Black locust blossoms

Flowers of Robinia pseudoacacia

Here in south central Kentucky, black locust (Robinia psudoacacia) is blooming. Several stands of young black locusts grow along the lane that leads uphill from the highway to our house. I enjoy the lovely fragrance of the blossoms each spring, and enjoy the memories of them until spring arrives again.

Bees are also drawn to the fragrance of the nectar-rich blossoms. An acre of honeylocust is said to produce 800 to 1200 pounds of honey. Moreover, the black locust blooms late enough in spring that the blossoms are rarely damaged by frost; thus, black locust is a reliable annual source for bees.

The benefits of planting black locust for honeybees have long been recognized. The following quotation from G. W. Demaree of Kentucky was included in a 1919 beekeeping manual:

"The time of year in which it blooms, nearly filling the interval between the late fruit-bloom and the white clover, makes it an exceedingly valuable auxiliary to the honey harvest in the Middle States, if not elsewhere. It is a most profuse honey-bearer, rivaling the famous linden in quality, and only inferior to the product of the latter in color.

Locust honey cannot be said to be dark in color. It is of rich pale-red color, when liquid; but when in the shape of combhoney, its appearance, if removed from the hive when first finished, is but little inferior to that of superior clover honey. It becomes exceedingly thick, if left with the bees till the cells are thoroughly sealed, and its keeping qualities are therefore most excellent.

The trees are planted by the side of fences, in waste places, and on poor, worn out lands. They may be propagated from the seeds, or by transplanting the young trees from one to three years old. If the ground is plowed in the spring, and the locust seeds planted on the hills with corn, or with other hill-crops, and cultivated the first year, the young trees will grow with great rapidity, even on very poor lands."

Source: First Lessons in Beekeeping (p. 123) by Camille Pierre Dadant. Published in 1919 by the American Bee Journal of Hamilton, Illinois.

American beech in winter

An easy tree to identify

• Q. Which tree trunk in this photograph is an American beech?
• A. The American beech is the second large trunk from the right.

American beech (Fagus grandifolia) can be easily identified, even at a distance and even in winter, by its very smooth, silvery-gray bark. A strong second hint is the bleached-out, dead leaves still clinging on the tree in January.

Beeches grow throughout most of the eastern United States. Where you see one beech tree, you will often see several. The American beech is the only member of the beech family known to reproduce through root suckers. Root suckering of beeches is more common in the northern part of its range, where thickets of beech or many saplings clustered around a larger trunk may be seen.

Beechnuts are a valuable wildlife food. In American Wildlife and Plants, authors Martin, Zim, and Nelson list 17 species of waterfowl, game birds, and song birds that eat beechnuts. Animals that have been observed eating the nuts include black bears, deer, beavers, red and gray foxes, porcupines, squirrels, chipmunks, mice, and of course, squirrels. Deer also browse the leaves and twigs.

Along the rural backroad of Todd County, Kentucky, where I photographed this beech, half a dozen beech trees grow within a hundred yard radius of this tree. This group of beeches grows on a northwest-facing, steep, fairly moist hillside above a small, narrow valley ("holler") where a creek flows.  I think the location could be described as a "messic ravine." 

In maturity, the American beech is a tall, broad tree -- up to 100 feet in height and 75 feet in width. Beeches are slow-growing trees that usually live 200-300 years, and they are strong-limbed trees that resist weather damage. The beech in the photo is probably several decades older than I am!

Hackberry: A great wildlife tree

Celtis, celtis occidentalis

Leaves and fruit of common hackberry (celtis occidentalis). Berries are indicated with arrows. Image from Wikipedia.

The small berries of hackberry trees are relished by many songbirds in fall and winter, including the bluebird, cedar waxwing, yellow-bellied sapsucker, mockingbird and robin. The reference book, American Wildlife and Plants,* lists over 25 different songbirds who include hackberries in their diet.

The berries are also eaten by gamebirds such as wild turkey, quail, doves and pigeons. And as you might expect, squirrels eat the berries, and so do beaver, possum, raccoons, skunks, gray fox, wood rats, and (in Texas) the ring-tailed cat.

Some species of hackberry trees are called sugarberries or honeyberries which helps to explain why the berries were used by the Native Americans and why people still use hackberries for jelly and wine.

One or more of the eight species of hackberries are found in nearly every state from the Rocky Mountains east. In western Kentucky where I live, our hackberries are celtis occidentalis or common hackberry.

For us, common hackberry is usually a medium to large tree, but in less hospitable conditions, it may not attain such size. It's a versatile tree that tolerates many growing conditions from wet to dry, but it doesn't like permanently swampy areas and it doesn't like acidic soil.

Forestry guide Steve Nix at About.com cautions that common hackberry produces surface roots that can interfere with lawn mowing and raise sidewalks. Think carefully about where to plant the tree, but do consider it because of its great wildlife value.

Cultivars are available from nurseries, or you can transplant a seedling from the wild in early spring or late fall. Starting them from seed requires some patience -- if planted outside, the seeds germinate in 1 to 2 years.

