Management Plan

Progress Report of On Site Work - Uplands Park

August 31, 2005

It was not possible to strictly follow the list of priority sites outlined in the management plan because of logistical considerations. Sean Novak is only available on certain days and without him the crew cannot use a chain saw to cut the invasive trees (English hawthorn, Norway maple, European ash). Species that require a cut stem treatment (gorse, blackberry, large daphne) can only be removed when Sean or another person with a permit to use herbicides is on site.

The crew includes the arborist (Sean), arborist’s assistant (Sean), botanist (Carrina), crew leader (Chris) and crew (Eric, Rob and Gillian).

August 29

The entire crew was given an on-site orientation including:

Brief orientation to the park, the sensitivity of the site and the purpose of the work
Explanation of how areas with rare plants will be flagged and how to avoid these areas during work
Explanation of how plants slated for removal will be flagged
Guidelines for using the chipper including safety precautions
Identification of invasive species that will be removed and comparison to similar native species
Demonstration of invasive species removal to minimise resprouting and how approaches will differ for different species depending on whether they resprout or not
Logistical discussions of access routes and priority sites

Two large and one small English hawthorn trees were cut down with the chain saw and chipped next to the trail just south of Location #2 (although these plants were not directly in one of the priority areas, their berries will fall into Location #2 and it was useful to have an orientation not directly next to species at risk). Rare species in the area were flagged first.
Broom, daphne and small hawthorns south of Location #2 were cut with loppers, the cut stems of the daphne and hawthorn were painted with diluted round-up and the stems were chipped.
The locations of the yellow montane violet and foothill sedge were flagged and the giant hogweed plants from Location #1 were removed with direction from the botanist to remove as much of the rootstalk as possible. The plants were put in plastic garbage bags and removed from the site.
Broom was cut in Location #11 southeast of the eastern meadow. Blackberry was not removed because the arborist was not on site.

August 30

Broom cut in Location #11 was hauled on tarps to the chipper at a location accessible from Southdowne road.
At location #2, in the southern section of the central meadow, large hawthorns were cut with a chainsaw. Small hawthorn, broom, large daphne, small European ash were cut with loppers. The cut stems of all except the broom were painted with a dilute solution of round-up. The cut material was chipped at the southern edge of the central meadow and all material was carried by hand to the chipper. The locations of the rare species were flagged and cut plants were not carried through this area. Further work is necessary in this area.
The botanist cut large broom in the central meadow next to species at risk. This was carried on tarps to the southern edge of the central meadow and chipped.
Broom is still piled in the central meadow for later chipping since further work is required in this area.

August 31

Crew removed large broom from Location #12 in the eastern meadow. The hawthorn was not removed since the arborist was not on site today. Further work will be required in this area. The rare plants were flagged and the botanist removed broom within the flagged area. The cut broom was removed using a tractor and trailer close to the NE fire hydrant accessible off Southdowne Road.

The vast majority of the people we have talked to while working in the park have been incredibly supportive of the work once we have explained what the intentions are. In fact one older couple offered to volunteer with the crew and two others asked about other future volunteer opportunities for invasive species removal in the park. To date, there has only been the single complaint from Kathleen Mathews. Although the botanist, arborist and crew leader did try to explain the approach and reasons for the work, it seems Ms. Mathews concerns stem more from an ideological difference that does not approve of invasive species removal in general rather than the specific approach taken.

Matt Fairbarns, the botanist who surveyed the rare plants in the park and helped draft the HSP proposal, toured the site with the botanist on August 31^st and approved of the work conducted to date. Before work began, he read a draft copy of the management guidelines written by the botanist and his suggestions have been incorporated into the working version and the current approach taken.
Table 1. Priority Locations for Removal of Invasive Species in Uplands Park

