Tree Survey - Final Consolidated Results
Final Consolidated Results:
American Beech.......: 002 (Fagus grandifolia)
Ash..................: 346 (Fraxinus)
Black Cherry.........: 089 (Prunus serotina)
Black Locust.........: 004 (Robinia pseudoacia)
Box Elder............: 163 (Acer negundo)
Buckeye..............: 002 (Aesculus)
Callery Pear.........: 043 (Pyrus calleryana)
Dogwood..............: 003 (Cornus florida)
Eastern Redbud.......: 004 (Cercis canadensis)
Eastern Red Cedar....: 002 (Juniperis virginiana)
Elm..................: 060 (Ulmus)
Hackberry............: 059 (Celtis occidentalis)
Hickory..............: 013 (Carya)
Honey Locust.........: 002 (Gleditsia triacanthos)
Oak..................: 003 (Quercus)
PawPaw...............: 018 (Asimina triloba)
Sugar Maple..........: 050 (Acer sacharum)
Tulip Poplar.........: 010 (Liriodendron tulipifera)
Total Trees..........: 873
Total Native Trees...: 830
A total of 873 tree seedlings were observed in the study area following honeysuckle and garlic mustard removal.
This was an unscientific study. Invasives were removed haphazardly and over the course of several years in fits and starts. All sorts of different removal methods were used (hand pulling, root docking, cut and paint w/glyphosate, string trimming, etc.). No grid was laid out prior to conducting the survey (we just walked through making observations). Wild homo sapiens (neighborhood kids) had unfettered access to the study area during the study. I could go on and on. The point is... there were no formal controls. But that's also what makes it interesting... A completely unscientific person fumbled around in the woods removing invasives and the result was 830 native tree seedlings. That's a pretty good result.
346 of these seedlings were Ash. I remember reading somewhere that before the Emerald Ash Borer, the majority of Ohio's trees were Ash. This was hard to believe at the time. When you walked through a forest, even back then, you noticed Ash... but it didn't seem like most of the trees were Ash. I think this is because you tend to focus on the mature trees in a forest, not seedlings and saplings. In terms of number of individuals, when seedlings and saplings are taken into account, the Ash is triumphant. Obviously, the strategy of the Ash is to be a prolific seeder and hope that a couple make it to maturity. I'd guess that the Tulip Poplar has the opposite strategy.
There were only 10 Tulip Poplars observed and yet Tulip Poplar was one of the dominant canopy trees on our lot even before the Emerald Ash Borer came to town. The 10 Tulip Poplars observed, were much taller than the Ash trees. Their strategy seems to be, seed less / grow more.
The Box Elder might be most interesting. It had the second most instances and is more likely than Ash to live to maturity. I'm told it's Ohio's only native Maple. It's a prolific seeder with 163 total specimens observed, but it's also a really fast grower. This is both a blessing and a curse. My overarching goal is to assist regeneration, not shade it out. Box Elders are prolific seeders, grow fast, and have a dense canopy. If I want to move as quickly as possible toward healthy, mature, diverse forest... it seems I'll need to thin these out to make sure I don't lose some of the under-represented and less common specimens.
Specimens like American Beech or Chinquapin Oak, both of which have a Coefficient of Conservatism score of "7". Do what now? Yah, I didn't know what Coefficient of Conservatism (CofC) meant when I started either. It's a way of assigning a value to the specialized needs of some plants. You could throw a rock in any direction in the state of Ohio and have a reasonable chance at hitting a Box Elder. You are much less likely to hit a Beech or Chinquapin. The higher the CofC, the more specialized the needs of the species. American Beech and Chinquapin have scores of "7". The Box Elder... "3".
The Floristic Quality Assessment (FQA) index for the State of Ohio defines CofC scores for our state. Here's what they have to say about the range from 6 to 8, the range that includes Beech and Chinquapin... "Plants with a narrow range of ecological tolerances that typify a stable or near climax community". Now we're talking! But the FQA is about more than just trees. I'll need to keep the composition of seedlings, saplings, over-story, under-story, and herbaceous layer moving in this direction and I'll eventually get there. But how to keep the progress going?
I've decided to borrow the concept of collection and extraction policies from arboretums. For now, my extraction policy is very simple. If it's non-native and aggressive, extract it. My collection policy is equally simple. If it's locally native, and especially if I can find a local genotype, collect it.
It's appropriate to borrow the extraction and collection policy concept from arboretums. I have inadvertently encouraged enough species to become one. Arbnet requires 25 unique species to be a Level 1 arboretum. I observed 18 species but only identified Ash, Elm, Oak, and Hickory to the genus. I have at least three variety of oaks, two types of hickory, and two types of Ash. Bringing me to 22 species. If I throw in Sycamore, Sassafras, and Basswood, all of which occur on our lot albeit just outside of the study area, I'm at 25.
I would't be at 25 without having removed the invasives. Five of the species that were counted in the study had no representatives here prior to invasive removals. American Beech, Blue Ash, two varieties of Hickory, and Honey Locust were not here when we moved in. My inadvertent "arboretum" didn't exist here until I made room for it. The wind and the wildlife did the planting, I've just nudged things in the right direction.
