RPA and Forest Restoration Project – year 4

My house sits on a bit over 10 acres, about three of them lawn and ornamental gardens. The remaining seven acres is woodland, and much of the woodland is part of the “resource protected area,” RPA. Until a few years ago I felt we did not have to worry about dead trees, as it was all part of the natural process of renewal.

A healthy forest has living trees functioning as part of a balanced and self replacing ecosystem that is a complex mix of trees, understory shrubs and groundcover. In a healthy woodland the process of natural succession occurs over time. Small saplings develop and will become the next generation of trees as the older ones die out. Benign neglect had been my rule for managing the RPA.  

RPA’s as defined in the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act are vegetated areas along water bodies, such as lakes, streams, rivers, marshes or shoreline. RPAs are the last line of defense for the protection of water quality. These buffers stabilize shorelines and stream banks, filter pollutants, reduce the volume of stormwater runoff and provide critical habitat for aquatic species and wildlife. Trees and shrubs in riparian buffers reduce erosion, improve air quality, and provide shade in the summer, windbreaks in the winter.

However, about 5 years ago the number of dead and dying trees had increased dramatically due to the emerald ash borer and it became obvious that the invasive vines, autumn olive and Japanese honeysuckle were choking out the natural renewal process. So, with guidance from the Forest Service and the Chesapeake Bay Act guidelines I began a project to restore  

Kinner Ingram, who at the time was an Urban and Community Forestry Specialist from the Virginia Department of Forestry came out and inspected the woodland and made some recommendations.  He felt that with removal of the invasive vines and the hanging dead trees the wood might begin to renew itself. He put his recommendations in a report for me to submit to Clay Morris, Natural Resources Section Chief, Environmental Services Division of Prince William County Public Works. Though the RPA covers just 2/3 of the woodland, I am treating all the wooded area in the same way. I was strictly by the book in what is allowed in an RPA as outlined in the PW County literature. 

We are now in the forth winter of my RPA and forest restoration process. It is slow work, but we are making progress. I use we very loosely, Wetland Studies and Solutions is doing all of the actual labor. Here are a few pictures of how it's looking. 

Here is were we ended this year:

Here is the summertime goal

This is the goal. Picture from Growing a Greener World