The main activity for the last few months seems to have been tree removal. We had a series of wind events that downed some of the weak trees. Then there is the continued felling of the dead ash trees. These have been killed over the last few years by the Emerald Ash Borer. Once dead, these provide a trellis for climbing vines such as grape and poison ivy both of which are native plants, but the worst offender is Japanese bittersweet which is not native. The vines grow up the dead tree until they reach the top where they expand in size. These growths provide a handle that the wind can use to topple the dead tree.
All of the trails experienced some degree of tree problems recently and we are fortunate to have a few folks with chainsaws and the knowledge to deal with these trail obstructions. Some of the trees that were down presented some difficulties at removing which you may gather from the photo below from the Gosnell Big Woods. My feeling is that the Bird Sanctuary Trail was the hardest hit with over a dozen trees down near the Rt. 250 junction. We hope that the worst is behind us. If you should notice trees down on the trail, please report the problem on the “contact” link of the FWT website.