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Land Management at the Morss-Mixter Homestead Since becoming the stewards of the Morss-Mixter Homestead in 2003, the East Quabbin Land Trust has set in motion a plan to manage its 200+ acres in accordance to the Trust’s mission of preserving the natural, historical, agricultural, and recreational character of our region. This plan was developed as the result of an extensive effort to inventory and assess the property’s natural communities, resources and historical value, and is intended to build upon the landscape’s current positive features while realizing the potential that this property holds in terms of management directions not yet taken. Two major themes came from this initial assessment. First, it was found that this landscape was ideal for supporting large, diverse ecological communities such as climax-type forest, early successional regeneration, and, with some management, grasslands. However, this good news was tempered by the second realization that this property is experiencing a serious threat from exotic, invasive plant species. Exotic plants are non-native species such as multi-flora rose and Asiatic bittersweet that grow unchecked by competition and natural predators, and can quickly overrun native plant communities resulting in sterile monocultures of only the exotic species.  It is imperative that the exotic species issue be addressed immediately on this property. By moving quickly, the rapid spread of species like Asiatic bittersweet can be slowed; reducing future restoration efforts and saving native plant communities that have yet to be effected. This management directive, alongside the Trust’s motivation to achieve the maximum ecological potential of the property, has led to a management plan that in concert works to control the exotic species situation while building natural plant communities that will support healthy and diverse suites of native wildlife. The first stages of this Management Plan were initiated in the autumn of 2003, such as the reclamation of the historic orchard across Barre Road and of the Mandel Farmstead at the flag site.  Overview of the Plan The Morss-Mixter Homestead can currently be divided into two major land uses: forested land and agricultural land. The forested lands constitute about two-thirds of the property, and their management will primarily revolve around removing exotic species and allowing the forest to continue on in its climax-type state. The propertys agricultural land is where the majority of the more intense management will occur, and is also where some of the most exciting restoration opportunities exist. The map to the right shows the major agricultural features of the property. Areas outlined in black are current fields, the central area labeled 2 is a wide, bittersweet-infested wooded hedgerow, and the area labeled 3 is a former pasture now overrun with exotic species to a point of impenetrability. Over the course of the next few years, with some of the most dramatic actions occurring in the near future, a systematic reclamation of this agricultural land will take place with the multi-pointed intent of eliminating exotic species, creating important habitat for otherwise declining species of native wildlife, and to facilitate sustainable farming practices. Agricultural Grasslands: In a nutshell, agricultural grasslands are active hayfields that are being managed in an ecologically sensitive way to promote native populations of grassland birds such as Bobolinks, Meadowlarks and Savannah Sparrows. What typically separates an agricultural grassland from a hayfield is a slightly delayed cutting schedule. Most hayfields in our area are cut for the first time in early-to-mid June, while most grassland bird species haven’t fledged their young until late June. When these fields are cut before the nesting cycle is complete the conflict results in an annual nest mortality of nearly 100 percent for the grassland birds using these hayfields. It isn’t surprising then to realize that grassland birds are experiencing the fastest population declines of any group of North American birds. However, by incorporating an agricultural grassland cutting regime that delays the first cut until after 25 June, the majority of grassland birds are able to raise their young to an age of independence. Fairly straightforward steps such as delaying the initial cut, planting grass species that are compatible with both hay production and grassland birds, and maximizing grassland patch sizes are increasingly important tools for achieving avian conservation and employing sustainable farming practices.  Agricultural Grasslands on the Morss-Mixter Homestead: After assessing the pre-management landscape of the Morss-Mixter Homestead it became very clear that the best land use direction for the open space of the property is in agricultural grassland. The existing fields on this plateau will create 20 acres of mostly contiguous grassland capable of supporting both grassland birds and agriculture. While this management direction of using existing fields as agricultural grassland is intuitive, the landscape of this plateau and its features also lend themselves to other, bolder, and ultimately more significant and effective habitat management opportunities. When looking at the landscape as a whole, the inclusion of peripheral land to support the grassland emerges as an opportunity to solve multiple other landscape concerns. In concert, these inclusions will compound to create a regionally relevant grassland benefiting the avian species in need of the most help. While the existing fields on the property would provide enough space to support a small number of grassland breeding birds, a management plan that considers the whole landscape is being employed for the benefit of not only grassland species, but species in supporting habitats as well. The main focus of this management directive is the elimination of the five acre dividing hedgerow, labeled “2” in Figure 1. The clearing of wooded land as habitat enhancement may seem counter-intuitive, but in the context of this landscape as a whole, this action proves to be the desired direction. The main reason for this cutting plan is to address concerns of how this landscape is being fragmented. Habitats are considered fragmented when such things as roads, development, or other, incompatible landscape features divide them. In this case, the wooded hedgerow is dividing the grassland in such a way as to leave the interior fields too small to support grassland birds, while the sprawling nature of the hedgerow’s edge seriously cuts into the available space of the remaining fields. Conversely, because the wooded hedgerow is so thin and is itself fragmented by the fields, it isn’t large enough to function as a relevant forest habitat. Clearing this wooded area will eliminate this fragmentation of the agricultural grassland and increase the numbers of grassland birds it supports from a few, to a significant population. The second motivation for this cutting plan is in response to a serious infestation of the invasive vine Asiatic bittersweet. The entirety of this wooded hedgerow is infested by bittersweet to some degree, with many areas overrun to a point where saving these trees is not possible. Left unchecked, this wooded area will soon become a tangle of bittersweet that not only will strangle and pull down the trees within, but will also be a continuous source for seeds that will disperse and infest other areas of the property’s forests. Cutting this area and converting it to grassland will also serve to reclaim this land as an active ecosystem while removing the seed source that will infest other areas. Once the grassland is created, its management will in a sense be self-sustaining. The East Quabbin Land Trust is happy to be working with Ridge Shinn who will be using his cattle to graze the grassland after the avian breeding season is completed. During the breeding season the grassland will be left undisturbed, allowing the birds the opportunity to successfully fledge their young. At this time the cattle will be in another area of the property, in what has become known as the Tangle, performing other important agricultural land management duties.  