Written by Rachel Taylor
Native plant restoration is a necessary step for ensuring invasive species management efforts are successful. Re-establishing diverse, native plant communities creates habitat that is more resilient against invasive species and helps restore interactions between native plants and wildlife, which is essential for an ecosystem to function properly. Of course, it isn’t as simple as removing the invasive species and planting native ones. A lot more goes into developing and implementing a management and restoration plan.
The first step is to understand what you have at your site. This can be accomplished by completing a site inventory including collection of presence and distribution information on invasive and native plants and animals, identifying soil types, and mapping out potential invasive species source populations and pathways of invasion. Once those building blocks are established, you can move forward with developing your goals, objectives, and performance metrics, preparing a management plan, developing and initiating a monitoring program, and finally, implementing your plan. Over time, be sure to document what happens at the site, maintain all your records and periodically re-evaluate your program.
It’s important to keep in mind that site conditions can vary widely and thus, so can the amount and type of work involved. You may be starting with a site that is in relatively good condition, meaning that a native plant community is already established, and the area has low invasive species cover and external pressure. In this scenario, once you remove the invasive species, you may find that the native plants respond by filling in those areas on their own and active restoration isn’t necessary. However, you may still choose to bolster the native plant community by adding to the species diversity and in turn, increasing the site’s resilience against future invasions.
While it is great to maintain and improve higher quality areas, we often find ourselves managing highly degraded sites with significant invasive species cover. Working in these areas requires a bit more patience and elbow grease. Invasive species should be removed using best management practices, typically for about three years, before starting to restore native plants. Adding native plants too early can make management efforts more challenging and is often less effective, since the invasive species haven’t been completely removed yet and will re-emerge within the newly planted areas. Native plants are unable to outcompete well established invasive species infestations, whether restored through plugs or seed, and they need your help by addressing the invasives first.
Remember that no matter what type of site you begin with, both invasive species management and habitat restoration will require continued monitoring and management, although the effort involved will likely decrease over time. The best time to start monitoring is before the onset of work as it will provide baseline data for the site and will help you to better track results, but the second-best time is now! It’s important to regularly monitor and remove invasive species as they emerge to avoid undoing all your efforts. It’s also important to monitor restoration plantings and bolster them when appropriate to ensure your site remains resilient.
Finally, don’t forget to share what you’ve learned throughout the process! We are all in this together and can learn a lot from each other’s successes and failures! If you have a site that’s ready for restoration, fall is the perfect time to get started! Check out WNY PRISM’s Best Management Practices for Restoration Seed Mixes (PDF) for guidance on species selection, planting strategies and more!
Originally appeared in the WNY PRISM Fall 2024 Newsletter. Republished with permission.
Image caption: Planting restoration seed mix in partnership with LEWPA at Tifft Nature Preserve, 2020. (Credit: WNY PRISM)
