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Natural Lands Trust land for life A Handbook on Caring for Natural Lands Natural Lands Trust land for life David B. Steckel Holly M. Harper Editor and Contributor Roger Latham, Ph.D. Editors Susan Charkes, Ann F. Rhoads, Ph.D. Contributors Dan Barringer, Tim Burris, Drew Gilchrist, Darin Groff, David Harper, Andy Pitz, Jim Thorne, Nathan Walker cover photo: Ed Cunicelli Photographer Inc. October 2008, second edition July 2014 A Handbook on Caring for Natural Lands LAND FOR LIFE – A HANDBOOK ON CARING FOR NATURAL LANDS Natural Lands Trust www.natlands.org © October 2008, July 2014 by Natural Lands Trust. Second Edition. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission from Natural Lands Trust. If you would like to reprint or reuse this information, please contact us. Natural Lands Trust Hildacy Farm Preserve 1031 Palmers Mill Road Media, PA 19063 tel: 610-353-5587 ~ fax: 610-353-0517 [email protected] ~ natlands.org Land for Life – A Handbook on Caring for Natural Lands was made possible through generous support from the following: Claneil Foundation The McLean Contributionship Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection Douglas C. Walker West Vincent Township William Penn Foundation LAND FOR LIFE – A HANDBOOK ON CARING FOR NATURAL LANDS About the Authors David B. Steckel is a professional consulting forester in Pennsylvania and has served for more than 20 years on the State Steering Committee for the Forestry Stewardship Program. A graduate of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, he is the former director of land stewardship for Natural Lands Trust and continues to serve a leading role in the organization’s natural resource stewardship consulting services. Holly M. Harper is a registered landscape architect with 30 years of experience as a planner and conservation project manager at Natural Lands Trust. She has prepared natural resource stewardship plans for dozens of private, institutional, and municipal properties. Holly also serves as art director for Natural Lands Trust and has been acknowledged in Landscape Architecture Magazine as a “natural communicator—giving preservation of open space a new look with the combination of landscape architecture and graphic design.” Natural Lands Trust is the region’s foremost land conservation organization and is dedicated to protecting the forests, fields, streams, and wetlands that are essential to the sustainability of life in eastern Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey. Since its founding in 1953, Natural Lands Trust has preserved more than 100,000 acres, including 42 nature preserves totaling more than 22,000 acres. Today, millions of residents enjoy the healthy habitats, clean air and water, bountiful recreational opportunities, and scenic beauty provided by the lands the organization has preserved. Natural Lands Trust Our professional land stewards are widely recognized for the depth of their knowledge and hands- on experience. In addition to caring for Natural Lands Trust’s expansive network of nature preserves, each steward is an expert in one or more natural resource management areas, including invasive plants, wildlife management, forestry, meadow restoration, and prescribed fire. Visit natlands.org for more information and helpful guides to caring for nature in your backyard. LAND FOR LIFE – A HANDBOOK ON CARING FOR NATURAL LANDS Acknowledgements Land for Life – A Handbook on Caring for Natural Lands took its first steps in 1993 as the Design and Management Handbook for Preservation Areas in Lower Merion Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. The township had recently passed an ordinance requiring creation of open space, or Preservation Areas, on every new development over five acres in size. To ensure perpetual stewardship of these areas, the ordinance required the preparation and submission of “Maintenance and Operations Plans.” Natural Lands Trust was engaged to prepare a handbook for developers and landowners on the design of Preservation Areas, the setting of management goals and objectives for different types of resources, and detailed and specific recommendations for restoration and maintenance of natural resources. Over the last 25 years, Natural Lands Trust has prepared stewardship plans for a wide range of clients—Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, Winterthur Museum and Garden, Swarthmore College, Lehigh Gap Wildlife Refuge, and numerous private landowners—helping them to better understand their natural lands and develop goals and a management program to achieve those goals. The many recurring challenges and opportunities associated with these properties highlighted the need for a more detailed reference to guide the stewardship of natural lands in our region. Land for Life also draws heavily from Natural Lands Trust’s 60 years of experience stewarding natural lands, which has resulted from our Board of Trustees’ steadfast commitment to better stewardship and the support of our many donors and members. Land for Life has also been informed by the findings of the numerous local colleges and research organizations that have used our preserves. They include Academy of Natural Sciences, Albright College, American Chestnut Foundation, Antioch College, Bryn Mawr College, Columbia University, Cornell University, Delaware Valley College, Dickinson College, Environmental Defense Fund, Lafayette College, Pennsylvania Audubon, Pennsylvania State University, Philadelphia University, Rutgers University, Stroud Water Research Center, The Nature Conservancy, US Army Corps of Engineers, USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service, University of Pennsylvania, West Chester University, and Widener University. We are very grateful to the many people who have provided information, advice, and critiques of early versions of Land for Life. Special thanks are due Gary Gimbert, Ann Hutchinson, Tom Kershner, and Jack Stefferud (Natural Lands Trust); the West Vincent Township (Chester County) Environmental Advisory Council; Sylvia Gosztonyi; Aileen Parrish (London Britain Township, Chester County); Jeff Vey (Milford Township, Bucks County); Bob Enos; Cindy Dunn and Gene Odato (Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources); Jonathan Alderson; Betsy Ray Leppo (Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program, Western Pennsylvania Conservancy); and Jeremy Freymoyer. LAND FOR LIFE – A HANDBOOK ON CARING FOR NATURAL LANDS Table of Contents Introduction .....................................................1 Land Stewardship in Southeastern Pennsylvania ..............................7 Overview ...................................................................................................7 Major Natural Resources ...........................................................................9 Geology and Soils ..................................................................................9 Water .................................................................................................13 Plant Communities .............................................................................14 Wildlife ...............................................................................................19 Major Stewardship Issues ........................................................................20 Deer Overabundance ..........................................................................20 Fragmentation and Edge Effects ..........................................................23 Invasive Plant Species .........................................................................26 Water Resources .................................................................................29 Recreational Use .................................................................................37 Dead Wood .........................................................................................41 Organic Waste Disposal ......................................................................41 Aesthetics and Hazards .......................................................................42 Preparing a Stewardship Plan ........................44 Step 1: Inventory Existing Natural Resources ........................................45 Step 2: Delineate Natural Lands .............................................................49 Step 3: Establish Stewardship Units .......................................................55 Step 4: Establish the Conservation Priority ............................................56 Step 5: Establish the Stewardship Goals .................................................59 Step 6: Determine Appropriate Stewardship Strategies .........................59 Step 7: Prioritize and Schedule Stewardship Tasks .................................60 Step 8: Establish a Monitoring Program .................................................62 Step 9: Assemble the Stewardship Plan ..................................................63 Stewardship Plan Summary .....................................................................65 LAND FOR LIFE – A HANDBOOK ON CARING FOR NATURAL LANDS Cover Type Options .......................................66 Overview .................................................................................................66 Stewardship Matrix .............................................................................67 Tree Dominated Areas ............................................................................67 Overview ............................................................................................67