Unintended Consequences
I started my native restoration about 15 years ago. This project started in an inner suburb of Cincinnati. Honeysuckle conquered this area long ago. There were very very few native under-story seeds existing in the soil under the honeysuckle when it was removed. Now, 15 years later, I have some tree seedlings emerging but they mostly match the species in the over-story (black cherry, tulip poplar, white ash, black locust, etc). The under-story is still non-existent. And it's been 15 years!
I started my native restoration of a second property six years ago. This second property exists further away from Cincinnati. Further from the city there were more native under-story seeds existing in the soil under the honeysuckle when it was removed. Now, six years later, I have many under-story seedlings emerging. Every yellow under-story plant in the picture above is northern spicebush that was unlocked when I removed the honeysuckle. There are other areas of this property that have large populations of Ohio Buckeye and PawPaw emerging after the honeysuckle removals.
Areas closer to the city, that have been more heavily impacted by invasive plants cannot always be expected to regenerate like in a place further from town. If I could go back in time, I'd push the seeds of spicebush, ohio buckeye, and pawpaw down into the soil during honeysuckle removal. All three have proven themselves capable of coexisting with hungry deer and have expanded post honeysuckle removal in the rural location. I'd go with seeds because of the size of the wooded area I'm trying to restore. It's too expensive and time consuming to plant potted shrubs and saplings. Collecting a bunch of seeds to stratify, scarify and push into the ground is easier and more scalable for large areas (or cheap owners).
It seems obvious to me that if we want to counter the potential for species loss in the Anthropocene, we should collect under-story seeds from areas further from cities and install them in areas closer in. It's observably true, from my examples, that the under-story needs to be restored from scratch in some areas. It's also a catch-22. I've observed many more wood thrushes at the rural location. Wood thrushes love spicebush seeds. If I attracted wood-thrushes they'd deposit these seeds on my lot in the city. But to attract the wood-thrushes, I need spicebush for them to eat! Once I attract them here, they might deposit some of my seeds on neighboring properties. Mwahahaha.
