Homegrown Stewardship Part 1

 
“A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise..” Aldo Leopold in A Sand County Almanac.

In this one simple sentence from his essay, “The Land Ethic,” noted wildlife biologist Aldo Leopold lays out a rather daunting task for a land steward.  If we are to evaluate how “right and good” our job performance is as stewards of the biotic community for which we are responsible, how can we practically judge the integrity, stability and beauty of that community?  Just as Aldo Leopold states at the beginning of his book of essays Sand County Almanac, “there are some who can live without wild things and some who cannot, these are the musings of one who cannot,” this blog will also contain musings—the musings of Hillsdale College’s “Environmental Stewardship” class on our attempts to do at least a little “right” by a small portion of the biotic community of the Slayton Arboretum.  A community is not static, conditions change and it evolves over time, and so will our knowledge base and efforts evolve as we try things and study and learn from the results.  We look forward to sharing our journey with you!

To get started, let me introduce you to our community.  The environment we are using for this exercise in stewardship is a hillside located on the grounds of the Slayton Arboretum at Hillsdale College in Hillsdale Michigan.  The old adage, “Location, location, location,” has never been truer than when considering an ecosystem.  To know what kind of integrity, stability and beauty is possible, a steward needs to know something about the abiotic and biotic conditions of the site.  Additionally, -- our work as stewards is influenced by the cultural, intellectual, social and economic resources of the community.

So here’s a little background about our land.  Globally, we are in the temperate forest biome.  That means the four seasons here generally favor deciduous plants.  However, there are site-specific micro-conditions within the biome that further refine the plant community found in a particular area.  In our case, this hillside resides within a glacial moraine, containing large amounts of glacial till, (rocks, gravel and sand), which form the characteristic “hills and valleys” of Hillsdale County.  The Slayton Arboretum was built on the site of an old gravel pit within this moraine.  What the glaciers left behind combined with the vision of Dr. Barber and his stonemason brother, provided us with some of  the most striking features in the Arboretum, including lovely stone gazebos fashioned from rocks gathered on-site, and a natural amphitheater built around the “pit.”  Here's a link to more information on the history of the Arboretum.  Scroll down to read the "History" section. https://www.hillsdale.edu/about/facilities/slayton-aboretum/

As a result of its location on the site of this former gravel pit, our forest community has a fairly steep and jagged topography because its sides were scraped and carted away as gravel.  This presents us with two stewardship challenges, one is dealing with a soil structure that is comprised of a great deal of compacted rocks, gravel and sand, along with having a relatively thin layer of topsoil, since that was also disturbed in the not too distant past.  So our soil is rather loose, lacking a lot of organic humus to act as “glue” holding it together.  As a result, we don’t expect that it has a high fertility, although this is an area we intend to investigate much further.  The second problem topography presents for our community is that our hillside is subject to erosion due to its slope, and the fact that there is a driveway and dorm at the top. These are impermeable land cover surfaces from which water runs off onto the hill.

The following topographic map shows the ridge along the top edge of our hill, which descends to a large area of wetlands at the bottom.  You can locate the ridge on the map where the topographic lines are close together above the red marker, with an elevation of 1100 ft. above sea level.  The wider areas to the east of the marker contain wetlands which can be seen draining into a tributary stream heading northwest of town out of the Arboretum.

These wetlands are in the headwaters of the St. Joseph River, which flows out of the Arboretum towards the town of Jonesville, later to join up with another tributary, the Coldwater River, near Union City Michigan.  This branch of the river eventually joins the main branch of the St. Joe in the town of Three Rivers Michigan.  

Our class visited another branch of the St. Joseph River in Mongo Indiana to get a feel for how our hillside forest community was connected to the larger watershed of the St. Joseph.  

Our small challenge of holding down the soil and nutrients on the hillside, and keeping them from washing into the wetlands and constructed waterfall on the Arboretum grounds mirrors the larger challenges land stewards in this region have in protecting the quality of the water that flows through the St. Joseph.  Some of the major issues facing the St. Joseph River are the protection of wetlands for their contributions to absorbing and filtering nutrients from the river water and as habitat for many river dwelling species, the prevention of stormwater runoff, and the control of nutrients and other pollutants that might flow from land to water.  Not surprisingly, our efforts to protect the wetlands below our forest community and to conserve the soil on the hillside will all contribute to not only the integrity, stability and beauty of our immediate environment, but that of the St Joseph River.   

For more information on stewardship of the St. Joseph River, check out the Friends of the St. Joseph Web site: www.fotsjr.org/

Here’s a link to an excellent set of informational maps about various aspects of the St. Joseph River Watershed, including sub-watersheds, towns, land cover, natural areas, impaired areas, historical land use, and much more, www.stjoeriver.net/about.htm.

