This was a very educational week with the Department of Forestry. This week I had my first experience spraying herbicides- which turned out to be some pretty tough work. We sprayed invasive plants such as autumn olive, multiflora rose, Japanese barberry, and tree of heaven. I think there is a pretty common misconception that spraying chemicals is bad, which in some cases is true. However, chemicals can also be used to help maintain a healthy ecosystem. Invasive species are usually good competitors allowing them to outcompete native plants for the nutrients in the area and they reduce the natural biodiversity of the ecosystem.
Although the Conway Robinson is a commonly used recreation area, it is an educational forest. There are 3 deer exclosures (and 3 adjacent control plots) within the forest that are used for research on understory regeneration. Large amounts of deer browse on seedlings cause poor forest health due to lack of regeneration. One method the Department of Forestry has implemented to combat this is annual, managed deer hunts within the forest. This week we went to all of the test and control plots to count everything that was growing and the height of each tree. The goal is to find that within the exclosures there is larger, more native growth than outside of the exclosures. However, with the deer hunts that take place at the Conway Robinson, the deer population is not as dense anymore allowing for regeneration even outside of the exclosure.
I also had the opportunity to help measure trees for the Virginia Big Tree program. The purpose of the Virginia Big Tree program, through Virginia Cooperative Extension, is to educate citizens all around the state about the value of trees and forests. There is an online registry of the 5 largest trees of over 300 different species of trees. To maintain the “Big Tree” status the trees have to be measured every 10 years. The trees ranked on a point system using 3 measurements: circumference, crown length, and tree height. We remeasured a total of 5 different trees around the Manassas Area and some were much larger than others. One tree we went to remeasure had actually greatly decreased in size over the past 10 years as it had been cut.
I also had the opportunity to help measure trees for the Virginia Big Tree program. The purpose of the Virginia Big Tree program, through Virginia Cooperative Extension, is to educate citizens all around the state about the value of trees and forests. There is an online registry of the 5 largest trees of over 300 different species of trees. To maintain the “Big Tree” status the trees have to be measured every 10 years. The trees ranked on a point system using 3 measurements: circumference, crown length, and tree height. We remeasured a total of 5 different trees around the Manassas Area and some were much larger than others. One tree we went to remeasure had actually greatly decreased in size over the past 10 years as it had been cut.