In partnership with The Nature Conservancy and F&W Forestry, we have begun the process of establishing a comprehensive urban forest management plan. The first step in this process was to conduct a field inventory of all 3,187 acres of our Warner Parks forest to ensure that we understand our land and canopy well enough to start protecting it.

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Goals.

1. Improve overall forest health
2. Increase carbon sequestration in our Parks
3. Control invasive species
4. Create and sustain a diverse bird and wildlife habitat

Methods.

The field inventory took place throughout June and July of 2021, head by F&W foresters Jacob Gordon and Alex Spychalski. They used variable radius, large plots to measure trees as well as nested “fixed” plots for the understory. They established 500 plots throughout the Warner Parks and recorded the following data: 

• A GPS recording of the plot center
• Photographs in each direction (N, E, S, W)
• Tree species
• Diameter at breast height (DBH)
• Tree condition – good, fair, poor, very poor
• Percent defect
• Tree height
• Invasive species

Initial Results.

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List of all invasive species found in the Warner Parks: 

• Winter creeper
• Bush honeysuckle
• Chinese privet
• English ivy
• Japanese stilt grass
• Tree of heaven
• Multiflora rose
• Purple loosestrife
• Paulownia (Princess tree)
• Mimosa
• Callery Pear (Bradford pear)

Stay tuned for more results as we continue to work with our data! In the meantime, consider supporting our work by becoming a member or volunteering!