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Related:
Hackberry information page in the USDA Plants Database
Hackberry Emperor butterfly

* American Wildlife and Plants by Alexander Martin, Herbert S. Zim, and Arnold L. Nelson, published by McGraw Hill Book Company in 1951. The book is out of print, but it's often available from used book dealers.

Common hackberry in summer, Hopkinsville, KY

Two trees with red leaves in the fall

Autumn's earliest reds in these two Kentucky natives

In the earliest days of autumn, red leaves appear within the tangled, brushy fencerows of rural Kentucky roads. These bright spots of fall color are often provided by two native trees -- sumac, in its several species, and sassafras. I enjoy seeing them progress into an overall state of crimson as the season continues.

Sassafras (Sassafras albidium) can grow to be a large understory tree (up to 50 feet tall) in the woods. The larger sumacs, such as flameleaf (Rhus copallinum) and staghorn (Rhus typhina), can reach 35 feet of height in ideal conditions, such as at the sunny edge of a grove of trees. However, in the fencerows along roads, these trees don't often attain such heights.

Along the county and state roads, the road departments use regular mowing, brush cutters, and herbicides to discourage woody growth. Our regional electric company uses a horrible, aerial "bush hog" under power lines. It chops and breaks every growing thing to a 10-foot height. Farmers repair their fences and clear the trees and bushes from the fencerows from time to time.

These sorts of setbacks don't kill out the sumac and sassafras. Both these trees have extensive root systems that will shoot up new trees. Individual stems may perish, but sassafras and sumac colonies will persist as long as their root systems survive to send up root suckers. That explains the widespread occurrence of these two trees in the fencerows.

In addition, both trees produce fruit that is eaten by birds. When birds rest and roost on the fences and in the bushy growth of the fencerow, seed-laden droppings fall to the ground. This is one of nature's methods of  planting new trees.

Sumac provides one of nature's most reliable autumn reds. The fall colors of sassafras include bright yellow, orange, red, and purple.

Timber rattler threatened in Tennessee

Timber rattler habitat decreasing

I read an article about a timber rattler found on a Murfreesboro, TN, elementary school campus. Unfortunately, the school superintendent killed it, rather than calling an animal control service that might have been able to remove and relocate it without injury.

Timber rattlesnakes are considered threatened in Tennessee. In fact, it is illegal in Tennessee to kill, harm, or possess any native wild snake without a permit. The school superintendent was out of line, despite the circumstances.

Murfreesboro, TN, is a city of about 100,000 people that is located 35 miles southeast of Nashille. It is right in the middle of timber rattler country. The New York Department of Environmental Conservation describes the areas of the U.S. where timber rattlers have historically been found:

The range of the timber rattler extends from southern New Hampshire south through the Appalachian Mountains to northern Georgia and west to southwestern Wisconsin and northeastern Texas. Populations were once found on Long Island and in most mountainous and hilly areas of New York State, except in the higher elevations of the Adirondacks, Catskills and Tug Hill region. They are now found in isolated populations in southeastern New York, the Southern Tier and in the peripheral eastern Adirondacks. (Source)

The rattler in Murfreesboro was probably hunting. It was spotted late in the evening by walkers. A place with bits of food litter on the ground is a good place to hunt for rodents. During the warmer months of the year, timber rattlesnakes return regularly to favorite hunting spots within a 2 to 3 mile area of their winter den. The snake may have hunted on the school property many times.

The common name of the timber rattler derives from their attraction to rugged, timbered areas. Their winter dens are usually in an area where rock outcroppings, rock ledges, or loose rocks create sheltered nooks below the frost line.

Timber rattlers like a sunny, rocky knob near their den, where they can lie in the sun and warm up in the early spring. The rocks provide emergency shelter in case of a change in the weather or a predator, while the snakes are still not moving at full speed. Pregnant females bask on warm sunny rocks for much of the summer as their babies develop.

Despite their common name, timber rattlesnakes are not particularly good at climbing trees; their heavy bodies don't lend themselves to shinnying up tree trunks. It's rare to see one high in a tree. However, they are considered one of the better climbers of the rattlesnake family.

In the woods, timber rattlers often hunt around fruit trees or mast trees (oaks, hickories, beech) because the fruit and nuts attract rodents. Squirrels are said to be an important part of their diet. They also hunt in newly-mowed meadows or recently-harvested fields, when such areas are within their range. There, they feast on voles, moles, gophers, mice, and rats.

Timber rattlers are usually not aggressive. They prefer to rattle rather than fight.The vast majority of bites from timber rattlers occur when people attempt to handle them. The bites are rarely fatal, though they are very painful. Some members of the Appalachian snake handling churches have reportedly been bitten dozens of times by timber rattlers. Deaths are typically because victims do not seek medical attention promptly.

Murfreesboro is currently the fastest growing city in Tennessee and one of the fastest growing cities in the nation. It added about 20,000 residents in a recent five-year period, according to statistics in Wikipedia.

As Murfreesboro and Nashville sprawl toward each other, development is taking up more and more timber rattler habitat. A Murfreesboro realtor writes, "But even with the growing demand, the Nashville area is still a reasonable market. Rolling hills covered with bright, green foliage makes the Middle Tennessee area a perfect place for families and business." That's bad news for timber rattlers.

