2016 Field Notes: IS Management

The week of June 20th was a busy one for Western New York PRISM, who partnered up with the Western New York Land Conservancy in the fight against invasive species. WNY PRISM was able to assist the Land Conservancy at two of their most recently acquired preserves, Stella Niagara and the Niagara Escarpment, removing a variety of invasive species via both chemical and mechanical means.

The week started Monday with the WNY PRISM crew heading to the Niagara Escarpment preserve near Lockport. This 36 acre preserve contains a mix of forested upland area and a prairie/grassland restoration area. This was the second year in a row that WNY PRISM assisted in management at the preserve. We performed a variety of tasks including cut stump treatments, backpack foliar spraying, and hand pulling of a variety of plant species found on the property. Phragmites, reed canarygrass, pale swallow-ort, bush honeysuckles, common privet, common buckthorn, and multi-flora rose are the most abundant invasive species found on the preserve. Throughout the two days WNY PRISM was able to cover a sizeable portion of the preserves upland area, as well as much of the prairie edge. The crew finished up Tuesday removing numerous honeysuckles west of the central trail.

Wednesday and Thursday of that week, the WNY PRISM crew worked at the beautiful Stella Niagara Preserve, a 29 acre restoration project taking place along the bank of the Niagara River. The project, which aims to reintegrate native plants into the people friendly and

educational setting, is being directed by Landscape Architect Darrell Morrison and appears to be well underway. Upon first glance it appears as though the preserve is striped and bare, but visitors will quickly realize that this is simply the beginning of the restoration. The Land Conservancy has begun work by altering trails, making them more accessible to visitors, and restoring open areas by removing invasive species and preparing areas for native seeding.

Over our two days at Stella WNY PRISM was tasked with doing cut stump treatments in the Northern and Southern wooded areas. Some of the targeted species included common buckthorn, bush honeysuckle, and common privet, but the most targeted species by far was multi-flora rose. The cut stump work continued into Thursday, and wrapped up with majority of the preserves wooded areas being treated.

For more information on the Land Conservancy and these beautiful preserves, visit http://wnylc.org/.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This article was written by Ian Sansone, 2016 WNY PRISM Invasive Species Management Assistant