Spring 2003-2005 Trees for Life Plantings

Trees for Life – Statement of Philosophy Our basic values toward the natural world are usually forged when we are children. Children are innately inquisitive about the natural

world, yet apart from the occasional field trip to a “natural area”, most formal environmental education comes from textbooks and videos. We know that many parents desire to take an active role in their children’s environmental education. The 170-acre Heritage Park and Natural Area (former Brown Farm) in the Toms Creek Watershed was designated as a community park and natural area by

Blacksburg Town Council in December 2002, and provides a splendid location for practical and hands-on education.

Basic Idea for Trees for Life Everyone is invited, especially children/youth, and their parents and teachers. We plant several species of native tree saplings donated by the Virginia Department of Forestry in designated reforestation areas of Heritage Community Park and Natural Area. Participants who care for their sapling (i.e. follow a basic maintenance plan for two years) receive a certificate and have their tree designated in

their name on a register maintained by the Town of Blacksburg – a living monument to their life in Blacksburg. Participants receive training in basic tree planting/maintenance and forest ecology from a professional forester, Mr. Britt Boucher, and plant the seedlings

under supervision of the Town Parks & Recreation Department and Five-Star Restoration partners.

Care for Saplings Caring for their saplings may entail 3-4 visits to the park every year to weed, water, and repair protective shelters or meshing, and to inspect each planted sapling for insects, fungus, and animal depredations. We are planning to develop an interactive Internet website in which participants can post the findings (growth measurements, etc.) of their periodic care visits to share with other participants. By caring for their saplings, children learn not only the ecology of tree life, but develop a sense of place in Blacksburg for their own life-time. Years later, these young people will be able to return to Blacksburg and take a pilgrimage to Heritage Park to visit “their”

trees that are also a part of their personal heritage.

The Trees for Life Program promotes: Hands-on environmental education – focusing on the importance of trees for ecosystem vitality and the well-being of society;

Building a “sense of place” in Blacksburg (among children and adults alike) and a personal affinity for nature; Engaging children, grandchildren, their parents, grandparents, and other adults in a community-based ecological restoration activity; Restoration of degraded ecosystems at Heritage Park, thus contributing to the realization of this public park as a diverse natural area;

Pro-active and committed public use of Blacksburg’s Heritage Community Park and Natural Area. The creation of living laboratories for learning the basics of woodland ecology, biometrics, plant pathology, nutrient recycling,

and the cultivation of long-term ecological and spiritual sensitivities toward the non-human world.

Coordinated by: John Browder & Lee R. Skabelund (VPI&SU), with support from the Blacksburg Parks & Recreation Dept.

June 2007 (lrs) - area planted in 2003

Spring 2004-2005 Riparian Corridor Restoration

Plantings

The Toms Creek Riparian Corridor Restoration Project funded in part by the

National Fish & Wildlife Foundation – Five Star Restoration Program

Partners include:

Landscape Architecture Department, Virginia Tech Urban Affairs & Planning Department, Virginia Tech

Biology, Forestry and Crop & Soil Environmental Science Departments, Virginia Tech Virginia Museum of Natural History at Virginia Tech & SEEDS volunteers

Town of Blacksburg, Parks & Recreation and Public Works Departments Montgomery County, Department of Planning & Inspections

Montgomery County, Department of Parks & Recreation Montgomery County, Office of County Administration

Blacksburg Natural Heritage Foundation Blacksburg Public School – Science Teachers

New River Land Trust

Foresters Incorporated; Willow Springs Tree Farms; Mill Brook Farms

USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service Virginia Department of Conservation & Recreation

Virginia Department of Forestry Virginia Department of Game & Inland Fisheries

Coordinated by: Lee R. Skabelund (VPI&SU) and Dean Crane (Blacksburg Parks & Recreation Dept.)

June 2007 (lrs) - area planted in 2004

Toms Creek Riparian Corridor Restoration Project

Project Objectives

Our vision is to rehabilitate and restore a more diverse and functional riparian corridor along Toms Creek and to retain a high level of water quality and ecological integrity throughout the

Toms Creek Watershed in the Town of Blacksburg and Montgomery County, Virginia.