On the web:
Timber rattlesnake conservation study at Cumberland University -- You-Tube video -- Professor Danny Bryan implants a radio device to track movement of a medium-size, male timber rattler for up to two years.

The Timber Rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus): How to tell if you actually saw one!

Public domain timber rattler photo from Wikipedia by TimVickers. Note the large scales on the body, small scales on the head above the eyes, elliptical (oval) pupils of the eye, triangular shape of the head, and comparatively small neck.

The tree-hugger goes to the zoo

Native trees observed at the Nashville Zoo

When I was at the Nashville (TN) zoo last weekend, I enjoyed seeing the trees almost as much as I enjoyed the animals. The zoo is being developed on Grassmere, a historic 200-acre farm that was south of Nashville until the city grew around it. We visit every two or three years, and every time we go, new exhibits have been opened and more animals added.

How the zoo came to Grassmere

Elise and Margaret Croft were the last private owners of Grassmere. The two elderly sisters lost their main income when their family's sugar plantations in Cuba were nationalized by Castro in 1960. The city of Nashville had surrounded their farm by that time, and the property taxes were too expensive for them to pay. They could have sold the farm to developers, but they felt it would be a desecration of the land and a betrayal of the wild animals who lived there.

In 1964, the Croft sisters reached an agreement with the Children's Museum of Nashville that the Children's Museum would pay the taxes and help with the maintenance of the large old house. The Croft sisters would be able to live on the farm for the rest of their lives, and the museum would inherit the property when they died. They were lovers of nature, so they stipulated that the land could be used only as a nature study center.

Margaret Croft passed away in 1974. Custody of the land was assumed by the Children's Museum of Nashville in 1985, following the death of Elise, and in 1997, the Nashville Zoo took over the property.

Bamboo forest in the native woods

A visit to the Nashville Zoo at Grassmere has always been like a walk in the woods. I don't know when the property was last farmed seriously, but it was a long time ago -- decades, maybe even most of a century. Wherever I look around the zoo, I see woods. Some of the property has been cleared for animal enclosures, facilities for people, etc., but otherwise, it appears that the trees have taken over. Many of the trees are tall, mature specimens, suggesting that they've been growing for quite a while.

There's a new part of the zoo called the "Bamboo Trail", and the name is appropriate. Tall stands of bamboo grow thickly along the paths and the animals who are kept in that area are natives of bamboo forests. It's interesting to experience bamboo as a forest. (Photo at right: looking straight up from a park bench along the Bamboo Trail.)

Still, as a native tree enthusiast, I'm concerned about this "bamboo garden displaying a wide variety of bamboo found around the world," as the Nashville Zoo website describes it.

Bamboo is renown for being invasive; some species are more invasive than others. I hope the landscapers have some foolproof system of barriers to keep it all contained. If not, mature trees in adjoining areas are going to have fierce competition for resources, and the understory won't stand a chance.

My concerns are not unfounded. Look closely at the photo of the Alligator Cove sign and you will see many young bamboo shoots. This sign is in a wooded area that adjoins the Bamboo Trail. I hope they are clipping the invasive shoots like these to give to the animals!

Native trees at Grassmere

Around the main visitor's center, a dozen or more Magnolia grandifolia have been planted. They are young trees, but they're growing nicely. They are 30 to 40 feet tall now. It's late summer, so their fruit is beginning to form. I think Nashville is a little north of the true native range of Southern magnolia, but they can be grown there (and even farther north) successfully.

Elsewhere in the zoo, there are big beautiful hackberries (lots and lots of hackberries), beeches, hickories, cottonwoods, tulip poplars, maples, black walnuts (photo at left), oaks and redcedars. (I am just mentioning some of the most common tall trees I saw.)

I realize that the zoo is going to clear some wooded areas as exhibits are developed. I understand that the animals need winter quarters and roads to bring in food for them. I know that the visitors must have parking lots for their cars.  I even realize that some visitors are going to consider the native trees "run-of-the-mill" compared with the bamboo forest.

However, I hope the zoo developers will conserve, protect, and propagate the beautiful native trees of Grassmere wherever they can. I am positive that the trees were part of what Elise and Margaret Croft hoped to permanently protect on their farm. It would be impossible to live there and not love the trees.

- - - - - - - - - -

One last thing that I want to mention -- and this is probably true of all zoos -- I read in a Nashville Zoo press release that the zoo needs unwanted vegetation such as tree trimmings, especially in the winter.

Species particularly mentioned as desirable are hackberry, elm, redbud, sweetgum, hickory, willow and -- bamboo. The vegetation is given to the animals for "physical and mental stimulation". The zoo calls it "browse."

Because of what the animals can eat and what they like, some tree clippings are are not suitable. The zoo will NOT accept oak, sycamore, tulip poplar, cherry, maple, walnut, locust, or any evergreen tree.

Front lawn of the Grassmere home

Buzzard Tree

Dead tree a preferred perch for raptors

I've been watching this old oak tree for years. It stands by itself on a hilltop along a highway I travel frequently. The weather has been hard on it in recent winters. It has lost several branches, and I'm not sure it's going to leaf out this year.

