WEEK 9, June 28

Barry, Glenda, Hedrik, Marg, Geoff and Christine were on-site to continue the work with DSV. 

Geoff, Glenda and Marg had some work they wanted to finish up in the New Woods area while Barry and Hedrik went to the area south of the bridge. Christine checked the slope behind the BYG toward the Arboretum for signs of nesting birds. None were found, so this area can now be mowed by AgCan. She then returned to the Old Field to continue her efforts in the triangle at the end of Green Heron Road. (See her June blog for comments on several insect species found there.)



Before and After Marg's work clearing DSV from trees backing onto the Green Heron Service Rd

Hedrik spent all morning working along the heavily infested trail into the Butterfly Meadow, which will be the focus of our blitz days on July 10 and 17. His work will enable blitzers to focus on pulling DSV growing up into trees and among plants we want to keep.

Hedrik produced piles of DSV as evidence of his hard work

Barry continued his work in the various triangles formed by the intersecting trails; he did a second cut of the patch around the walnut tree growing near the bridge on the south slope of the pond. The Tree Swallows are still actively nesting in a number of the boxes near the pond, so our activities there are limited.

After break, most of us joined Christine in the Old Field, while Hedrik continued to rack up mounds of DSV along the BM trail. Glenda and Marg continued clipping with Christine, while Geoff did a second cut of the area recently planted with Hackberry trees (below).

Barry did a second cut of the area opposite the Ash Woodlot that he had scythed in week 5. The nest box there is empty, so the work continued up to it this time.



Barry and Christine had a discussion about our possibly overextending ourselves by cutting areas that will regrow and produce seed before we can get back to them. We agreed that it isn't possible to cut everywhere even once, so if we get too ambitious we will be wasting some time better spent on recutting areas for second, third and even fourth time. Two questions are:



(i) Is it better to wait before doing any cutting until DSV is podding up? It just grows back anyway, so why cut it before that? An unknown here is whether the plants are being set back. This is difficult to answer, as in some places they seem to come back as though they had not been cut in the first place but in others there is a clear distinction between first cut and never cut plants. We also don't know how much other plants can take advantage of the first cut; in some places, other species seem to be thriving after DSV is cut whereas in others, the DSV is still entirely dominant. One advantage to earlier and repeated cutting is the mulch effect. DSV does less well when it is mulched, even by last year's dead vines and this year's cut vines, than if left alone.

(ii) How do we determine how much we should only cut once? As this week's photos show, quite large areas can be cut in an hour. Once seeds are viable, cut DSV plants will need to be bagged up for disposal. This adds a second heavy labour element to an already onerous task. Better to cut too much while it can still be used as mulch, I think.

The bottom line is that this summer is an experiment (in a series of similar experiments, it seems). Christine has years of experience in the discouraging battle against DSV while Barry is a newcomer experiencing his first summer with it. This winter will be a good time to pore over our photos, the log and accounts of previous efforts. Resulting analysis will provide a good basis for refining our strategy for dealing with DSV.