holyoutlaw

I went for a walk in North Beach Park last Sunday. The park looked like a mess, there have been alder trees falling down, bindweed coming up in places it hasn’t before, knotweed and some other things coming back after supposed eradication. Volunteers can’t work on the slopes (except for survival rings) or in the stream, so we’re kind of hemmed in. I felt pretty discouraged until I saw this.

Red Huckleberry (Vaccinium parvifolium) berries

This was planted last fall. Seeing the berries on the new planting made me feel a little better. So did this.

Successful ivy ring

Look at how bushy that is! That means the ivy was getting enough sunlight to probably sets fruit every season. This survival ring will have several benefits: Cut down on the Ivy seed rain, if infinitesimally so. The snag, now clear of ivy, will provide habitat and food for woodpeckers; when they move on, smaller birds will take over. Without the ivy, the snag will stand longer, and when it falls, it will be a nurse log.

Mirrored from Nature Intrudes. Please comment over there.