Riparian planting along the South Branch
(site pics
here)
The second site is located along
the South Branch of the Potomac River downstream of Romney, WV.
The stream was fenced in the late 1990s by the US Fish and Wildlife
Service Partners with Wildlife program. The landowners hoped
that substantial natural tree recruitment would occur at the site
over time, but it has not.
Native hardwood trees were
planted in April 2005 more or less on a 20' X 20' spacing, and
shrubs and smaller trees were planted on a 12' X 12' spacing.
At the South Branch site, half of the trees and shrubs were planted
with tubes and half without to assess relative success and survival.
All were planted with weedmats.
On
6/14/2006, 6/14/2007, and 10/4/2007, CI staff and Alana Hartman (WVDEP, Potomac Basin Coordinator)
conducted thorough assessments of this riparian planting.
This site has heavy "weed" growth that makes it difficult to find
many of the plants; however, unlike the rapid assessment
conducted in 2005, in 2006 we
attempted to find everything. This was very difficult
with the no-tube plantings and we certainly did not find them all.
Living trees and shrubs that were poking above the tops of tubes
(trees in 4' tubes and shrubs and smaller trees in 2' tubes) were
assessed for signs of recent browse damage.
Results of "tube" plantings. Overall
survival, as indicated by living leaves seen on a plant, dropped
from 81% in 2005 to 79% in June 2006. to 77% in June 2007, to 69% in
October 2007. Percentage of trees with recent browse damage
varied tremendously, but was much higher in the fall than the
spring. However, recent browse damage
is only part of the story, because almost every living plant that
had not been recently browsed was severely stunted and showed signs of
past browsing events.
Results of "no-tube" plantings.
Plants without tubes (weedmats only) fared much more poorly. Overall
survival at plant sites that could be found, as indicated by living leaves seen on a plant, dropped from
48% in 2005 to 41% in June 2006. to 34% in June 2007, to 25% in
October 2007. Percentage of trees with recent browse damage
varied tremendously, but was much higher in the fall than the
spring. However, recent browse damage
is only part of the story, because almost every living plant that
had not been recently browsed was severely stunted and showed signs of
past browsing events.
Of the surviving no-tube plants, most are of one
species - Washington Hawthorne (Crataegus
phaenopyrum). This seems
to be the only species of the
eleven species planted
that can withstand repeated deer browsing.
We noticed some natural recruitment of ash, hickory,
locust, cherry, and maple tree seedlings - but have little hope for
their survival.