Today, when I passed by the old oak on my way home from work, several buzzards were resting in its upper branches. From the top of the tree on top of the hill, they have an unobstructed view for miles around. The lack of leaves is a plus.

I an still hoping that the tree will eventually get some leaves this year. But if it has died, I hope the landowner will leave it standing for the birds. Raptors (birds of prey), such as the turkey buzzards in the photo, enjoy perching on dead trees, and the location of this one is perfect for them.

Other users of dead trees

Cavity nesters who need dead trees include woodpeckers, bluebirds, nuthatches, chickadees, house wrens, tree swallows, screech owls and more. Birds that build nests in the branches of dead trees include eagles.

Other wildlife, such as squirrels, deer mice, weasels, raccoons, and bats, use hollows in dead trees for shelter.  In fact, the Natural Resources Conservation Service states that dead trees provide homes for more than 400 types of birds, mammals, and amphibians.

Related post: Woodman, spare that (dead) tree

This article is my contribution to the 100th Festival of I and the Bird which will be published on May 14, 2009, on the Nature Blog Network's blog.

What Trees Do Beavers Prefer?

Popular trees on the beaver's menu

The passage about Teddy Roosevelt's "beavered-down" trees aroused my curiosity about beavers. I've read several dozen webpages this evening, trying to learn exactly what trees they prefer.

I've read about beavers chewing down white cedars and cherry trees in Washington D.C., elm, cottonwood, hackberry and maple in Tennessee, and willow, maple, birch, aspen, cottonwood, beech, poplar, and alder trees in New Hampshire. In Colorado, willow, aspen and cottonwood are mentioned again.

On several sites, I read that beavers prefer to cut down soft-wooded trees which enables harder-wooded species like oaks and hickories to get more sunshine and flourish. However, Bob Arnebeck provides images of oak trees taken down by beavers, so I wonder if that theory holds true.

American Wildlife and Plants by Martin, Zim, and Nelson (full citation at bottom of the page) cites the following trees as used by beaver in various parts of the U.S.:  poplar (cottonwoods and aspens), willow, birch, hazelnut, serviceberry, maple, alder, ash, sweetgum, pine, dogwood, oak, sycamore, redcedar, and Douglasfir.

According to Martin, et al, poplar trees are especially important to the beaver's diet in the Northeast U.S. and in the West, and sweetgum makes up a significant portion of their diet in the Southeast.

I can testify from personal knowledge and observation that beavers in the Nebraska Sandhills thrive in little streams with willows on the banks.

Why do beavers cut down trees? They eat the bark and wood, as well as using the branches in their dams and lodges.

Photo of the "beavered-down" tree courtesy of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

A Handsome White Oak

One of my favorite trees in our neighborhood

One of our neighbors has a beautiful, big white oak in his front yard. He didn't plant it. It has been growing for many, many years.

I knew an old man who was born in this house. He has passed away now, but if he were living, he would be about 90. He told me that the tree was there when he was a child, and it was a big tree then (at least to his little eyes.)

I took this photograph about ten years ago. Since then, our neighbor has torn down the old house and built a new house.

I was a little worried that the tree might be hurt during the construction, but I think it's going to be all right. It probably didn't have many roots where the new house was built, directly behind the site of the old house.

This is one of my favorite trees. Even though I don't own it, I enjoy seeing it and I have an affectionate concern for it.

According to Gary Hightshoe's Native Trees, Shrubs, and Vines for Urban and Rural America (see book info at the bottom of this column), one of the sites that the white oak (Quercus alba) likes is "moist, warm, south, or west facing slopes."

The white oak in the photo grows on a gentle slope that faces south, just above a river. In fact, the river is about 100 yards from the sign in the foreground of the photo. White oaks can't tolerate flooding, but even on the rare occasion that the river is out of its banks, this tree is far enough up the slope that it won't stand in water.

It's hard to guess how old it might be. White oaks are very slow growing , but they are very long-lived. They usually live 350 to 400 years, and they often live 500 years or more. Truly, when you plant a white oak, you plant it for your grandchildren and their grandchildren.

You could also say that you plant it for the birds and animals. White oak acorns are the least bitter of all the oak mast. They are a valuable food for a wide range of birds and animals. Even bears will eat white oak acorns.

Related:
Quercus alba info in the USDA Plants database
White oak info at the Virginia Tech. Dept of Forestry website

Hawthorn trees and wildlife

Berries of the Washington hawthorn, Crataegus phaenopyrum

These cheery red berries are the autumn fruit of a thorny little Washington hawthorn tree I planted about a dozen years ago. I got it in a bundle of ten free ornamental trees from Arbor Day Foundation.

Washington Hawthorns bloom late in spring, so this tree's blossoms were not affected by the late freeze last spring. It's loaded with berries. In fact, I think it has the most fruit of any tree I've seen this fall. Many of the fall-fruiting trees and shrubs have nothing at all because their blossoms were frozen.

American Wildlife and Plants (see bibliographic info at the bottom of this page) has the following comment about hawthorn berries:

The small apple-like fruits are not used by wildlife to nearly so great an extent as might be anticipated. Fox sparrows and cedar waxwings are the principal songbird users.