The natural community one might expect to find in the area of the Slayton Arboretum would be that of a mixed hardwood forest.  The mixture of trees typically found in a Michigan forest are a combination of northern and southern hardwood species.  The northern maples and beeches mix with the southern oaks and hickories.  The sandy gravely soils also favor some evergreen species that can thrive under slightly drier conditions, such as white pines and red cedar, while the wetter soils of the hill’s bottom favor species such as arborvitae, tamarack, cottonwood and red maple.  Considering the disturbed history of the site, and the general agricultural nature of the surrounding area, faster growing species of trees and shrubs characteristic of an earlier successional stage forest are also found, such as black walnut, black cherry, tulip poplar and white ash.  However, much of the arboretum grounds have been landscaped with a great variety of specimen trees, many of which are exotic or have been bred for artificial qualities not common in nature, such as weeping and variegated forms.

The hillside at the Arboretum faces an additional challenge to its integrity, stability and beauty, that of invasive species.  There are several pest plant species found in the arboretum that present challenges to the establishment of a healthy and diverse biota.  Among the worst offenders are garlic mustard, buckthorn, barberry and honeysuckle, all of which can alter the soil chemistry and make it difficult for seedlings of native species to establish themselves. 
Another troublesome plant in our community is the Norway maple, an aggressive and fast growing tree that ties up almost all of the nutrients in the soil to aid its growth, thereby impeding the growth of any plants underneath it.  This is a particular challenge for native understory shrubs, herbs and ground covers.   

At the beginning of our hillside restoration project, our forest vegetation community was comprised predominately of garlic mustard on the ground, honeysuckle and buckthorn at the shrub layer, and Norway maple dominating the canopy, along with some planted Concolor fir trees and a large mulberry and boxelder.  The dense cover of these non-native and invasive species meant there was very little regeneration or growth of any other species.  The site was a visually impenetrable tangled mess, not particularly beautiful and with little of its original integrity intact. This particular hillside is the location of the Arboretum's witch hazel collection, which has been struggling to survive with the competition from the invasive species.

One of the last challenges facing the biota, is browsing by deer.  The city of Hillsdale is surrounded by prime deer habitat, and with no danger of hunters and predators within the city limits, deer venture into the area and take full advantage of the virtual salad bar of plant choices available on which to graze.  The result of this situation is that native plants favored by deer face intense stress from deer damage, and non-native species that are unpalatable to deer now have a significant competitive advantage.  The competition from non-native plants and stress caused by deer browsing is often too much for native vegetation to bear, and it disappears.  With the disappearance of the native plants comes the disappearance of their seeds, which cancels the possibility that their offspring will be part of the future makeup of the forest.  Through this cascade of stresses, the integrity and stability of the forest is lost.  The Arboretum is fenced to keep out deer, but there have been instances of deer breaching the fence and destroying valuable trees and shrubs.

We now come to the question central to our Environmental Stewardship class; given these challenges, how can we restore some of this hillside’s integrity, stability and beauty??????

STAY TUNED FOR FURTHER EPISODES!

Phyllis Elaine Grieve Rosenberg, My Good Fairy

“If I had influence with the good fairy who is supposed to preside over the christening of all children, I should ask that her gift to each child in the world be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life, as an unfailing antidote against the boredom and disenchantment of later years--the alienation from the sources of our strength.”  Rachel Carson

Laurie and Phyllis, New York Botanical Garden, 1978

I owe most of my interest in education, culture, and the natural world to my mother, Phyllis Rosenberg, and her mother Tillie Grieve, both avid gardeners who nurtured my love of plants and nature.  Many of my friends from elementary school tell me they have a difficult time imagining me as a biologist and outdoors woman because back when they accompanied me on camping and outdoor adventures with our school class or Campfire group, it was definitely NOT my thing.  I was terrified of insects, liked my creature comforts and had a low tolerance for anything remotely “icky.”  However, early experiences with close family members planted seeds that would one day come to fruition.  Later on in life as I delved into the research literature that forms the foundation of my field—environmental education, I learned one of the key predictors of whether or not someone develops an interest in protecting the environment is if that person had a close relationship with someone who shared an enthusiasm for nature.  The combination of the emotional aspect of having a positive, uplifting relationship, and the mental stimulation that nature provides, makes these experiences capable of having deep lasting impact. 

I was blessed to have had a loving mother who cultivated a close relationship between the two of us.  She was a great friend, someone who was fun to be with, who had a joie de vive and was the most trusted of confidants.  When I was a girl, my mother regaled me with tales of growing up in Montague with seven aunts and one uncle.  Two of her aunts had big farms and she spent many happy summers with them.  A particular story that made an impression on me was her memory of the big draft horses they had with Christmas sleigh rides.  That sounded quite magical to me.  

Phyllis and a Friend, San Francisco, late 50's

She lived along the shores of Lake Michigan and when she visited my relatives out there we would take what seemed to me like long, long drives out to the beach and she told me she used to ride her bike on those roads to get there!  I loved the stories of her many girlfriends and their escapades at Cedar Lake Academy, the Adventist boarding school where she went to high school, and later her tales of many friends at Andrews University in Berrien Springs where she went to college.  

