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Wildlife Corridor

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Description

The corridor’s main long arc connects the northwest side of the lower pond and south side of the meadow. The lower pond is surrounded by trees and underbrush and the back of it aligns with where the woodlot begins. The meadow is northeast of the pond and is in transition itself. The second arc follows the west half of the first in parallel, creating a mowed path for human movement from the upper pond and burn pit to the lowest field, south of the orchard.

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This land intervention is one of our simplest visually, and it adds so many layers of benefit for the land, wildlife, and human life. The main goal of this new path of wildflower planting is to provide passage, shelter, and food for wildlife on their journey from the sheltered meadow to the sheltered lower pond area. 

 

Additionally, the planting will reduce mowed areas on the land. While over time we would like to have less and less mowed fields, we acknowledge the need to do so piece by piece so that we can nurture diversity and prevent the complete takeover of invasive species we have seen in the past. 

 

The new plantings will provide a habitat for pollinators and forage for StellaLou Farm honeybees, while increasing native plant diversity. 

 

The space between the two wildlife corridors is a human corridor, a lush pathway that feels somewhat enclosed and encourages exploration of Flowscape, leaving the plantings for the flora and fauna.  Cross slope planting of this corridor may reduce erosion, slowing water flow to allow water to sink into soil. 

Process and Timeline

  1. Planning (2021): After discussing many ways to create an interesting corridor for a human path with beneficial plant species, and walking the lower field many times we finally determined what our main goal was. Sometimes we start with more of a feel or aesthetic than the earth-based goal, this was one of those times. After determining that the area would be a wildlife corridor, we scoped out the start and end points, explored the slope and contour of the space, observed how water moved, and finally flagged it out.

  2. Ground Preparations (2021): In the late spring we rented a tilling attachment for our tractor and followed the path where we wished to convert the mowed grass to a wildflower area. This broke up the existing grasses and addressed some of the compaction issues. 

  3. Solarizing (2021): Immediately after tilling, we covered the entire swath with tightly tucked greenhouse plastic. The process of tucking the plastic into a hand dug slit in the earth was admittedly very tedious. At our scale, many of these steps tend to be. The sun, amplified by the plastic, essentially killed off the seedbank in this section of the field. We chose to do this so that the wildflower and meadow grass seeds we planted would have a chance to take hold. While the process of tilling and solarizing is quite aggressive and not friendly to beneficial organisms in the soil, it is organic and since the width of the area is minimal, we assume the beneficial organisms would be able to re-establish easily enough. Additionally, this is a one time step for this project and area.

  4. Seed (2021): In the late summer, we uncovered the plastic (to use for other projects), and began seeding. We used mixed purchased from Ernst Seeds. After spreading these by hand, we gently raked them in (an easier sentence than action).

  5. Cut Back (2022): At the recommendation of our seed supplier, we cut the plantings once they reached 18" down to 8".

What We Have Learned & What's Next...

We will largely be observing the changes that this intervention creates and makes way for. The main human involvement has already been completed. After some time observing, there will be an opportunity to plant specifically for certain insects and animals, such as turtles which are rarely seen on the land.

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(2022) We were supposed to cut pack the plantings multiple times but only made time amongst other projects to do it wonce. Perhaps due to this, we are dealing with some very healthy horsetail weed taking hold. At this time it is not suffocating out other plants, as we are continuing to have bee friendly blooms into the beginning of fall.

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We have observed that this intervention significantly changed the way humans flow over the land. There are now areas we wander around instead of zipping in straight lines. Additionally, the lower pond gets less human visitors - the ducks have had no problem finding their way through the corridor to the pond, of course!

Plant List

  • Rye

  • Indiangrass

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​Deer Resistant Meadow Mix:

  • Sideoats Grama (Bouteloua curtipendula)

  • Little Bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium)

  • Virginia Wildrye (Elymus virginicus)

  • Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)

  • Partridge Pea (Chamaecrista fasciculata)

  • Lanceleaf Coreopsis (Coreopsis lanceolata)

  • Blackeyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta)

  • Oxeye Sunflower (Heliopsis helianthoides)

  • Tall White Beardtongue (Penstemon digitalis)

  • Butterfly Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa)

  • Narrowleaf Mountainmint (Pycnanthemum tenuifolium)

  • Marsh Blazing Star (Liatris spicata)

  • Wild Senna (Senna hebecarpa)

  • Golden Alexanders (Zizia aurea)

  • Ohio Spiderwort (Tradescantia ohiensis)

  • Blue False Indigo (Baptisia australis)

  • Calico Aster (Aster lateriflorus)

  • Aromatic Aster (Aster oblongifolius)

  • Wild Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa)

  • Sundrops (Oenothera fruticosa var. fruticosa)

  • Gray Goldenrod (Solidago nemoralis)

  • Heath Aster (Aster pilosus)

  • Zigzag Aster (Aster prenanthoides)

  • Hairy Beardtongue (Penstemon hirsutus)

  • White Goldenrod (Solidago bicolor)

Seasonally Flooded Wildlife Food Mix:

  • Deertongue (Panicum clandestinum) 

  • Virginia Wildrye (Elymus virginicus) 

  • Big Bluestem (Andropogon gerardii)

  • Japanese Millet (Echinochloa crusgalli var. frumentacea)

  • Fox Sedge (Carex vulpinoidea)

  • Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum)

  • Partridge Pea (Chamaecrista fasciculata)

  • Blue Vervain (Verbena hastata)

  • Oxeye Sunflower (Heliopsis helianthoides)

  • Soft Rush (Juncus effusus)

  • Autumn Bentgrass (Agrostis perennans)

  • Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata)

  • New England Aster (Aster novae-angliae)

  • Joe Pye Weed (Eupatorium fistulosum)

  • Boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum)

  • Wild Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa)

  • Narrowleaf Mountainmint (Pycnanthemum tenuifolium)

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