NH NFC Checks in on Recent Tree Planting and Riparian Work...
A recently replanted hillside leading down to a wild native brook trout stream…
As part of a multiyear, multi-faceted stream assessment/restoration project in the White Mountains region of New Hampshire, members of NFC recently planted more than 125 live stake trees and six 3-gallon, 2-3-foot trees to restore an area that had been heavily logged.
Having never worked with live stakes before, NFC Executive Director Bob Mallard admittedly had his doubts. The bundles of live stakes looked like what was left after pruning trees in your yard. Lifeless, limbless, and cut on both ends, they were set half above ground and half below ground.
“When we were done planting the live stakes, the hillside looked like a graveyard of dead sticks protruding from the soil...”
NH and MA NFC board member Brian Hutchison owns a camp nearby the project stream. While up to camp, he decided to check in a month after NFC planted the trees and restored the hillside to see how things were coming along.
The manual trenching performed by NFC on a down sloping hill to address ruts and standing water left by heavy equipment had dried the area as we hoped it would. While there was some level of natural regrowth occurring, it was notably less than where the damage caused by logging had been less severe.
A newly dug drench to help dry the hill and promote tree growth…
Of special interest to NFC was the fact that nearly all of the live stakes planted a month earlier were showing one or more new green offshoots. Mostly species of willow, these trees will help stabilize the hillside while restoring canopy for the stream that was lost when the hill was logged.
“The live stakes look great. of the 20 or so I looked at, only one did not have any new growth. A few were just budding or had 1 or 2 offshoots. Most had multiple offshoots and clear/fast growth...”
While the stream runs through a small ravine with hills on both sides, and intact trees on the east side, by midday the sun is penetrating the cut area and warming the stream by 2-3 degrees. The loss of canopy also impacts forage as much of what is available to trout comes from the trees and shoreside vegetation.
A recently planted live stake (left center)…
The 3-gallon trees planted by NFC were a mix of hemlock and maple. While the area had not had any rain recently, the trees were healthy and larger than they were when we planted them. The soil used to fill the holes for planting had settled an inch or so. We will go back and fill them in a bit…
Our landowner partner has agreed to spray the hillside with water and hand water the 3-gallon trees periodically throughout the summer and fall to help them along. Winters are tough in the White Mountains region. The healthier the new trees are going into the winter the better…