The authors note that up to 25% of the diets of fox sparrows and cedar waxwings may consist of hawthorn berries, in areas where hawthorns are common. They also list about a dozen birds and over a dozen small and large animals that include small amounts of hawthorn berries in their diets (up to 2% of their total diet.)

In a winter of scarce food, I suspect those birds and animals would be glad enough to find a hawthorn tree full of berries.

Hawthorns belong to the rose family, as you might guess when you experience their long, sharp thorns. They are a favorite nesting place for birds. The mockingbirds have a nest in this tree every year.

Sumac: Bright red color in autumn

Rhus species

The sumac in the image above is growing in a fence row along a road in Christian County, KY. Here in Kentucky, we also see sumacs growing at the edges of forests, in open areas in the woods, on sunny hillsides, and in old fields. They can soak up a lot of sun in such locations (one of the requirements of these small trees.)

Every state in the continental USA has one or more native sumacs. There are 15 or more different native species, not counting poison-ivy, poison-oak, and poison-sumac which are also in the Rhus genus.

I didn't try to identify the sumac in the photo above, but it is probably Rhus glabra (smooth sumac) or Rhus typhinia (staghorn sumac), both of which are common in this area. It's a young tree, judging by the spindly size of its trunk and the lack of fruit.

The sumacs I know, staghorn and smooth, produce a large colorful head of berries that holds on through the winter. The small berries don't have much pulp -- they are mostly seed. They are not a "first-choice" wildlife food, but they are important because many birds and animals eat sumac seeds when the supply of more desirable winter food is exhausted.

In the garden, either of these sumacs has year-round visual appeal. Their seedheads are interesting in winter. In the warm months, their long compound leaves have an exotic look. In autumn, they have vivid color. They will grow in almost any soil, even dry, gravelly areas where little else will survive, and they grow very quickly.

Two warnings about using sumac as an ornamental:

1. Sumacs form a clump by sending up root suckers.
2. Sumacs have weak wood that breaks easily in severe weather.

In my own experience with sumac, these problems haven't been too difficult to deal with. The suckers are controlled easily enough by mowing regularly. Some branches have broken in storms but we don't have the trees near our house, and they aren't very large trees anyway.

Post oak leaves

Quercus stellata

Many articles that describe post oaks mention their cross-shaped leaves. Often, it's said that the leaf resembles a Maltese cross. Perhaps you can see the resemblance in the shapes of the leaf at left and the Maltese cross at right.

The post oak leaves in the photo above are a bit ragged, but some of them do demonstrate the cross-like shape that is typical of post oaks in this area.

Post oaks are quite drought resistant. This post oak retained its leaves during the past summer of extreme drought, while some drought-sensitive trees in our area dropped a good portion of their leaves or even died.

Post oaks often grow in areas that tend to be dry, such as "rocky or sandy ridges and dry woodlands with a variety of soils" (according to the USDA Forest Service.) True to form, this post oak is growing on a knoll on top of a long, broad ridge. In the fence row between two farms, with a field on one side and a pasture on the other, it gets the full access to sunshine that it needs.

Mature post oaks may reach 50 or more feet in height and about the same distance in spread. They are slow-growing trees, but long-lived, often surviving 300 to 400 years. Their acorns are eaten by a wide variety of birds and animals. (If you look carefully, you can see a few acorns on the branch in the photo.)

Three things that post oaks don't like and may not survive are:
1. Standing in water
2. Trying to grow in shade
3. Having their roots disturbed or their soil compacted.

If you want a post oak in your yard, you'll probably have to plant it yourself. The acorns germinate in the fall, so look for them right now and plant them soon.

If you're building in an area where there are already post oak trees, don't drive on the ground under them. The best way to protect them during construction is to install a fence that encompasses the entire area beneath their canopy.

Related:
Images of post oaks

Passenger Pigeons in Kentucky's Oak Forests

All the forces of nature cannot bring back extinct species

An excerpt from an old book:

... As civilisation advances upon the forest, the wild species retreat; when the forest falls, the wild species are gone. Every human generation during these centuries has a last look at many things in Nature. No one will ever see them again: Nature can never find what she has once lost: if it is gone,it is gone forever.

What Wilson records he saw of bird life in Kentucky a hundred years ago reads to us now as fables of the marvellous, of the incredible. Were he the sole witness, some of us might think him to be a lying witness. Let me tell you that I in my boyhood—half a century later than Wilson's visit to Kentucky —beheld things that you will hardly believe.

The vast oak forest of Kentucky was what attracted the passenger pigeon. In the autumn when acorns were ripe but not yet fallen, the pigeons filled the trees at times and places, eating them from the cups. Walking quietly some sunny afternoon through the bluegrass pastures, you might approach an oak and see nothing but the tree itself, thick boughs with the afternoon sunlight sparkling on the leaves along one side. As you drew nearer, all at once, as if some violent explosion had taken place within the tree, a blue smoke-like cloud burst out all around the tree-top — the simultaneous explosive flight of the frightened pigeons.

