Construction!

It's the day before Halloween, and I'm gearing up for my costume! I plan to be Oscar the Grouch, from Sesame Street... because who doesn't love Oscar? Today at the ICN, I worked with another volunteer to construct a raised garden bed. We used old wood from a previous bed, trimming the edges of some of the heavier-weathered pieces. The raised bed will be used to house striped and sugar maples, which are unique in the sense that they can be planted immediately after seed-collection, without any sort of treatment or temperature variation.

Working on the creation of the raised bed was a little thrilling for me, as I got to learn something new about power tools (which is always fun), as well as general construction techniques. After we had the frame completed, we attached a section of old metal fencing to act as a rodent-guard, that will hopefully keep the mice and other furry friends from burrowing under and uprooting the seeds. I'm a little hesitant that the size of the grate won't be small enough to ward off any incoming mice, but it's better than no deterrent at all! Time will tell if planting in the raised bed is successful or not, I hope so!

Week 3

When we arrived at ICN this week there was a soil bed all ready and made for us. We were going to plant both Striped Maple and Sugar Maple in these beds. They were hoping that this new method would mimic the likes of a natural environment and find a new way to grow the maple trees.

We first smushed our fingers into the soil and drew a line. Then we filled the little trough with seeds and repeated until we ran out of room. Next we drilled screws into the wooden planks to mark where the rows were. Then we covered the seeds with the soil surrounding them, and covered the whole bed with a think layer of leaves. The leaves act as an insulator from the harsh winter environment. We then laid down a table over the bed to keep the squirrel from getting at the seeds. Who knows what may come from this experiment, but it something cool thats going on, and something to follow up with. 

-Rachel

At the Intervale today I helped plant silver maple and cedar trees.  There was a volunteer group at the Intervale helping to plant the trees as well.  They were from a local business in town.  The trees were planted in a section plot that the Intervale site has.  The sections are about 50 yards.  I really enjoyed planting the trees today!

The hunt for white ash!

Source: mushroomexpert.com

My first day at the Intervale Conservation Nursery, and I was not disappointed. Seth and I spent the day collecting seeds, more specifically that of the elusive white ash. The amazing thing about seed collection at the ICN is that they do it all by hand. Seth and Mike are constantly on the lookout when driving around the area, scouting what could be new stock for the current or next season. Seth and I headed out onto some Intervale land on a tip that there was a few white ash trees to see what we could find. At this point in the season, differentiating white from green ash is difficult (nearly impossible for me-- but Seth's a pro!). Things to look for included a U-shaped leaf scar on twigs, which is generally different from the more D-shaped leaf scar on a green ash. The difference is subtle, and it's worth mentioning that the leaf scar on the green ash also tends to be more inverted.

After exploring the area, we did come across a white ash tree, and spent some time collecting seeds (utilizing a ladder and hook) to take back with us. We tried a few other spots around town where white ash had been spotted in previous years, but were unsuccessful in finding any more samaras (fruit with a flattened wing as pictured below). 

Week 2

Week 2!

This week Seth and I went out into the field to Macrae farm in Colchester. There we collected Speckled Alder seeds, not to be confused with Alnus glutinosa or European Black Alder. Speckled Alder keeps its seed in its catkins, they look like little pine cones. When we got the Macrae site we walked around and collected these seeds from as many of the trees as we could. At first when we got there we thought it was bust because we didn't see any Alders, but once one popped up, they all popped up and we were set. I became a professional branch bender, allowing Seth to reach the seeds that were farther up. By the end of our time there we had two gallon sized bags full of catkins and seeds.

On our ride to the Macrae site, we talked about this cool thing that was happening with Butternut trees. With most trees you can pick seeds from anywhere in Vermont and they will adapt to the site. With Butternuts, since there is blight, they catalog them and look at the locally adapted species to see about the blight resistant trees. They then collect those seeds catalog them very well, and then plant them. This is very long term study, but they want to see if these trees are actually blight resistant, or whether that it was a happy accident that they were. All and all it is a really cool long term experiment.

-Rachel

First Day at the Intervale

On my first day at the Intervale I helped Seth, our community partner, gather willow cuttings.  A worker at the Intervale was cutting the willow shrubs and we gathered the cuttings into piles.  The willows were being cut and collected for sale and for projects that the Intervale does at various sites.

Week 1

Week one we got things started off by planting rows of trees to be harvested in the coming years. They were rows of betulaceae, both paper birch and yellow birch. First we had to drive the holes about 8 inches apart. Then we planted the trees from their tubes, dig and repeat until the entire row was finished. This was very tiring work, but after all was said and done it felt very rewarding, like we were making something better for the future.

Here's a fun story, Katie was hiking up Mount Mansfield and hear a bird she couldn't identify. She whistled the call to us hoping we might be able to identify it. We couldn't identify it but there was a mocking bird hiding in the bushes and repeated the song right back to us.

-Rachel