The Battle Against Buckthorn By Heidi Poca, Strategic Watershed Action Team Crew Member
May 23, 2022, Background:
I have just been informed that my crew (SWAT) and I will be deployed tomorrow to the Wawanosh Valley Conservation Education Center in Blyth Ontario, where we will meet with our ally, the Maitland Valley Conservation Authority (MVCA) in the Battle against Buckthorn. Common buckthorn has invaded us from Eurasia and has been recruiting an army in this location since the late 1800s to early 1900s when farmers decided to plant fencerows and plantations of them, unaware of the destruction and harm they would one day cause. I’ve been informed that buckthorn is a tenacious foe that outcompetes the native species in the area. They are the first to leaf out in the spring, and the last to lose their leaves in the fall. In doing so, they shade out the entire understory stopping their competition before they are even given the chance. They cut off supplies from their enemies, a cruel yet effective tactic. Their recruitment has also gotten out of hand. I am told that the ‘mother trees’ produce a delicious berry (by bird standards anyway), however, these berries are low in nutrition and act as laxatives, further dispersing their seeds to neighbouring areas.
Our surveillance shows that this invader has taken over the banks and riparian zone of Belgrave Creek, a cold-water tributary that flows directly into the Maitland River. The SWAT crew and I will challenge the buckthorn in a naval battle of sorts, where we plan to remove the trees dropping berries and seeds into the water, and stop their dispersal through the Maitland River system. In our correspondence, MVCA has also informed us of the presence of various salmonid species inhabiting Belgrave Creek such as Rainbows, Browns, Brookies, and Cohos.
May 24, 2022, Day 1:
The SWAT Crew and I loaded up the truck and left for the battlefield at 800hrs. We arrived nearly 2hrs later and met with the MVCA who gave us an in-depth history of the land, its terrain Battle Against Buckthorn the various plant and animal species that inhabit the area. We did a quick reconnaissance mission to see for ourselves the full extent of the damage our enemy had caused, and it was difficult to look anywhere and not see buckthorn. We had our work cut out for us. We decided that the best plan of action was to divide and conquer so half of our team took the right bank while the other half took the left. We quickly discovered the buckthorn had backup, and we had to also fight our way through stinging nettle and poison ivy to get to our main targets. We spent the rest of the day with hand saws manually felling the mother trees along the banks and cutting off their route for further dispersal. Buckthorn is as tenacious as they come and to prevent the stumps from producing off-shoots we had to take an extra step and girdle all the stumps and trees that were too large for us to take down. This technique, although slow, prevents the trees from getting nutrients and will result in their death in 1-2 years. We retreated for the evening to set up base camp, refuel, and rest ourselves for the following days to come. Tired and sore, and mourning the loss of our single casualty from the day’s fight, a pruning sheer that just didn’t have what it took, we regrouped and enjoyed our well-deserved break. As if knowing the hardships, we were to face in the following days, Mother Nature blessed us with a beautiful sunset over Lake Huron, re-invigorating us and filling us with determination and good spirits.
Sunset Over Lake Huron
May 25, 2022, Day 2:
Today we focussed our efforts downstream of where we fought the day before. There were significantly fewer mature trees in this area, but what they lacked in size they made up for in numbers. Small buckthorn sprouts and saplings littered the forest floor everywhere we looked, and it took 4 of us nearly half a day to remove them all. After a quick break, we returned upstream and ventured further in than yesterday, where we found larger trees that required hand saws and our heavy artillery, a Sawzall. Little did we know, the buckthorn had brought reinforcements themselves. Despite bug spray, mosquitoes and black flies plagued us for hours, while the thorns from the trees attacked us with a vengeance.
Common Buckthorn Seedlings Covered the Forest Understory
May 26, 2022, Day 3:
On day 3 we hit the ground running and wasted no time bringing out our secret weapon, the ‘extractigator’, a tool used to uproot shrubs and small trees. Clearing out the riparian zone of Buckthorn the previous two days, we focused today’s efforts on some upland pine plantations that were in the early stages of an invasion. Divide and conquer had appeared to be working well so we continued to split up the work yet again with half the crew tackling large mother trees on the border, another member focusing on the sprouts and small saplings that were growing sporadically throughout the plantation, and myself who focused on the other border which was dense – an almost impenetrable wall of 10-foot young trees. On my first sweep of the area, I was able to pull most by hand, thanks to the soft soil and recent rain, but as the day progressed and the trees got bigger, and my muscles began to ache, I had to rely heavily on the extractigator to remove many of the trees.
May 27, 2022, Day 4:
Our last day started out bleak. We all awoke tired and sore from all the manual labour and sleeping on hard ground for the past three days. We groggily packed up our tents and made breakfast, and as we started loading up the truck the sky opened and released all the rain that had been threatening us the last two days. By the time we made it to the site, we were all drenched to the bone. We gave a solid last-ditch effort and removed what was left without going too deep into the woods. With the rain not letting up anytime soon we finished up and loaded back into the truck for the journey home.
Belgrave Creek Just Prior to it Flowing Into the Maitland River.
Closing Thoughts
SWAT fought the good fight. We were able to clear 6065m2 of buckthorn. Our efforts will hopefully prevent the spread of this invasive throughout the Maitland River system and hold back their numbers at the Wawanosh Valley Conservation Education Center until reinforcements can come in and clear out the rest of the area.
Our work is never done in the war against invasives, so to whoever is reading this keep your eyes out for those sneaky plants such as common buckthorn, garlic mustard, purple loosestrife, and Eurasian black alder.
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