Red cedars are the cockroaches of the tree community. They?ll grow anywhere.
That was the conclusion of Rachel Stone, new biology instructor at Allen Community College, who attended a nature walk Sunday afternoon on the LeHigh Portland Trails.
Red cedars, along with two types of honeysuckle, are the most invasive species in the area and provide a constant battle for those who develop and maintain the trail system. Invasive trees, plants and grasses grow quickly and choke out native plants, leaving less diversity in the ecosystem.
Iolan Randy Rasa, one of the primary builders of the trail, led a walk through the trails, offering an educational glimpse into plans to convert part of the system into patches of native tallgrass prairie.
Most of the work building trails is complete, a process that has taken several years. Only a few more small trails are planned.
Now, attention turns to habitat restoration.
This view of the Stonewall Glade shows how quickly grasses start to grow when cedar trees are trimmed or removed, allowing sunlight to penetrate the ground.
Restoring the tallgrass prairie is important to the ecosystem and for educational purposes, Rasa said.
?Looking at an aerial photo from 50 years ago, this was all grassland,? Rasa said of the now-forested property that makes up the trail system. ?Cedars are native, but as the area got settled there were fewer fires to keep them under control. A lot of the work I?ve been doing within the last year or so is trying to replant a lot of the ground that?s been taken over by cedars.?
For thousands of years, about 95% of Allen County consisted of prairie land, with tallgrass varieties like big bluestem and wildflowers. As the area was settled beginning in the 1850s and 1860s, roads, fences and agricultural practices broke up the prairie.
Pockets of the original prairie still survive, especially in the Lehigh trail area where rocky soil made it difficult to plow. Rasa wants to expand those areas and restore the land.
He?s been cutting down cedars, letting more sunlight through to help native grasses and wildflowers thrive. The other two problem plants ? Japanese honeysuckle and bush honeysuckle ? are more challenging. They can be found just about everywhere along the trails and are quite distinctive with aromatic white and yellow flowers. Japanese honeysuckle, introduced to the U.S. in the 1960s as an ornamental plant, grows as a vine. Bush honeysuckle is a shrub that flowers from May to June with pretty red berries in September and October.
Stone noted honeysuckle smells so appealing when it?s in bloom, which makes it surprising to learn how invasive and threatening it actually is.
?I hate you honeysuckle,? she joked. ?You?re so easy to love.?
Honeysuckle features attractive red berries in September and October. It?s one of the three most invasive plant or tree species found at the Lehigh Portland Trails.
IT?S IMPORTANT to teach others the value of tallgrass prairies and help them recognize the natural landscape, Rasa said.
