Here’s the Press Release from Baltimore Woods describing the project:
HGCNY Celebrates 20 Years of Promoting Biodiversity through Native Plant Communities by Planting 20 New Trees at Baltimore Woods Nature Center
Marcellus, NY (October 1, 2024) – This past weekend, Habitat Gardeners of Central New York (HGCNY) Wild Ones Chapter collaborated with Baltimore Woods Nature Center to plant 20 trees across the preserve in celebration of their 20th Anniversary. The commemorative weekend included planting, mulching, watering, and cage installation around the trees.
Planted along two of the four recently opened new public trails at Baltimore Woods, 14 of these trees help restore an old farm field into a diverse oak opening community, a once common, but now exceptionally rare type of native grassland with oak trees scattered within a matrix of native grasses and wildflowers. The remaining 6 larger trees join hundreds of smaller trees that stewardship volunteers have planted within a 5-acre deer exclosure over the past 2 years, which was the initial restoration project in this field which was made possible by HGCNY. Adding these larger trees will provide some additional structure and help jumpstart the transition of this section of former field to forest.
“The planting is something that HGCNY has been working toward for several years,” said John Allen, a member of HGCNY’s Planning Committee. “Our president, Janet Allen, and secretary, Carol Biesemeyer, both read Douglas Tallamy’s book ‘The Nature of Oaks’ and wondered where it might be possible to plant some oak trees. At the time, I had just learned that Baltimore Woods Nature Center was about to acquire additional property and we wondered if a grove of oaks might be planted in what had been the cornfield. I mentioned it to [Director of Stewardship] David DuBois who jumped at the idea.”
“This was an exciting project for us because it helps to increase the number and size of oaks we have on the property,” said David DuBois. “Oaks are a keystone species that support over 500 species of caterpillar, which in turn support a large diversity of birds. Planting larger trees is particularly exciting because it builds structure in the former corn field much more quickly than we would have been able to with smaller trees.” HGCNY hopes to provide signage later about the importance of oaks – providing food for more lepidoptera, which provide food for birds, than any other trees – and encourage people to plant them in their own yards in the future.
Following the tree planting, Baltimore Woods Nature Center’s Executive Director Whitney Lash-Marshall shared that “Transforming this field with 20 native oak trees is a perfect way to celebrate the past, present, and future of not only the mission of our partners at HGCNY, but also all the spaces they have helped restore and protect across the Baltimore Woods Preserve. It has been such a meaningful collaboration to connect people with nature by working together on restoration projects and educational speaker series, and we look forward to the next 20 years and beyond!”
As these trees grow, they will provide hikers with shade along the new Meadow and Bluebird trails and create opportunities to experience different microhabitats along the trails. The trails at Baltimore Woods are open dawn to dusk every day for visitors to enjoy free of charge.