Final Report Vegetation of Ridley Creek State Park Submitted to the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources By Ann F. Rhoads and Timothy A. Block Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania 100 Northwestern Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19118 215-247-5777 x 134,
[email protected] July 2008 Cover: Two big white oaks along a tributary of Ridley Creek north of Gradyville Road 2 Acknowledgements Roger McChesney, Manager of Ridley Creek State Park and Anthony Mosloskie, Chief Ranger spent time orienting us to the park and facilitated access by automobile via the multiuse trail. Robert Witmer, of the Bureau of Forestry introduced us to archival maps and planting records for the Jeffords Estate. We also had helpful discussions with Tim Higgens, President, Friends of Ridley Creek State Park and Anne Murphy, Executive Director, Chester-Ridley-Crum Watersheds Association. 3 4 Executive Summary Ridley Creek State Park is a suburban park in a landscape that has a long history of human use. Most of the natural vegetation was removed by the mid to late 1800s. In the past 300 years the landscape has gone from forest to farmland to private estate to heavily used public park. Today the park is a mosaic of forest remnants, scattered wetlands, successional communities, meadows, and landscaped grounds. Relatively intact natural communities cover 37 percent of the area. Non-native, invasive plants dominate many of the successional areas. These thickets of invasive shrubs and vines interfere with natural patterns of succession and represent inferior habitat for birds and other wildlife. An overabundance of white-tailed deer compounds the ecological degradation of the park landscape.