Capital-scale Ecological Restoration Projects NATIVE WARM-SEASON GRASSLANDS AND ENDANGERED MEADOW-NESTING BIRD HABITAT ($403,000) Beginning with its acquisition of the 160-acre Raytharn Farm in 1997, the Pennypack Trust has made a commitment to convert a majority of the historic farm to native, warm-season grass and wildflower meadows. Meadow and grassland-nesting birds are the most endangered group of birds on the East Coast of the United States because hay meadows are being allowed to revert to woodlands, are being used for row crops and are increasingly being developed. To date, approximately 60 acres of the farm have been planted in native grasses; 100 acres remain to be planted. Establishing native grasses involves eliminating the existing vegetation (i.e., non-native grasses and weeds), seeding native grasses onto the site, allowing the grasses to become established for at least one year, and then applying a selective herbicide that controls weeds but allows the grasses to dominate. Herbicide, planting and herbicide applicator labor, and the native grass seed are the most costly items for the first two years of the program. Thereafter, the fields must be mowed or burned on a regular basis to maintain the dominance of grasses.
FOREST RESTORATION Reforestation of Inverness Tract ($255,800) 9-acre tract of porcelainberry vineland and riparian corridor. The woodlands long ago were overwhelmed by porcelainberry, and then nearly all of the trees that remained standing were toppled by a tornado in 1999. As a result, the formerly wooded slope has become an impenetrable tangle of vines scrambling over pick-up-stick logs. The riparian corridor of Terwood Run, an urbanized Pennypack tributary that experiences severe flooding, has been largely denuded of vegetation and the banks have been eroded and undercut. Conditions are so challenging and overwhelming that the Trust has devoted no attention to Inverness. The upland needs to be mechanically cleared and then completely reforested; the riparian corridor needs streambank restoration. Forest restoration in Papermill Road Woods ($666,800) 137-acre second growth, even-aged woodlands about 80 years old. The Papermill Woodlands are important because they are the largest contiguous block of forest in the Pennypack Preserve and, with forest restoration sites in progress around the edges, represent the best potential for creating true forest interior habitat. Threats: Accelerating invasion by porcelainberry and multiflora rose; species homogeneity and paucity, with the canopy comprised largely of short-lived species reaching the end of their life spans; large canopy gaps in locations of old farmsteads; disposal of domestic garden debris in the center of the forest.
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master plan
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