Mom told me about her early years as an English teacher in suburban Grand Rapids and Three Oaks.  She got her Masters in Library Science from the University of Michigan and went on to become a school librarian, first at the high school in St. Joe Michigan and later at Herbert Slater Jr. High in Santa Rosa California and Presidio Jr. High in San Francisco. 

 
My mom had many good friends from those days with whom she kept in contact.  Over the years whenever I met one of them, they reminded me my mother was quite a woman in her day, beautiful inside and out, sophisticated and a real go-getter.  

Phyllis was an adventurer and she spent a year teaching on a US Army Base in Tokyo Japan.  When I was a kid, she would bring her “Japan slides” to school or vacation bible camp or Campfire Girls meetings, and tell us all about what Japan was like.  I always joked that when mom flew back from Japan, her jet was followed by a small private one carrying all her goodies—silk kimonos, dolls, wood carvings, ivory, jade, china rice bowls and sake sets, fabrics, fans, wood block prints, watercolors, an ivory laughing Buddha and a porcelain Kon Yang, goddess of love, just to name a few.  How I loved sharing those things with my mom!  Her god-daughter Cathy Geha wrote me from Lebanon about the Japanese sandals and doll mom sent her and how envious her sister was.  Phyllis had exquisite taste and treasured and appreciated lovely things.

Later in my life, my mom was my partner in crime.  She taught me how to sew and do crewel embroidery.  She was a very creative soul.  I remember several epic Halloween outfits—fairy princess, witch, mother nature, and the year we tried to fashion a pumpkin frame out of wire.  I have a photo in my collection of Toni Arnold, Kay Jones and Linda Kourey wearing flower petal costumes with petals covered in tissue paper with their faces in the center, which she made for some spring play at Edison Elementary school.  All those Campfire Girl projects she led—making embroidered heart-shaped pin cushions, felt hangings, sewing my Indian princess gown, all those beads, and beads . . . the field trips to places like the State Capital and Kellogg factory.  Growing up, we were all blessed to have been surrounded by loving parents who worked hard to pull off these experiences for us!  For those of you whose parents are still alive and were your fairy godmothers and godfathers, give them a big hug for me, and if they’ve gone on to heaven, say a little thank you prayer.

Pookie and Belinda

And best for last, my mom shared with me the love of reading, which was the thing most near and dear to her heart.  I remember vividly mom reading to me, “Good Night Moon,” “Where the Wild Things Are,”, she gave me a copy of “The Giving Tree” one of our favorites, “Pookie” a story about a rabbit who runs away from home and tries his hand disastrously at being a fairy, until he is rescued by a wonderful kind woman named Belinda who sorta looked like my mom, “Paddle to the Sea” about a little carved Indian in a canoe that traveled the Great Lakes, a gift to us from mom’s friend Wanda, and then as I got older, reading aloud “My Father’s Dragon” and many others.  Then as I became an independent reader, she turned me on to Roald Dahl, (Willie Wonka), the Dr. Doolittle series, Mary Poppins, the Borrowers, Freaky Friday, Harriet the Spy, “A Wrinkle in Time” “Are You There God, It’s Me Laurie (I mean Margaret)” . . . OK I gotta stop, the list is too long!!  We wrote books in third grade and mom and some other mothers sewed them all together for us, and later as Coldwater librarian, mom helped organize a story writing contest as part of the book fairs at the elementary schools.

As a little girl encouraged by my mom, I devoured nature stories and made fairy gardens around the yard, thing I still do to this day.  I harvested and cooked fruits and vegetables from the garden with mom and grandma, did crafts using everything from sea shells to pressed leaves, collected pretty stones, went to see maple syrup being made and scooped up tadpoles to take back to a classroom aquarium.  I’m in my 50’s now, and yet those experiences still burn brightly in my memory.  

My mom expressed that she didn’t need people to come to the cemetery and “visit” her after she died, because she firmly believed she was NOT there.  She wanted to be remembered for the love she shared with us when she was alive, the wonderful times we spent together, and the effort she put forth to make a difference in her community.  Mom was raised a Seventh Day Adventist and they believe the body is the temple of the holy spirit, so we should take good care of this gift--not waste the treasure of life that we have been given.  My mom wanted to make the world a better place.  She was a firm believer that she had a guardian angel, and that’s what my mother was for me, MY guardian angel.  My confidence in guardian angels waxes and wanes, but I have come to realize that the world is filled with them--whenever we choose to engage in activities that “heal the world” and heal each other, we manifest  spiritual love into the material world and become each others angels.  This type of angel or fairy godmother or whatever you want to call it often shows up in my life.  To paraphrase the gist of Hebrews 13:2, “Do not forget to show kindness to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”  I learned that verse of course, from my mother.