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Introduction

Since the beginning of the restoration project we have kept complete records of the trees we have planted. In 2003, we began systematically revisiting our plantings in the urban wilds to document the survival and health of our trees. Concurrently, we began recording the continued presence of invasive plants in areas where we had previously removed them, which usually overlap areas that we have planted. The purpose of these efforts is to document the effectiveness of our planting methods, invasives removal techniques, and our overall restoration strategy.

Restoration of the urban forest is a relatively new field for which there is a paucity of information regarding outcomes. We use one example here to illustrate our point and what we seek to accomplish:

The most prevalent invasive that we are removing and replacing is the Norway maple. In a 1999 test project, we removed Norway maples and planted densely with white pines. So far, this experiment has been a great success. A few hundred feet from that 1999 experiment is another planting conducted in 2002, in which we left a few larger, mature Norways standing to maintain some canopy cover. The understory was mostly composed of Norway maples, which were all removed. These Norways were replaced with potted native species, two to four feet tall. The potted natives will have a head start and, with cutting of the Norway maple seedlings in early and later summer, should establish a more diverse plant community devoid of Norway maples. Once the plantings grow up more, the larger Norway maples will be taken out. The documentation of these efforts will test the effectiveness of our invasives removal efforts and include cost analysis. We also hope to make observations about the competitiveness of the various native species planted against the reseeding Norway maples.

Methods

Through our documentation, tree tagging, and mapping, we are able to locate our trees planted over the course of the project. Project staff search out, identify, and assess and record the condition of the planted trees. Among the planted trees, the staff also records the presence of invasive plants, their life stage, and their prevalence as an estimated percentage of all live woody stems.

The data collected in the field is transferred to a searchable database. The database is used to determine statistics on planting survival rates overall, site by site, or species by species. The invasives data can be used over multiple years to determine the effectiveness of our techniques for removing invasive species

Note: Initial data is being compiled. Please check back for updates. Additionally, see a photo series of our restoration efforts.

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