Open Day May 2
Today was a great day for restoration. We worked at the Cooper site on maintenance and invasive species removal. We spread mulch over about 1,120 sq.ft. of land and applied 30 mulch rings to our plants, as well as maintaining 30 preexisting mulch rings. Next we worked on getting rid of the English ivy. We cleared 1000 sq. ft. of ivy from the ground.
This ivy also tends to grow up the trunks of trees, which can eventually lead to tree mortality. As the ivy grows into the canopy, it causes the tree to become top heavy and thereby more susceptible to windfall. From these pictures you can see how aggressive the ivy can be. To avoid this, we make survival rings for the trees.
This process involves cutting away the ivy stems at a certain height all the way around the tree. This cuts the ivy off from its roots.
Then we peel the ivy away from the tree starting at the incision line and down to the base. The bottom right picture shows the final result. This ivy is now separated from its roots and will eventually die.