Or all night long there might be wind and rain and the swishing of boughs and the tapping of loosened leaves against the window panes; and when you stepped out of doors next morning, it had suddenly become clear and cold. Walking out into the open and looking up at the clear sky you might see this: an arch of pigeons breast by breast, wing-tip to wing-tip, high up in the air as the wild geese fly, slowly moving southward. You could not see the end of the arch on one horizon or the other: the whole firmament was spanned by that mighty arch of pigeons flying south from the sudden cold. Not all the forces in Nature can ever restore that morning sunlit arch of pigeons flying south...

Quoted from The Kentucky Warbler (p. 148-150) by James Lane Allen, published in 1918 by Doubleday, New York.

Technorati tags: passenger pigeons, oak forests, extinct species, extinct birds, Kentucky forests

Oak-Grassland Restoration Demonstration Areas at Land Between the Lakes, Kentucky

Restoring a lost ecosystem

Land Between the Lakes (LBL) is a long narrow strip of land that lies between Lake Barkley and Kentucky Lake in western Kentucky. This inland peninsula was formerly owned by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). In 1998, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) took over ownership, and LBL is now a National Recreation Area operated by the U.S. Forest Service.

Boating, fishing, camping, and hunting (in season) brings many visitors to LBL. LBL also has an elk and bison reserve, a telescope and a planetarium, an 1860's farm ("The Homeplace"), a nature center, historic sites, and more. There is a significant bald eagle population.

Oak-grasslands restoration planned

Two Oak-Grassland Restoration Demonstration Area (OGRDA), are now being planned and developed. Over 8000 acres will be restored. One area will be located in Tennessee near The Homeplace and the other area will be in Kentucky near the elk and bison range.

When restoration is complete, the oak-grasslands will "create habitat for wildlife, improve forest health, and provide recreational and environmental education opportunities." This promise is quoted from an informational pamphlet published by the USDA Forest Service: Oak-Grassland Restoration Demonstration Areas, Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area.

The open forests of the past

Today, the upland area included in Land Between The Lakes is mainly a dense, solid-canopied forest. It was not always so. According to old writings and other ecological evidence, the forest was much more open at the time Europeans came to the area. The canopy admitted enough sunlight that a wide variety of grasses and wildflowers covered the ground between and beneath the trees. Areas of open forest were interspersed with grasslands.

Fire was the primary agent that kept the forests open. The American Indians and early settlers deliberately burned the woods on a semi-regular basis.

How the oak-grasslands will be restored

In OGRDA, LBL will re-create the following pre-European conditions:

On upper slopes and ridges across the area, grasslands (less than 10 percent canopy closure) and open oak woodlands (10-60 percent canopy closure) are interspersed in variable mixtures. Understories are dominated by native grasses and wildflowers. Most mid- and lower-slopes support open oak forests (60-80 percent canopy closure), with understories containing regenerated oaks in sufficient numbers to provide for sustaining oak on these sites over time.

Source: PDF document: Abstract for an oral presentation, Tennessee Native Grasslands Workshop, January 24, 2007

First, the trees will be thinned to re-create an open woodland where grasses can flourish. Timber will be harvested with the goal of leaving behind scattered trees of various ages, especially oak and hickory trees. Some trees will be cut and left, to simulate the natural treefall that would occur in a oak-grassland.

Foresters will burn the oak-grassland areas on a regular schedule (every 2 to 12 years) to maintain the balance of trees, grasses, and other plants.

Benefits to plants, animals, and people

As the restoration procedes, it will help up to 40 species of native plants and animals that require a grasslands habitat.

These open conditions will benefit rare of declining species such as Barbed Rattlesnake Root, Barn Owl, Prairie Warbler, Northern Pine Snake and Northern Bobwhite Quail. Other species that will benefit include White-tail Deer, Fox Squirrel, and Wild Turkey.

Source: An informational pamphlet published by the USDA Forest Service: Oak-Grassland Restoration Demonstration Areas, Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area.

It would be nice if a population of prairie chickens could be re-established in the OGRDA.

The White-tail Deer in LBL don't need any help, in my humble opinion. The area is overrun with them. At one campground where we spent several days, young deer lurked in the woods near the campsites, apparently hoping to find food. At night, big herds of deer milled around the picnic tables and restroom facilities beside the lake.

Hiking, birding, and interpretive trails through the oak-grasslands have been promised. The trails will be an excellent educational and recreational resource.

Partners of the Oak Grasslands Restoration Demonstration Area

The following agencies and organizations are working together on the LBL oak-grasslands restoration project:

• USDA Forest Service
• National Wild Turkey Federation
• The Nature Conservancy
• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
• Quail Unlimited
• U.S. Fire Learning Network
• The Central Hardwoods Joint Venture

Read more about LBL and the oak-grasslands restoration

Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area (official website)
Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area (Wikipedia entry)
PDF document: A 2006 informational letter about the proposed oak-grasslands project in LBL

Technorati tags: oak-grasslands, Land Between The Lakes, LBL, ecosystem restoration, native grasslands, Tennessee grasslands, Kentucky grasslands

Swamp White Oak: Fast-Growing and Moisture-Loving

Quercus bicolor

Large swamp white oak in the Clay Plain forest
(a floodplain of the Hubbardton River in Vermont.)
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service photo

Swamp white oak is a native tree of many of the northeastern States, particularly the northern Ohio River valley and adjacent areas. (For a county by county map of where swamp white oak grows naturally, visit the Quercus bicolor page on the USDA/NRCS Plants Database, and click on the state that interests you.)