Restoration of the Tangle: The Tangle overrun with bittersweet The Tangle, about 30 acres of historic pasture now overrun with multi-flora rose and Asiatic bittersweet, has sat as an idle and increasingly ecologically sterile landscape since cattle stopped grazing the area about two decades ago. Typically, abandoned pastures are ecological gems, covered in early successional vegetation such as blackberry, various dogwoods and elderberry, supporting a wide array of specialized birds such as chestnut-sided warblers, eastern towhees, gray catbirds and brown thrashers. However, with most native vegetation in the Tangle being overrun by invasive species, the native plant communities here had become too degraded to support high biodiversity. As the years went by, the invasive infestation grew ever worse, until multi-flora rose and bittersweet made up a vast majority of all vegetative cover in the Tangle. The result was a large area of the landscape supporting less and less native wildlife, and incapable of having any agricultural, recreational or aesthetic value. It quickly became clear that management action had to be taken in the Tangle, and the most viable option for a long-term recovery for the area was to aggressively remove all invasives and suppress their resprout over a period of years. Unfortunately, in a situation as bad as seen in the Tangle, selectively removing the invasive species alone is not an option, and a complete removal of all vegetation was in order. In a sense, the landscape needed to be reset and the regenerative process had to start over fresh. The decision was made to completely clear the entire Tangle. But simply removing the vegetation and starting over wouldn’t be the end of the problem. Left on its own, the area would quickly regenerate with invasives and again become a tangle of multi-flora and bittersweet. Long-term management was in order, and considering that these hills were once productive pastures, the re-introduction of cattle to the Tangle became an attractive solution. Once the area was cleared, regular pressure from cattle would repress the resprouting ability of invasive species while grasses and sedges became established. The land would once again be productive and in balance. The East Quabbin Land Trust carefully crafted a plan to achieve the goal of reclaiming the ecological integrity of the Tangle through sustainable framing practices, and with local farmer Ridge Shinn implementing the project, a grant was awarded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to realize this action. The first major step in reclaiming the Tangle began in October 2005 when Bob Glidden arrived with his Brontosaurus, a specially rigged excavator designed for eating vegetation. As the Brontosaurus rolled over the Tangle and the invasive plants fell away, stonewalls emerged on the hillside and the pastures that had been grazed since local settlement began were once again the dominant landscape feature.  Once the Tangle has been cleared, Ridge’s cattle will graze the site, keeping the invasive species at bay, and over the short-term, creating a vast pasture of grass. However, once the seed bank of invasives wanes, some native thickets will be allowed to establish, and the Tangle will once again support native songbirds such as Chestnut-sided Warblers and Brown Thrashers. In the meantime, one interesting biological component continues, as many of the trees that you see remaining over the cleared Tangle are American Butternut, a rare species in Massachusetts. UPDATE - JANUARY 2009 The majority of heaviest work in the landscape conversion projects have been completed on Mandell Hill. The Tangle: The Tangle has been open now for three years and the conversion from Asiatic bittersweet and multi-flora rose to pastureland has been dramatic. Cattle have been employed to systematically graze the footprint of this area and have done a phenomenal job in controlling these invasive species. In fact, the majority of the upper tangle is now a diverse mix of pasture grasses and forbes instead of the previous monoculture of invasives. As this grazing regime continues, it is expected that both the root stock and the seed bed of the invasives will be exhausted, paving the way to begin excluding small islands within these pastures from grazing to allow patches of early successional habitat for birds such as blue-winged warbler, gray catbird, brown thrasher and indigo bunting.  The Wedge: 2008 saw a major accomplishment on Mandell Hill as a Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program grant allowed the East Quabbin Land Trust to begin converting a 5+-acre patch of trees known as The Wedge (Unit 2 in the above map) to grassland and shrubland. The Wedge was a major obstacle to realizing the full grassland potential of the property as it acted to fragment the property's hayfields, severely limiting their potential for supporting a regionally relevant bobolink population. Now with the trees removed plateau of Mandell Hill has become a singular open grassland of over 25-acres, increasing the grassland bird potential here from just a few pairs to a grassland that can support greater than 50 pairs of bobolinks, many savanna sparrows and at least several pairs of eastern meadowlarks. Most of the footprint has been graded, and after a round of rock picking in the spring of 2009, the area will be seeded with grazing forage to be included into the greater grassland bird habitat. Additionally, a small depression within this footprint will be encouraged to retain its thick growth of winterberry and spicebush, providing nesting habitat to early successional breeders and important winter fruit for American robins, cedar waxwings and eastern bluebirds.
 UPDATE: SEPTEMBER 2010 The majority of work has now been completed on the grassland conversion project. The treed wedge has been removed, stumped, graded and now seeded to a traditional hay mix, creating an unfragmented agriculture grassland of 25-acres. Grassland bird response was quick, with seven pairs of bobolinks moving into the fields in 2010, along with a pair of eastern meadowlarks whose 4 fledglings were regularly observed. Monitoring will continue to gauge the effectiveness of this project and it's associated grazing rotations to determine the maximum for both grassland birds and agricultural sustainability.  |
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