Map Number	General Area	Species at Risk	Dominant Invasive species[1]^{and [2]}	Person Responsible
1	Southeast of eastern meadow	Yellow montane violet, Foothill sedge	Giant hogweed	Crew leader and crew will remove hogweed with detailed direction from botanist
2	Central meadow (southern section)	Water-plantain buttercup, Elegant rein orchid, Foothill sedge, Heterocodon, Mountain sneezeweed, Tall woolly heads	English hawthorn (1), European ash (2), broom (1, 2), blackberry –single plant (1), gorse – 2 plants (1), crow garlic (1)	Botanist to remove plants next to species at risk. Arborist to cut hawthorn and ash and use herbicide as necessary. Field crew to remove larger broom, blackberry and gorse.
3	Southwest corner of park (200m west of central meadow)	Water-plantain buttercup	English hawthorn (2), crow garlic (3)	Arborist to cut hawthorn and use herbicide as necessary.
4	Central meadow (northern section)	Chaffweed, Heterocodon, Kellogg’s rush, Mountain sneezeweed, Muhlenberg’s centaury, Spanish clover, Tall woolly heads, White-top aster Winged water star-wort	Broom, (1). Both English hawthorn (2) and daphne (1) are at the edge of meadow. Remove where they occur in the meadow.	Botanist will cut remnant large broom in summer and pull young broom and daphne in fall. Arborist will cut hawthorn.
5	South of central meadow	Foothill sedge, Elegant rein orchid, Tall woolly heads	Gorse (2), English hawthorn (1,2), crow garlic	Botanist and field crew to remove gorse. Arborist to remove hawthorn and use herbicides as necessary.
6	Southwest section of the park	Tall woolly heads	English hawthorn (1), European ash (2), broom - at edges (2), crow garlic	Arborist to cut hawthorn and ash and use herbicide as necessary. Field crew to remove broom at edges.
7	West side of large rock outcrop (west of central meadow)	Poverty clover, Yellow montane violet	Blackberry (2) removed to reroute trail, snowberry, broom (1, 2), Norway maple (2), crow garlic	Arborist will cut Norway maple and use herbicide as necessary. Field crew will cut large broom and blackberry. Snowberry should be mowed every year after the violet has set seed (late summer). Resprouting snowberry should be cut by hand in April.
8	Large rectangle of gorse already removed – some missed at edges	Elegant rein orchid	Gorse (1,2), crow garlic	Arborist to use herbicides as necessary. Field crew to remove gorse. Further restoration as outlined.
9	North of East Point, Cattle point	Coastal silverpuffs, Purple sanicle, Bearded owl clover	Broom (1,2), English ivy (3), daphne (1)	Botanist to cut large broom next to species at risk in summer.
10	East point of Cattle point	Bearded owl-clover, Coastal silverpuffs, Poverty clover, Winged water star-wort	Broom (1), single plant of blackberry (2)	Botanist to cut large broom and remove blackberry in summer. Arborist to use herbicides as necessary.
11	Southeast of eastern meadow	Foothill sedge, Tall woolly heads, Winged water star-wort	Broom (1,2), blackberry (2), crow garlic	Field crew to remove large broom and blackberry. Arborist to use herbicides as necessary.
12	Eastern meadow	Spanish clover, Foothill sedge	Broom “satellites” (2,3), English hawthorn (1,2), English ivy (3), daphne (1), blackberry (2)	Field crew to remove broom. Arborist to remove hawthorn and use herbicides as necessary.
13	Small meadow in southwest section of park	Heterocodon	English hawthorn (1), European ash (2, 4), broom (2), daphne (1), crow garlic	Arborist to remove hawthorn and ash and use herbicides as necessary. Field crew to remove broom and daphne
14	Eastern meadow close to North end of Cattle Point loop	Elegant rein orchid	English hawthorn (1), broom (1). English holly, daphne (2), blackberry (2) are at the edge of meadow. Remove where they occur in the meadow.	Arborist to remove hawthorn and use herbicides as necessary.
15	South of central meadow, close to Beach Drive	None Restoration required	Gorse (2)	Steaming or herbicide to remove gorse seedlings. Restoration as outlined
16	South of Beach Drive, within Cattle Point loop	Elegant rein orchid	English holly “satellite”, broom (1), daphne (1,2), crow garlic	Arborist to cut holly and use herbicides as necessary. Field crew to remove older broom.
17	Northwestern corner of the park	None	Norway maple “satellites” (1)	Arborist to remove maple and use herbicides as necessary.

[1] Invasive species in bold are targets for removal.

[2] Numbers correspond to Morbin and Jennings (2004) age class or density codes (listed below):

Broom: (1) Maintenance (less than 3 yrs old/ large broom removed), (2) moderate cover, (3) dense cover

English hawthorn: (1) Individual trees or shrubs, (2) thickets

Gorse: (1) colonizers, (2) dense patch

European ash: (1) seedling patches, (2) saplings, (3) mature saplings, (4) trees

Himalayan blackberry: (1) colonizers, (2) dense patch

Daphne: (1) individual shrubs/small patches, (2) shrub patches

English ivy: (1) colonizers, (2) moderate cover, (3) dense cover

Norway maple: (1) saplings or young trees, (2) mature trees