I was excited a few years ago when I finally spotted a swamp white oak. A nice specimen grows near a little creek at an I-24 rest-stop, very near the Ohio River in Illinois. It is growing in exactly the sort of place swamp white oak likes and needs. It prefers a damp site and will tolerate flooding.

It's very important for swamp white oak to have an acidic soil. A soil pH of 6.0 to 6.5 is perfect according to Gary Hightshoe's Native Trees, Shrubs, and Vines for Urban and Rural America*. The USDA/NSRC Plant Guide for Swamp White Oak suggests a soil pH of less than 7.2.

If you're thinking of planting this tree, get a soil test of the potential site through your local university extension office. And if you learn that your soil is alkaline, don't plant a swamp white oak.

A swamp white oak grown in alkaline soil will develop a condition called iron chlorosis. It will look ugly, grow poorly, and die much younger than it should. Iron chlorosis can be treated with various chemicals --but why set yourself up for all those problems?

The swamp white oak also requires soil that is in the finer half of the spectrum -- that is, it likes silts, clays, and loams much more than coarsely textured sandy or gravelly soils.

In the right place, Quercus bicolor will grow as much as 2 feet per year. It will have characteristics one expects of an oak:

1. It will be resistant to wind and ice damage.
2. It will be a nice shade tree.
3. It will be a great tree for wildlife, providing food to a wide range of species.

It would be easy to transplant a young swamp white oak if you find one in the wild. Swamp white oak has a spreading, shallow-growing root system.

Dig it up with as much dirt as possible using "ball and burlap" techniques to keep the soil in place. Plant it at the same depth that it was previously growing. The cool weather of spring or fall is the best time. Or collect the acorns in the fall and plant them yourself instead of relying on Mother Nature.

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*Bibliographical info for Native Trees, Shrubs, and Vines for Urban and Rural America by Gary L. Hightshoe is provided at the bottom of this column.

Feral pigs damage ecosystems

Releasing pigs into the forest was a terrible idea.

 Feral pigs at Cape Canaveral, FL -- NASA photo

Mast is an old-fashioned word. The term refers to fallen nuts and fruits that are available to wild animals as winter food.

Sometimes we still hear or read about "mast trees". Often the term is used when talking about food sources for wildlife. Personally, I think of mast trees mainly as oaks, hickories, beech, and walnuts.

While browsing through the archives of Scientific American on the Library of Congress website recently, I came across an article about raising pigs on mast.

In 1864 when the article was written, the American chestnut was plentiful, as well as nuts and acorns from the trees I mentioned above. The author, J.T.D. of Springfield, Illinois, also identifies pawpaw, persimmon, haw and the hazelnut as forms of mast.

J.T.D. wrote that hogs who fed on mast produced pork as good as that from corn-fed hogs. He believed that "sweet acorns" were some of the best mast for producing tasty pork. He advised anyone moving to the "West" (west of the Appalachians) to buy land suitable for turning pigs into the forest where they could eat for free.

Sources of U.S. feral pigs

Hogs set loose in the woods by long-ago farmers like J.T.D. are part of the reason there's a feral pig problem in many parts of the United States today. We can't blame the old-time farmers exclusively, though. There are several other sources of today's feral pigs:

1. Early Spanish explorers brought hogs to the New World, some of which went wild.
2. Hogs were released for hunting purposes in several areas of the U.S. about 100 years ago.
3. Some mindless people are releasing pigs into the wild to this day--illegally in most cases -- so they can hunt them.

Feral pigs: Spoilers of nature

Here are just a few reasons why it's undesirable to have feral pigs in the woods.

1. They compete directly with native wildlife for food.
2. They root and wallow in wildlife habitat, wetlands, stands of endangered plants, croplands, and anywhere they go.
3. They eat small animals and the eggs and young of ground-nesting birds.
4. They transmit disease to domestic stock, and even to humans.

Read more here:
Feral Hogs in Michigan
Feral Hogs: Wildlife Enemy Number One (Alabama)
History of Wild Boars
Google search for "feral hogs"

American beech seen at Fort Donelson, TN

A few notes about Fagus grandifolia

These beech trees grow at Fort Donelson National Battlefield at Dover, Tennessee, on a bluff overlooking the Cumberland River. They grow near each other, so it's likely that they are clones of each other. Beech trees send up suckers, and those suckers become beech trees that are genetically identical.

Beech trees are easily identified by their smooth, gray bark. Often the bark is not uniformly colored; it may have a splotchy gray appearance.

In a national battlefield, it is a federal crime to deface government property, but these trees have suffered a good bit of carving on their trunks.

Beech nuts are a valuable food for wildlife. The small, three-sided nut is borne in a prickly husk that splits open when the nut is ripe. The nut is enjoyed by a wide variety of birds and mammals, as well as man.

