- Description
- Forest Map
The SMSC has two areas that remain remnant forest patches prior to European settlement although they have been disturbed. We have surveyed the areas extensively and the forest characteristics on both sites match the description and keys to Field Guide to the Native Plant Community of Minnesota-The Eastern Broadleaf Forest. The Eastern Broadleaf Forest field guide is a valuable tool we use to identify forest types based on species composition and other factors. The field guide and others in the series are based in part by work from the Minnesota County Biological Survey (MCBS).
The MCBS defines native plant communities as groups that interact with each other and their surrounding environment in ways not greatly altered by modern human activity or by introduced plant or animal species. Another way to define native plant communities is that they exhibit the same characteristics today as they had before European settlement.
One feature regarding the MCBS was to map the plant communities during the work which took place from 1995-1997. Oddly, the smaller of the two remnant forest communities on tribal land is the only one categorized and mapped by staff working on the MCBS for Scott County (see [Forest Map] tab). After our surveys, we proposed that the larger forest tract be mapped and included in a later version of the MCBS but there is no plan to have remnant native plant communities updated and maps reprinted. A Regional Plant Ecologist from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources input the data into their Natural Heritage Information System database after visiting the site in 2005.
Land department staff record trees that have a Diameter-at-Breast-Height (DBH) of 15 inches or greater. These trees are recorded using a Global Positioning System (GPS) that marks the tree position. Tree height, marker number, and species are recorded as well. We have recorded over two thousand trees in our database (see [Forest Map] tab).
One problem facing many forested areas is Common Buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica). This shrub species was introduced from Europe and has an ability to out-compete native species. Buckthorn is spread by birds that deposit the undigested fruit seeds in their fecal matter. We see it encroaching from the outer edges of SMSC forested areas. The result is a dense thicket of Buckthorn that is nearly impenetrable for other plants to compete for resources. Large areas of forest understory can be taken over by Common Buckthorn since it is both drought and shade tolerant. We manage this plant by brushing an herbicide on the bark called Garlon. It is very effective at taking out individual plants or small communities.
Diagnostic features of Common Buckthorn include finely toothed, elliptic, glossy, dark-green leaves; dark berry clusters; and leaves that stay on long after native plants have turned color or shed. It is almost always the only shrub in a forested area that has relatively green leaves in mid-to-late November.
