Reforestation Efforts

Going through Sligo Creek, I notice a lot of good things being accomplished by the Friends of Sligo Creek, but I do have one concern. We put a great deal of effort in planting buffer trees along the creek. The benefits of trees along the creek are many. That is why I am concerned that we are not always following up on the tree planting projects once the trees are planted. I suppose it is always more interesting to start new tree planting projects than it is to maintain the trees that we already planted. Last year we planted trees near the corner of University Blvd. and Sligo Creek Parkway. I would say that over 100 man-hours were spent on that project, yet one year later several of the trees are dead; vines are starting to choke many of the trees; and numerous trees are currently under a large tree that fell during Hurricane Isabel.

At least a dozen new trees buried under this storm felled tree at University Blvd. tree site.	New tree near University Blvd. being buried by porcelainberry and mile-a-minute vines.

Two years ago Friends of Sligo Creek planted trees near Forest Glen Road. The situation there is not any better. At one end of the new tree buffer, invasive vines are swallowing the new trees. We also need to spend more effort examining the effectiveness of our projects. The plastic sleeves protecting the new trees do not look very effective. We should be going back and determining if there are better means of protecting these trees, and if necessary, we should replace the ineffective tree protection. I have seen five-foot-tall wire cages protecting trees at the American Elm Park in Upper Sligo Creek that appear far more effective.

Vines invading new tree buffer at the Forest Glen tree-planting site.	There's a new tree under there! Forest Glen site.

At this rate, if nothing is done, all the money and effort spent growing the trees in the nursery, planning the projects, and planting the trees will have been totally wasted. To be effective we must follow-up, even if it means not doing any more tree plantings in the future. Should we plant new trees if we cannot maintain what we have already planted? I would like to know if there are any members out there that are interested in addressing the less glamorous task of maintenance. If you are interested, please e-mail me.

On Oct. 28, MNCPPC sprayed the invasive vines in new University Blvd. tree buffer with herbicide. No vines were removed. The Hurricane Isabel felled tree was removed from the lower end of the University Blvd. tree buffer and the damaged cages were repaired on Nov. 1.

Photo at the lower end of the buffer after the hurricane fallen tree was removed.