We mustered out this morning to do some finish work on a stream restoration project at Huntley Meadows Park, under the direction of Park Manager Kevin Munroe. The watercourse is East Barnyard Run, which is thought to rise from a spring near the park boundary. Nonetheless, it also drains nearby subdivisions and flows downstream into the main wetland of the park. The streambed is almost fenceline-straight; perhaps it follows the path of an old drainage ditch. In any case, the objective of the restoration project, performed by contractors, is to add some obstacles to the water to calm its flow: an old log, a vein of small boulders, a little island to make a traffic circle.
Our work was to finish some shrub plantings that had been started a couple of weeks ago: elderberry, buttonbush, Viburnum species including Arrowwood (Viburnum dentatum) and Blackhaw (V. prunifolium). Last time out we also planted plugs of Virginia Wildrye (Elymus virginicus), a member of the grasses, and some asters, as I remember. The point of the plantings is to establish a root system to hold the clay of the streambed in place, lest it wash downstream as silt, choking the crayfish and other watery denizens of the marsh.
Much of today’s work was installing anti-deer tree protectors around our shrub plantings. Rather than the familiar plastic tubes, we used a biodegradable gadget made of thin stakes (of cedar?) lashed together and closed around the stem with a bead-and-loop gizmo. It’s sort of like macramé for naturalists. None of what we planted is taller than the protectors yet, so what you see now in the photo is just a grove of stakes. We also surrounded each shrub with a ring of matting to discourage competing plant life.
The island of stakes is easy to find: from just north of the main parking lot, follow the sanitary sewer easement northwest about 150m to the stream, then go downstream about 50m. I will check back in the spring to see what has leafed out.