Loading...
08.a1 Liten Park Plan Proposal by FSPT Liten Park Pollinator Enhancement Plan Orwell St, Scandia Prepared by Friends of Scandia Parks and Trails Prepared for City of Scandia October 2023 1 Background Liten Park is a 4.5 acre park located on Orwell Ave, just south of 202nd Ave N (approximate address is 20000 Orwell Ave). It was recently acquired by the City of Scandia to become a neighborhood park. The nearby neighbors are interested in keeping the site in a “wild” state, without any formal development. Friends of Scandia Parks and Trails (FSPT) is a non-profit organizaSon focused on protecSng and enhancing wildlife habitat and creaSng hiking/biking trails in Scandia. In March 2023, FSPT met with the city and offered to prepare a plan to enhance the wildlife value of the park, especially for pollinators. FSPT has extensive experience in preparing habitat restoraSon plans and in implemenSng ecological restoraSon projects. FSPT evaluated the site in the summer 2023, including a vegetaSon survey (Appendix A), soil mapping and historical use assessment, and summarized the findings and recommendaSons in this document. Property Descrip>on The park was in agricultural use unSl about the early 90’s and is currently an old field of grasses with a few scaZered shrubs, and with trees and shrubs along the north, west and south edges. Most of the parcel, about 3.4 acres, is upland old field grassland, with silt loam soils (Figures 1 and 2). There is a small wetland area in the southwest corner, of about 0.4 acres. A narrow band along the north, west, and south sides of the park consists of tree and shrub planSngs and totals about 0.7 acres. The site is fairly level, but the northwest corner of the grassland rises a liZle higher and the parcel drains to the wetland in the southeast. The upland area was heavily dominated by the invasive, non-naSve grasses, smooth brome and Kentucky bluegrass. There were also patches of reed canary grass. The primary forb (flowering plant) species was Canada goldenrod, which was abundant. Although Canada goldenrod is a beneficial naSve plant, it can become overly abundant, displacing other species and resulSng in reduced diversity. Several invasive non-naSve forb species were found including doZed St John’s wort, spoZed knapweed, Canada thistle, and bird’s foot trefoil. They were fairly low abundance and most common along the east side of the park. There were a few scaZered invasive shrubs within the grassland, including common buckthorn and Tatarian honeysuckle. A few naSve shrubs and small trees were also present, including meadow willow shrub, quaking aspen, red cedar and blackberry. Tree s and shrubs flanked the north, west and south sides of the park and consisted of planted trees as well as volunteers. NaSve species included boxelder, paper birch, green ash, red cedar, white spruce, red pine, white pine, American plum and prickly ash. Trees were mostly 20 to 30 2 feet tall, and 4 to 8 inches diameter. Invasive shrub species included Tatarian honeysuckle, which was somewhat abundant, plus occasional buckthorn and amur maple. The wetland in the southeast corner was dominated by the naSve plant woolgrass, with a few other naSve species including pointed broom sedge, sensiSve fern, smartweed, marsh hedge neZle, and blue vervain. However, reed canary grass, an invasive species, was also abundant. Southeast of Liten park is a 3-acre parcel also owned by the city. The parcel is dominated by non-naSve invasive grasses and shrubs (smooth brome, amur maple, honeysuckle, buckthorn). FSPT has been working to remove the invasive woody plants. No significant other management or restoraSon is planned, but suggesSons are welcome. At this Sme a Rx burn would be beneficial to help control the woody plants. The rest of this document refers only to Liten Park. 3 FIGURE 1. Liten Park and Orwell Parcel 4 FIGURE 2. Soil Types, Liten Park and Orwell Parcel 5 Management Recommenda>ons The primary goal for this site would be to improve the diversity of naSve prairie species for pollinators and other wildlife, in the least intensive manner possible. The first step would be to remove the invasive woody plants, by cubng and treaSng the stumps. Because the invasive woody plants are not very abundant, the cut material could be cut in small pieces and led to rot. The brush would not be visible and would break down in a year or so. FSPT has offered to complete this task to help reduce project costs. Improving the site for pollinators will mean replacing most of the exisSng grasses and forbs with naSve species. This is a mulS-step process that takes at least one growing season. First the site would be burned to remove the exisSng vegetaSon. Then herbicide would be applied when the vegetaSon grows back. A second and third treatment may be needed, but they would require less applicaSon than the first Sme. Once the vegetaSon is controlled, a mix of naSve prairie species can be seeded. Seeding can be done by drilling, without disturbing the soil. That will prevent sSmulaSng addiSonal weed seed growth. Ader seeding, the site would be mowed two or three Smes in the first growing season. NaSve plants grow very slowly at first, as they tend to put more resources into below ground growth than above ground. The mowing will help to reduce the weed compeSSon and allow light to reach the soil surface. Mowing is also needed