Those of you who have visited JK Black Oak Wildlife Sanctuary know about our struggles with invasive plants that dominate many parts of the property. During the June 6 work day we focused on invasive removal in one of the deer exclosure fences and trail maintenance. Unlike past June work days, the weather was pleasant under mostly sunny skies with moderate temperatures.
Photo by Gerco Hoogeweg.
The work day, co-led by Sheryl Weitzel and Gerco Hoogeweg, was attended by 13 participants who were split into two groups. The smaller group, armed with hedge trimmers and loppers, tackled the overhanging Autumn Olive (Elaegnus umbellata) along the Red trail and part of the Blue trail. The fast-growing, invasive Autumn Olive shrubs form thickets along the trails and their drooping branches make it difficult to mow, or even walk, on the trails. The hedge trimmers made short work of the branches which were dropped on the trail and then pushed aside onto brush piles using the tractor.
The larger group of volunteers focused on removing invasives inside the Black Gum vernal pool fence. The exclosure fence was installed around the pool and its catchment area in 2023. Since then, other projects have taken priority over maintaining this area. Unsurprisingly, in some areas the natives were overrun by Japanese Honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica). Although honeysuckle is fairly easy to pull, it can have some long runners and tangles with other vines and trees. Detangling small native tree seedlings was one of the bigger challenges of the day. After several hours of pulling, we had some large piles of honeysuckle to show for our efforts, but plenty remains. That’s for another day.
The next JK Black Oak work day will be on September 5, from 8:00am – 11:00am. We will be planting trees around the LeSabre and Pin Oak vernal pools. Registration will open at the beginning of August. Sign up through the online event calendar to volunteer.
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