March Madness

 No, not all that basketball stuff-I'm talking about PKP MARCH RESTORATION MADNESS!!!

And there was plenty to be had on our two workdays of the month. On the first Saturday of the month, we gave life, while on the third we took it. But all for the same cause and with equal importance. It was kind of a special time for us this month as we celebrated our one-year anniversary. I didn't get to scheme up anything grand, so I guess our celebration was our continued fellowship and progress.

Well then, let's get to it. A little recap of our 3/2/24 fun. It was finally the occasion to team up with our Azalea Garden Club volunteers to fill in the gaps that resulted from our removal of Bradford Pears and Japanese Privet along the beautiful Azalea Walk. The Azalea Garden Club has been so gracious to the Restoration Initiative in terms of both volunteer contributions and collaborations. I'm so thrilled that they sought to improve the value of the Azalea Walk to birds and other wildlife!

So out went the Asian imposters and in came six large tree specimens: four Tuliptrees and two Sweetbays. By the way, Sweetbay has recently been petitioned by the Georgia Native Plant Society to replace the exotic Cherokee Rose and represent Georgia as the state flower (see https://gnps.org/conservation/advocacy/). I am in strong agreement with this movement, and I think it's very fitting that we decided to incorporate this beautiful and valuable native tree in the park's landscaping, especially since some mature specimens occur naturally in the wetland portions of the park.

Anyway enough musing, here are some pretty photos of the efforts of our volunteer crew, 11 strong!

It was a very nice day of indulging in our spring fever. I'm so excited to see these trees flourish and provide some shade for the Azalea Walk. And one little neat fact to conclude: this day marked the planting of our FIFTIETH native tree in the park for 2024!!!

Spring forward to Saturday, March 16th and the crew has reassembled. Fresh spring growth from our trees planted at the last gathering was an encouraging start to the morning.

And after that? SHEER and UTTER CARNAGE. Gosh was it a beautiful sight to behold. Our band of 10 strong amassed to take back the swamp. In our previous year of work, we had mostly skirted the wetlands proper, but this day we dove in head first. At first glance, the habitat looked chock full of our usual invasive exotic assemblage: Chinese and Glossy Privets, Taiwanese Photinia, Nandina, Chinese Holly, you name it. The size of Glossy Privets here in particular was disturbing. Soon our progress began to unveil just how drastic the invasion was. After a few hours of the muddy grind: the swamp had opened up dramatically. Now we could appreciate the majestic overstory of Tuliptree, Sweetbay, and Southern Magnolia. There were several occasions when we all just paused to appreciate the sheer size and dominance of the Tuliptrees in this area of the park-trees that must be well in excess of a century in age.

Little of any value remained in the understory after the removal of exotic plants. This is an indication of a severe state of invasion. But the occasional natives that we encountered: Doghobble, River Cane, Yaupon Holly, were left to bask and prosper in the now vacant niche. Hopefully the River Cane in particular steps up to the occasion of reclaiming the valuable wetland habitat.

Have a look at these visual accompaniments:

Another kickass day, another one for the history books! As usual, I am so proud and thankful of our determined volunteers! You all rock! Let's keep it up Ivy League! Bring it on, April!!!