to prevent weeds from producing seeds. In the second growing season the site would be mowed once in early summer. AddiSonal spot- mowing or spot-spraying of weeds may be needed. In spring of the third growing season the site would be burned, as the last step in the establishment process. By that Sme the naSve plants should dominate the site. AddiSonal spot-management of weeds may be needed in subsequent years. Prescribed burns every three to five years will help to maintain the naSve plants and reduce woody cover. A summary of the project steps is shown in Table 1. Seed Mix The seed mix should focus on species that are beneficial to pollinators. The seed should be of local ecotype, originaSng within 100 miles south of the site or 50 miles to the north. The mix should include at least 24 forb species, with at least three blooming species in each month from May to October. The seeding rate should be at least 50 seeds/sq d, and forbs should be at least 50% by count. The mix should not include any switchgrass and only very small amounts of big bluestem, as both species can be quite aggressive. Most of the site will have a mix of mesic prairie species, but the one-acre northwest area should have a shortgrass mix. FSPT will approve of the seed mixes before they are installed. 6 Table 1. Liten Park Task Schedule Next Steps FSPT obtained a bid from one contractor, totaling about $18,000. A second bid will be forthcoming soon. If the project is approved by the city, FSPT will proceed with seeking funding. Small grants are available from the Parks and Trails Council of MN as well as the ConservaSon Partners Legacy grant of the DNR (funded by the Outdoor Heritage Fund). There will likely be a funding request to the city to help meet matching fund requirements (typically 10%). If funded, FSPT would oversee the contractor work. When Unit Acres Activity Cost/ac Total 2024 early spr All except wooded edges 3.8 Rx burn 2024 early spr Old field, RCG 3.9 Spray cool season grasses when native plants are dormant. Aquaneat. 2024 Spr Old field 3.5 Drill native seed. Use dry prairie mix for 1 acre NW. Mesic prairie for rest of site but favor shorter grasses. 2024 Summer Old field 3.5 Mow 2x during growing season. Mow when 12-16", to ht of 6". 2024 Late fall RCG 0.5 Spray in late fall - Aquaneat. 2025 Spring Old field 3.5 Mow 1x during growing season. Mow when 12-16", to ht of 6". 2025 Summer- Fall Old field 3.5 Spot-spray invasive weeds (e.g. BFT, knapweed, thistles). 2026 Spring All except wooded edges 3.8 Rx burn 2026 Spring Old field 3.5 Spot-spray invasive weeds (e.g. BFT, knapweed, thistles). Total Liten Park -$ 2024 Spring Orwell parcel 3.1 Rx burn TOTAL -$ 7 Plant Species Recorded at Liten Park 2023 Karen Schik, Friends of Scandia Parks and Trails Inva- sive Scientific name Common name Coverage Class*Notes Forbs (flowering plants) 1 Achillea millefolium yarrow 0.5 2 Asclepias iincarnata swamp milkweed 0.5 3 Asclepias syriaca common milkwweed 1 4 x Centaurea stoebe spotted knapweed 0.5 along road 5 x Cirsium arvense Canada thistle 0.5 6 Cirsium discolor field thistle 0.5 Excellent for pollinators 7 Erigeron sp daisy fleabane 1 8 Geum aleppicum yellow avens 0.5 9 x Hieracium cf aurantiacum hawkweed 0.5 10 x Hypericum perforatum common St John's wort 1 11 x Leucanthemum sp daisy species 1 12 x Lotus corniculatus birds-foot trefoil 1 Mostly along roadside 13 Monarda fistulosa bergamot 0.5 14 Onoclea sensibilis sensitive fern 0.5 15 Rudbeckia hirta black-eyed Susan 1 16 +Solidago canadensis Canada goldenrod 3 Native and important for pollinators but can be invasive 17 Solidago gigantea late goldenrod 1 18 Thelypteris palustris marsh fern 0.5 19 x Trifolium repens red clover 0.5 Graminoids (grasses, sedges) 1 x Bromus inermus smooth brome 4 2 Calamagrostis canadensis Canada bluegoint 0.5 South edge 3 x Phalaris arundinacea reed canary grass 2 south and in wetland 4 Phleum pratense Timothy grass 1 5 x Poa pretensis Kentucky bluegrass 4 Shrubs <15' 1 x Acer ginnala Amur maple 0.5 2 Cornus racemosa gray dogwood 1 west edge 3 Juniperus virginiana red cedar 1 4 x Lonicera tatarica Tatarian honeysuckle 2 espt west edge- fairly abundant 5 Populus tremuloides quaking aspen 0.5 6 x Rhamnus cathartica common buckthorn 1 7 Rubus allegheniensis blackberry 1 8 Rubus ideaus red raspberry 0.5 9 Salix cf petiolaris meadow willow 1 10 Zanthoxylum americanum prickly ash 1 west edge Trees - west and south edges (60% cover). 20-30 ft tall, 4-8" diam. 1 Acer negundo boxelder 2 2 Betula papyrifera paper birch 2 3 Fraxinus pensylvanica green ash 0.5 4 Juniperus virginiana red cedar 1 5 Picea abies Norway spruce 0.5 6 Picea alba white spruce 2 7 Pinus resinosa red pine 1 8 Pinus strobus white pine 1 9 Prunus americana American plum 1 south edge Percent Coverages: 0.5=<1%, 1=1-5%, 2=5-25%, 3=25-50%, 4=50-75%, 5=75-100% APPENDIX A. Plant species recorded at Liten Park 2023 8 Southeast Wetland Inva- sive Scientific name Common name Coverage Class*Notes Forbs (flowering plants) Onoclea sensibilis sensitive fern 1 Polygonum sp smartweed 1 Stachys palustris marsh hedge nettle 0.5 Verbena hastata blue vervain 0.5 Graminoids (grasses, sedges) Agrostis gigantea redtop grass 1 Carex scoparia pointed broom sedge 1 x Phalaris arundinacea reed canary grass 3 Scirpus cyperinus woolgrass 4 Shrubs and small trees Salix sp willow shrub 1 Populus tremuloides quaking aspen 1