FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Nasami Farm Roaring Brook Restoration Walk

New England Wild Flower Society opens Roaring Brook Restoration Walk April 14, 2012.

Scott LaFleur and Debbi Edelstein hold Interpretive Signage

Whately, Massachusetts - New England Wild Flower Society announced today the Roaring Brook Restoration Walk will open to the public April 14, 2012. Scott LaFleur, the Society’s Horticulture Director, stated, “This represents several years of planning and work to bring this project to the public. We are very excited about the soil management research being conducted as well as the new interpretive signage which gives the public an understanding of our ongoing work. Several local cultural councils provided grants to create the signage.”

Managing for Wildlife

When New England Wild Flower Society began the restoration of the land around Roaring Brook, the banks of the stream were heavily infested with invasive plants, which had to be removed before any corrective planting could be done. In addition, there are rare wood turtles and ground-nesting birds which inhabit a significant portion of the area. To prepare the land for restoration, the Society’s conservation staff applied for and received a Landowner Incentive Program grant from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for two management projects at Nasami Farm: removing infestations of multiflora rose (Rosa multiflora) and oriental bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus) from 15 acres of thickets and old field communities, and managing 10 acres of hayfields to benefit rare wood turtles and ground-nesting birds, including bobolinks, killdeer, Eastern meadowlarks, and savannah sparrows.

Three Test Sites

Once our conservation staff removed the bulk of these invasive species, we planned the restoration to include two areas and three test plots for research into different procedures for managing the soil within the 200-foot river protection zone. There will be ongoing invasive plant removal to protect the integrity of the research.

Sod Replacement Test

In Test Plot 1, a successional upland hardwood forest, we cleared all sod before replanting. After we installed the plants, the area was heavily mulched with leaf mulch. We will remove

competing species from the mulch area and add herbaceous plants in the coming years.

Lasagna Mulch Test

In Test Plot 2, we did not remove the sod but instead installed plants through the existing sod. Here we will use the lasagna mulch method to control competing species. Lasagna mulching is a "no till" method in which cardboard or newspaper, compost, and leaf mulch are layered on top of existing sod to smother it. The existing seed bed is untouched. Herbaceous plants will be installed directly through the layers.

Species planted in Area 1 included red maple (Acer rubrum), sugar maple (Acer saccharum), yellow birch (Betula alleghaniensis), gray birch (Betula populifolia), northern spicebush (Lindera benzoin), black tupelo (Nyssa sylvatica), swamp white oak (Quercus bicolor), flowering raspberry (Rubus odoratus), silky dogwood (Swida amomum), maple-leaved viburnum (Viburnum acerifolium).

Mowing Test
In the Roaring Brook Restoration Area 2, Test Plot 3 encompasses successional upland hardwood forest, wet meadow, and an alder swamp. The 10-acre restoration area of Test Plot 3 was mowed and then plants were installed through the existing meadow "turf.” The area will be minimally managed, and maintenance will consist of once-a-year mowing after October 1. This late mowing also protects the wood turtles and ground-nesting birds. No herbaceous layer will be added because existing meadow plants will provide the needed coverage.

Species planted in Area 2 included red maple (Acer rubrum), speckled alder (Alnus incana ssp. rugosa), common buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis), common winterberry (Ilex verticillata), Virginiana-creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia), swamp white oak (Quercus bicolor), pussy willow (Salix discolor), black elderberry (Sambucus nigra), smooth arrowwood (Viburnum dentatum)

The interpretive signage for this project was supported in part by a grant from the Conway, Deerfield, Hatfield, Sunderland, and Whately Cultural Councils, local agencies supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.

The mission of New England Wild Flower Society is to conserve and promote the region’s native plants to ensure healthy, biologically diverse landscapes. Founded in 1900, the Society is the nation’s oldest plant conservation organization and a recognized leader in native plant conservation, horticulture, and education. The Society’s headquarters, Garden in the Woods, is a renowned native plant botanic garden in Framingham, Massachusetts, that attracts visitors from all over the world. From this base, 35 staff and more than 1,000 volunteers work throughout New England to monitor and protect rare and endangered plants, collect and preserve seeds to ensure biological diversity, detect and control invasive species, conduct research, and offer a range of educational programs. Classes and courses on botany, conservation, horticulture, and many field trips are scheduled in a variety of locations all over New England. The Society also operates a native plant nursery at Nasami Farm in western Massachusetts, which grows plants for retail customers and for landscaping and restoration projects, and has eight sanctuaries in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont that are open to the public.

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