By Danny Burbage
We often hear that “the sum is greater than its parts” and that is certainly true as it relates to community forestry in South Carolina. Communities in every portion of the state are conducting projects that benefit the individual locales and, simultaneously, contribute to the health, beauty and livability of all of the Palmetto State. Following are three of the many noteworthy efforts.
Riparian Buffers
Some citizens in Dorchester County are asking their County Council members to increase buffer size along the banks of the Ashley and Edisto Rivers, two of the county’s main waterways. They are asking for 100-foot buffers along the main stems of the two rivers and (at least) 25 – foot on tributaries. Learning from the value of trees in residential and commercial areas, advocates point out that trees will mitigate water temperatures creating a more hospitable environment for fish and other species. A well-established riparian buffer will perform many of the same functions as vegetation in our towns and cities. Buffers will filter pollutants from the air as well as pollutants from the soil and inhibit erosion that can reduce water quality. A recent survey of residents conducted on behalf of the Dorchester County Rivers and Waterways Commission indicated that citizens wanted its waterways and adjacent lands to remain as natural and undeveloped as possible. This sometimes-forgotten part of the community forest can play a vital role in mitigating climate change as well as stormwater runoff while promoting the public health and economy.
Summerville
The Town of Summerville adopted a Green Infrastructure Plan in 2017 through a grant with the US Forest Service and utilizing the help of the Green Infrastructure Center (GIC). in January of this year, the Town learned of an opportunity to build on that plan through another grant, again utilizing the help of the GIC. This grant provides technical assistance to communities to help them set tree canopy goals and planting plans. The GIC used GIS to update Summerville’s Urban Tree Canopy map using 2019 imagery, create a plantable areas map and calculate how much additional canopy they could have (called Possible Planting Areas or PPA Map). The GIC also determined how much stormwater the Town’s canopy currently soaks up and will provide them with a tool to see how much additional stormwater could be treated as well as the pollution removal values of trees for nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment runoff. This tool is based on a recent new project they completed called Trees to Offset Stormwater which the City of Charleston participated in. The project is utilizing a stakeholder group made of Town staff, the Tree Protection Board, community nonprofits and citizen advocates. The final portion of the project is the development of a tree planting campaign based on a tree canopy goal and, hopefully, the organization of a tree advocacy/planting group.
Summerville Director of Planning, Jessi Shuler, shared the following thoughts on the project. “The Town is excited to build off our previously approved Green Infrastructure Plan. Trees have been one of the Town’s most important natural assets since its incorporation, and we hope this project and planting campaign will highlight their importance to both the ecology and economy of Summerville and help the Town maintain its tree canopy into the future”.
Old Growth Forest Network
Consulting arborist and former Trees SC board member, Michael Murphy, shares information on a project he has recently become involved in.
I was introduced to the Old Growth Forest Network after a recent talk I gave to the Beaufort County Open Land Trust on live oak longevity. One of the attendees, Kitty Wolfe, is the niece of the Old Growth Network’s Director, Joan Maloof. Kitty thought that there was a distinct path and connection to the old growth forests that her aunt has been championing for and the live oaks that we had just discussed. We traded emails and she sent me the contact info.
At first, I thought that it was an obscure connection. In my mind there are no true old growth forests in the Lowcountry. The closest connection would be in Congaree National Forest, or Francis Beidler Forest with their true old growth bald cypress, tupelo, and those giant loblolly pines. Any similar old growth trees in the Lowcountry have long since been logged out.
But after further thought, we certainly have individual old growth trees. Why can’t we equate all of the criteria that is needed for an entire forest to be considered old growth and apply it to our oldest live oaks. These can be our own Lowcountry answer to an old growth forest.
In its purest form, Conservation Arboriculture regards ancient and veteran trees as their own self-contained ecosystem. It considers the tree as a home and food source for both the obvious, vertebrates (squirrels, birds) as well as the not so obvious, invertebrates (fungi, lichen, arthropods). This forces us as arborists to imagine and manage mature trees in a completely different way.
According to the Ancient Tree Forum, an organization dedicated to the management and protection of some of the oldest trees in the UK, ancient trees are those which have reached a great age in comparison with others of the same species. A veteran tree, on the other hand, can be any age but shows ancient characteristics due to natural damage, lack of or no management, or the tree’s environment. Ancient trees are all veterans but not all veterans are ancient.
We might think about some of our oldest live oaks as ancient, but we don’t really know how long live oaks can live. Many of our older specimens look to be ancient and are many times called ancient, but they can’t truly be ancient unless they are old for their species; and because we’re still relatively a young country we’re not quite sure just what that age may be. But if we take some examples of old growth trees similar to live oaks from Europe, we are looking at a 600-900-year lifespan so we have a good 300 years before we can start calling any of our live oaks ancient.
Finding old growth forests in this area will be a challenge. Along with the links that I will try to connect to old growth live oaks, as the Beaufort County Coordinator for the Old Growth Forest Network, I will be looking at land areas that might comply already under conservation easements like tracts in the Rural and Critical Land Program, our Passive Park System and areas under management by the Beaufort County Open Land Trust; some of which will overlap. Most of these tracks are already open to the public and could be considered if the managing entities see fit. I think that it would bring another component to their importance and the interest that we see it them can be shared by all who wish to partake.
There is also opportunity for private parcels to be included which of course would not be open to the public. The goal is to find old growth forests or begin to plan for areas to become future old growth forests by using forest management processes that limit logging and encourage controlled burns and other old growth management processes. Beaufort County also has some DNR Heritage Preserves that may apply. There should be walking paths and possible some rudimentary maps, old trees, or some other interesting natural resource.
With proper management, Beaufort County could someday boast a true OG of the LC (Old Growth of the Lowcountry)
For more information about The Old Growth Forest Network, check out their website: https://www.oldgrowthforest.net/.
“All have their worth and each contributes to the worth of the others”
-JRR Tolkien, The Simarillion
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