Project Description

Building upon the master plan for the Town of Blacksburg’s Heritage Community Park and Natural Area, this project begins the process of riparian, wetland, and bottomland restoration within the Toms Creek Watershed by coordinating efforts to:

monitor existing conditions within wetlands and riparian areas along Toms Creek;

prepare rehabilitation and restoration plans for the Toms Creek Corridor where it flows through the Town’s Heritage Community Park & Natural Area (formerly “Brown Farm” – where forests were cleared for agriculture in the 1800’s and

wetlands and riparian areas were degraded by grazing through the late 1990’s);

develop a concept plan for other restoration activities along Toms Creek;

encourage the reduction of harmful development and agricultural impacts within the Toms Creek Watershed, and inviting all landowners to use their land in ways that protect water-quality and improve the biological integrity of the watershed;

implement initial riparian and bottomland hardwood forest rehabilitation and restoration plantings at the Brown Farm site (involving local citizens, businesses, environmental groups, teachers/students from Virginia Tech, and local

elementary, middle and high schools in the planting and monitoring phases);

establish a long-term monitoring effort through the work of project partners, particularly Virginia Tech’s Museum of Natural History, soils, forestry and hydrology experts at Virginia Tech, Forested Incorporated, and the Town of Blacksburg’s

Parks and Recreation Department; and

initiate discussions about the most effective methods to protect the Toms Creek Corridor over the long-term by holding a Toms Creek restoration/rehabilitation workshop.

Virginia Tech, the Town of Blacksburg, Montgomery County, USDA-NRCS, and groups such as the New River Valley Bird Club,

Blacksburg Natural Heritage Foundation, and New River Land Trust, will provide information about the opportunities to conserve riparian and wetland ecosystems within the Toms Creek Watershed, and about specific restoration techniques.

Why the project is needed: “Bottomland Forests [in Virginia] have been severely impacted by clearing, grazing, agricultural run-off, and invasive weeds.

Many of these forests have been destroyed and few, if any, of the remaining stands are in excellent or pristine condition.” (Virginia DCR, Natural Heritage Tech. Report 01-14 – Sep. 2001, pg. 221).

This project allows us to begin restoring these important riparian communities, and to do so in a location having high public visibility. As a result, we have the opportunity for long-term citizen involvement, as well as monitoring, research, and environmental/restoration ecology education. Importantly, this project helps fulfill each of the major goals of the Skyline Soil and Water Conservation District’s

2000-2005 Strategic Long Range Plan, including conservation education and conservation activities.

Specific on-the-ground restoration activities have been undertaken on-site to help achieve our project objectives. Initial riparian corridor and bottomland hardwood forest rehabilitation/restoration plantings at the Heritage Park and Natural Area include:

TREES

red maple - Acer rubrum; river birch - Betula nigra; common hackberry - Celtis occidentalis; green ash - Fraxinus pennsylvanica; red mulberry - Morus rubra; bur oak - Quercus macrocarpa; pin oak – Quercus palutris; American sycamore - Platanus occidentalis

SHRUBS

alder - Alnus serrulata; bottonbush - Cephalanthos occidentalis; silky dogwood - Cornus amomum; spicebush - Lindera benzoin

To minimize browsing, tree shelters are used for the majority of plantings. Most species are planted bare root with porous, biodegradable “tree mats” to reduce herbaceous competition.

Some larger ball-and-burlap trees have been donated and planted to create short-term structural diversity. Chestnut oak, red oak, white oak, white ash, sugar maple, flowering dogwood, hazelnut, and a few pines have been planted in upland areas.

Monitoring vegetation, soils and hydrology has been established in Heritage Park’s wetlands – so that future project work can be targeted to

site-specific conditions and needs, including projects that address invasive species concerns. If deemed appropriate, old agricultural ditches at the park will be plugged to restore wetlands degraded by the loss of adequate hydrology, by siltation, and by cattle grazing.

June 2007 photo (lrs) - areas planted in 2004

March 19, 2005 Planting Crew

April 2, 2005 Planting Crew

March 27, 2004 Plantings (photo by s. martin)

April 3, 2004 Planting Crew / April 2, 2005 Planting Work

April 2, 2005 Plantings (photo by lee Skabelund)