees are large enough to accommodate nesting woodpeckers.  Red-headed Woodpecker numbers have been increasing in the area over the past few years and I’m hoping that dead trees in a rather open setting might entice a pair to nest here.

Flowering Dogwood, Dwarf Sumac and a few oaks were left alive.  There are not enough of them to impede the growth of prairie vegetation.  Presence of these three species is consistent with the type of prairie typically found in this area and having them here is in keeping with the management goals of the adjoining fields.

The leafless dead trees will not block enough sunlight to slow expansion of prairie into the area.  In a few years, small limbs will begin to fall from the dead trees.  Larger limbs will follow and eventually, the trunks will come down.  Everything should be on the ground within ten years.  What happens to the fallen material will depend on how and where it falls.  Some will be left on the ground to decompose and some will be moved to facilitate future maintenance of the area.

This area to the west, just outside the trees, will be the primary source of seed for colonizing prairie plants.  Our prevailing wind is from the west and it’s that wind that carries seeds into new territories.  By the time the last tree falls, this area should be healthy prairie.