Vermont Nature Conservancy Pictures
Delta Team Homepage
team teachers: Linda Bradish, Richard Carlson, Lisa Deinzer, and Lisa Phelps
|
Three eighth-graders tallying the Buckthorn trees… |
Buckthorns are a type of tree that are not native to
Vermont (or this continent). However, recently they have been moving into
the floodplain forest along the banks of the LaPlatte River, where they
are choking out some of the plants that are native and taking over. To
stop this, the Delta Team joined the Vermont Nature Conservancy to help
them girdle trees.
If we cut down the buckthorns, that would allow more sunlight and rain to reach the baby buckthorns below them. But by girdling them - cutting a ring around the trunks of the trees - we can cut off the trees' sources of water and nutrients, killing the buckthorns while discouraging new ones from growing. Last year we went to the LaPlatte River with the Nature Conservancy to help them girdle trees. This year we returned so that we could find out how many trees had been killed and re-girdle the ones that hadn't died. It was a great success! |
|
…and girdling some of the ones that didn't die. |
Return
to the Delta Team Homepage
Home
Page maintained by Greg Thweatt
gthweatt@scsvt.org
Last updated: July 18, 2003