Beech trees prefer a mildly to moderately acidic soil and a fairly moist site with good drainage. They are not particularly susceptible to disease or weather damage, but they can be injured by drought, compacted soil, and chemicals that wash off streets. Young trees can be damaged by sunscald (long hours of intense sunshine.) They prefer -- and need! -- a shaded location.

Beech trees are slow-growing, but long-lived. They may live up to 300 years. I speculate that the trees in the photo are about 145 years old. It is likely that these bluffs were cleared of trees when the Confederate forces built fortifications here in 1861-62. These trees probably sprang up from roots in the ground after the site was abandoned by Union forces in 1863.

Best fruit trees for wildlife

Important food-producing trees for birds and animals

The title of this post --"best fruit trees for wildlife" -- was a search engine query that brought someone to this blog today.

This phrase brought several thoughts to mind.

• Wildlife eat some fruits that humans don't often eat (such as dogwood and red-cedar berries).
• Some fruits that humans eat are not eaten by many animals (such as pawpaws and wild plums.)
• Some trees produce nuts and seeds (not fruits) that are important wildlife foods.
• Wildlife often eat flower buds, leaves, bark and twigs, not just the fruit, nut, or seed.

Keeping all that in mind and remembering that the word "wildlife" means everything from hummingbirds to moose, here are some great native trees for wildlife.

Ashes Aspens Beech Birches Cherries Chokecherry Cottonwoods Crabapple Devil's walking-stick Dogwoods Elms Firs Hackberry Hawthorns

Hickories Maples Mulberry Oaks Persimmon Pines Pricklyash Redcedar Serviceberries Spruces Sumacs Viburnums Willows

Sources: Hightshoe, Martin, Zim & Nelson

To obtain information that is specific to your area, contact your county extension office and/or your state wildlife conservation office. Don't hesitate to consult them. After all, we are paying their salaries with our tax dollars. Most of these public servants are pleased to be asked and very willing to help.

Kentucky Birds and Oak Trees

Acorns are an important winter food for some birds.

Some Kentucky birds are likely to consume acorns as a part of their diet, particularly in winter. The sweeter acorns of the white oaks (white oak, post oak, bur oak, chestnut oak, etc,) are probably more widely eaten than the bitter, tannin-rich acorns of the red oaks (red oak, pin oak, scarlet oak, black oak, willow oak, etc.)

Wood Duck*
Bobwhite
Wild Turkey
Eastern Crow
Blue Jay
Eastern Meadowlark
White-breasted Nuthatch
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Brown Thrasher
Tufted Titmouse
Downy Woodpecker
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Red-headed Woodpecker
Carolina Wren

*The wood duck's winter range includes a few counties in southwestern Kentucky.

This list was compiled from American Wildlife and Plants (bibliographical info.)

Flowering dogwood: Beautiful in all seasons

Cornus florida

Flowers of Cornus florida
Morguefile photo by ronnieb

The dogwood is one of our loveliest native trees. It is highly attractive in all seasons, due to its graceful shape, upturned branches, attractive leaves, beautiful blossoms, and red fall foliage accompanied by red berries.

Dogwood has the added virtue of being a great wildlife tree. If you want to plant a beautiful tree that will attract birds, you can hardly go wrong with a dogwood. Its berries are eaten by many species of birds (as well as by a number of animals.) My neighbor has commented to me that she wishes the beautiful red berries would last into the winter, but the birds usually remove all the berries in short order.

Dogwood is also strong enough to withstand some wind and ice without serious damage, so that's a big plus for the tree.

It can grow up to 40 or 50 feet in height, and it will be about as wide as it is tall. In other words, you should allow a 25 foot radius around the tree's trunk when you plant it.

Sadly, dogwoods have been decimated by disease for the last few decades. During the 1970's, they began contracting dogwood anthracnose, a fungal infection that kills adult trees within three years and kills young trees in a single season.

Anthracnose has been particularly hard on the wild dogwoods that grow in forest conditions -- shady, humid areas with little air movement where fungus can thrive.

Dogwoods can also get spot anthracnose which spoils the appearance of the flowers and leaves, even though it's not usually fatal to the tree. Powdery mildew can also be a problem.

One of the preventive measures for dogwood anthracnose is to plant the dogwood where it gets full sun and good air circulation. It's also important to keep the tree in good health to improve its resistance. Cornell University suggests providing water during dry spells, avoiding injury to the trunk, removing leaf debris from under the tree, and spraying with fungicides during the spring.

The University of Tennessee Dogwood Research Group (UTDRG) identifies several cultivars that resist the various dogwood diseases. If I were planting a dogwood, I'd look for one of these rather than digging up a dogwood from the woods.

UTDRG developed the dogwood-anthracnose resistant cultivar "Appalachian Spring" which was released in 1998. I like it because it's 100% native dogwood, not a cross with a Korean dogwood. Hopefully, they'll eventually get a cultivar that's resistant to both spot and dogwood anthracnose and powdery mildew as well.

Meanwhile, don't be afraid to plant a dogwood. Look at all the beautiful, healthy dogwoods that are growing in other people's yards! Chances are good that you'll be able to grow a beautiful healthy dogwood too.

Related:  Dogwood thoughts for Easter