Forest Restoration Project

I thought this post I wrote for my own blog might be appropriate for SAFE





Behind my apartment, on the slope between Glen and Monte Cresta Avenues, is a neglected and degraded remnant parcel of land. It's severely overgrown with non-natives - Cape Ivy and Acacia trees. Despite being a marginal habitat, I've seen lots of birds and squirrels, raccoons, opossums, turkeys, and even deer in this little woods. The owners of the properties don't much care about the land (I've asked) and it's an occasional campsite for the homeless and clubhouse for no good teens. I'm trying to create a sense of place for myself here in Oakland, a connection to this landscape, and I just can't stand to see any piece of land so uncared for, so I've launched into a restoration project. I have been, when I get a chance, heading back to "the woods" to clear half-fallen Acacias and brush and clean up some trash, including a dumped couch. My idea is that if I can bring back the native trees I can later think about adding understory plants and eventually some components of a forest garden, such as a beehive or mushroom logs .

This fall I've been picking up the seeds of California Coast Live Oak, California Buckeye, California laurel, California Black Oak, Big Leaf Maple, and Madrone from locations in Oakland, Berkeley, San Anselmo, and near Olompali (8000 years of habitation! Amazing!!). Following the directions for seed propagation from the Native Plant Network, I've been soaking the seeds. Today I did the final preparation for cold stratifying (simulating cold winter dormancy) by soaking the seeds in a dilute bleach solution and packing away in perlite.

All the seeds are now sitting in the refrigerator until they sprout. Check back for updates on the project as I keep an eye on the progress of the seeds. When they're ready I'll be transplanting them into tree pots out in the garden. If you have native understory plant suggestions (or better yet some, seed to give me) let me know.




Now I have to decide what to do about that damn Cape Ivy. It's covering a huge area over several properties and if you don't get it all, it grows right back. It's a huge amount of manual labor to remove it and I just don't think I can put enough time into it to make headway against the weeds. The Golden Gate National Receation area has a a small army of volunteers working to remove it. Do I dare give it a spray with Roundup? That seems like an all out act of war on the woods. I've found a few references online to using goats to control Cape Ivy. I don't have a goat, but would be interested in borrowing one. I'm not sure what the milk might taste like when produced on a Cape Ivy diet, so I wonder if we'd have to throw the milk away while the goats are on the ivy. Any ideas?