Seasons
Spring 2012
The Greening of Maplewood
Our Changing World
By Virginia Gaynor, Natural Resources Coordinator To understand Maplewood’s natural world, it’s helpful to travel back in time – geologic time. So imagine you’re in Maplewood, millions of years ago. You’re adrift on a vast continental sea. Seas advance and retreat, depositing sediments that solidify into layers of sedimentary rock. This became the bedrock that underlies Maplewood today – sandstone, shale, dolomitic limestone, and dolostone. Fast forward to the Maplewood of 12,50020,000 years ago and you’re standing on a mile-high glacier. The ice sheet that traveled here from the northeast brought with it granite, sandstone, and basalt; the ice sheet from the northwest carried limestone and shale. When the climate warmed the glaciers retreated northward, depositing boulders and glacial till (rocks and soil) and carving the landforms we have today. The materials left by the last glaciers are the parent material for the soils in Maplewood, a
diverse palette from sandy and gravelly to heavy clay and organic peat. Soils, topography, and climate set the stage for plant life. In the cool years following the glaciers’ retreat, spruce trees thrived here. As the climate warmed, these were replaced by pine and oak. Continued warming brought prairies and then cooling shifted the area back to trees. More warm years shifted the landscape back towards savannas and woodlands.
to the decline of some animals. But today, Maplewood is home to a diverse suite of reptiles, amphibians, fish, birds, and mammals. Some are common like raccoons and cardinals. Occasionally people have the thrill of seeing a mink or a coyote. This past year, several residents reported watching fox kits play in our Neighborhood Preserves. Animals that had disappeared from the area, such as wild turkey, have re-established in the past several years.
If you’d been among the early settlers seeking farmland in Maplewood in the late 1850’s, you would have looked out over a landscape of wetlands, oak woodlands, and oak savannas (scattered oaks with prairie grasses and wildflowers). These are the primary native plant communities of Maplewood. Farming and development dramatically altered our landscape, but remnants of our native plant communities can still be found today in parks, natural areas, and backyards.
Change has been the one constant in the story of nature in Maplewood. Our chapter today is the story of stewardship. Small urban natural areas need help recovering from the heavy impacts of urbanization. The City is committed to a long-term effort to manage and enhance its natural areas. We salute the many residents that help on public lands or care for backyard natural areas – removing buckthorn and invasive species, planting native wildflowers and grasses, and improving habitat for insects, birds, and wildlife.
Plant communities, of course, are habitat for animals. At the time of white settlement, species like elk and wolf inhabited Maplewood. Habitat loss and hunting led
Exploring Maplewood Native Plant Communities
Oak Woodland - Oak woodlands thrive at preserves like the Priory and on private lands.
Oak Savanna - Small savannas at Wakefield Park and Priory Preserve are our best remaining examples.
Wetlands – Maplewood has over 300 wetlands of many different types.