Planning and Managing Upland Restoration Projects From Site Preparation through Maintenance

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Planning and Managing Upland Restoration
Projects From Site Preparation through
Maintenance

• Nancy J. Bissett
• The Natives, Inc.

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Effective Restoration is a problem solving
process NOT following formulas

• An ecological trajectory is the sequence of
  biotic expressions of an individual ecosystem
  over time. Clewell and Aronson
• Restoration is manipulating the site to change
  the trajectory.
• Try to predict the future trajectory for every
  action and every natural process.
• Find effective pathways that will give the
  desired trajectory

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This is a lengthy way of saying that everything
we do and everything that happens on a site has
consequences.Try to foresee the consequences and
act accordingly.This is usually a long learning
process.
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Site Preparation for Bahia grass dominated
pasture. Site was herbicided until all exotics
were dead.
Then it was disked and rolled to chop rhizomes
and achieve flat seed bed ready surface.
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Bahia seed germinated on drier parts of the
site. Solutions change trajectory by keeping
cattle on site until site preparation begins or
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Finish site disturbance (disking and rolling) in
August and let bahia germinate during high
temperature season and herbicide before seeding,
or
One winter after seeding at SFWMDs Green Swamp
West.
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Apply imazapic in early June after seeding to
kill bahia in seedling stage without affecting
seeded species
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Deep rotovating and disking can leave the soil
too fluffy to hold moisture. Solution rolling
to firm the soil
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Site Preparation for torpedo and bermuda grass
dominated pasture. Both have deeply buried
rhizomes that take several herbicide treatments
to eradicate.Solutions Treat site for 2 or more
years with imazapyr and glyphosate the first year
and only glyphosate the second year or .
8 to rhizome layer
initial burn
After first herbicide
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Scrape 6 to 8 inches of soil to remove all
rhizomes, topsoil and seed.
Lake Nona 1 year after site preparation began
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Harvesting and SeedingSeeding acreages may be
too large for smaller harvesters or sites may be
too small or irregular for big loads, or seeding
may need to occur outside the major harvest window
Green silage harvester and customized sod
sprigger for seeding many hundreds of acres
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Flail Vac Seed Collector and Grasslander seeder
for seeding smaller and irregular sites and
seeding earlier and later than the harvest
window.
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Seeding slopes with native grasses to control
erosion.
Apply a seed free mulch or hydroseed
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Seed harvest may not include many species needed
for recipient site Hand collecting seed at
special times and for special places
Hand-collected seed are sorted into lots for each
target ecosystem
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Top Lovegrass as a pioneer species filling
spaces and easily reseeding at Gulfstream
mitigation site Bottom left Hand collected scrub
species at Mosaic mined site Bottom right
October flower and other species added to machine
mix for scrubby flatwoods at Reedy Creek
Mitigation Site
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Seed germination can be poor in low rainfall
winters. Solution Use long range forecasts to
predict low rainfall seasons .
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OK Slough adjacent sites each 8 months after
seeding Top Seeded early 2006 with average
rainfall Bottom Seeded early 2007 with no rain
for 3 months (El Niño predicted) Dogfennel in
undisturbed area
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Or Do not disk after herbiciding to conserve
soil moisture if dead vegetation is minimal and
surface is even.
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Or . Irrigate Sometimes expensive and impractical
Above Reedy Creek Left Lake Nona
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Gun irrigation at Mosaic scrub seeding
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Planting trees and shrubs from containers
Late summer after seeding when rains are most
consistent, we plant trees and shrubs. Holes are
drilled with an auger, and all plants are
hand-tucked and watered.
Seeds of oaks and palmettos can be dibbled in for
greater density at low cost.
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Maintenance after seeding can change the
trajectory of the developing ecosystem
dramatically.
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Persistent Exotics

• Bahia Grass ( Paspalum notatum)
• Cogon Grass (Imperata cylindrica)
• Bermuda Grass (Cynodon dactylon )
• Torpedo Grass (Panicum repens)
• Natal Grass ( Rhynchelytrum repens)
• Smutgrass (Sporobolus indicus)

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How to eliminate bahia grass that germinates
after seeding
Bahia grass germinates at high soil temperatures.
Drier sites seem to have more bahia germination.
A seedling can grow to 3 feet across in one
season.
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Photo at right with bahia grass covering much of
the site
At left is the same site one year after the
application of Plateau herbicide with intensive
spot spraying after mature.
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At Reedy Creek imazapic killed bahia seedlings
in early June trial plot
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Apply imazapic in early June after seeding to
kill bahia in seedling stage without affecting
seeded species
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Bahia grass growing intermixed with native
grasses.
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This site recently over-sprayed with imazapic in
late fall to control bahia and release the
natives.
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SWFWMD Conner site, bahia controlled on sandhill
site
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How to control cogon grass, bermuda grass, and
torpedo grass on restoration sites. Frequent and
precise spot spraying
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How to eliminate natal grass from a restoration
site. Frequent and precise spot spraying or
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Overspraying with imazapic in late fall to help
control natal grass and its germination
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How to control smutgrass. Valpar can help during
site preparation in pastures, but what is its
seedbanking capability.
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How do we prepare a site for seeding that is
dominated with Natal grass? (Rhynchelytrum
repens) What is its seedbank capability? What
trajectories can we predict?
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SOME SUCCESSESMosaic Topsoiling Sites
Dry and Wet Prairie at FCL-LMR(6)
Dry Prairie Site at FG-HC(2)
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Mosaic Bald Mountain Scrub from planting and
seeding
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CFI Topsoiling and Seeding
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