[Tweeters] Grieve or protest if you can muster the spirit, but don't plant Conifers (Ed Newbold)

[Michael Scuderi]

 Connie,
First off, let me say that I am grateful for you efforts to protect the Fill.  Without your advocacy, there would be a less diverse area for us to enjoy,
Having said that, I have to agree with Ed about the conifers. When I worked in the restoration business, we often had this debate about conifers or deciduous trees. On big rivers you wanted to see more conifers because they added large woody debris to water courses where it was severely lacking. However, in more riparian areas, cottonwood, willow and alder usually dominate and if you look at Government Land Office records from the md-1800s you will see a number of references to deciduous trees in riparian areas (Puget Sound River History Project. 


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So replanting a mix of conifers and deciduous would be what I would recommend. Cottonwood is a great go to tree but park people hate them because they drop limbs unexpectedly.  So Big leaf maple would be a good choice if the ground is not too wet. Willows are another good tree, but again park managers typically don't like them because they create a dense understory which hides views of illicit activity.  Red Alder might work instead with an understory of snowberry..  For conifers,. Sitka spruce is a great choice if the soil conditions allow it (wet)..  If you plan on planting Western red cedar, that needs to be done after an overstory is created since young cedar do not do well in full sun (typically greater than 50% mortality)..
That's my unsolicited two cents.  But in the end, no matter what is done, any trees being planted will be better than nothing being done.  Working on parklike areas is tricky. You might want to contact the city of Montlake Terrace to see what they are doing in a similar situation at Lake Ballinger Park. 
Let us know how we can continue to help you in advocating for restoration on Union Bay.
Sincerely,
Mike Scuderi

Message: 2
Date: Wed, 28 Sep 2022 15:20:56 +0000 (UTC)
From: Ed Newbold <ednewbold1 at yahoo.com>
To: Tweeters Tweeters <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Subject: [Tweeters] Grieve or protest if you can muster the spirit,
    but don't plant Conifers
Message-ID: <3179033.1446309.1664378456578 at mail.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Dear Connie and Tweeters,
Thanks Connie for the early warning of this unfortunate decision to remove Cottonwoods from Union Bay.
Connie Sidles you are a great hero and I have witnessed the effects of your dynamic leadership of course around Union Bay but also at Cheasty Greenbelt where there is now a birder-presence on an organized monthly basis. Thank you Connie!
As for the grove, this is terribly sad--yet another injury to the Natural World that has taken so many. It turns upside down the trope of kids loving Nature and protecting it from the old folks--Although I doubt the kids have been polled as to whether they really want this.
But I have one quibble. I think the restoration movement has gone berserk over-planting conifers and seemingly attempting to turn natural areas into monocultures resembling a Weyerhaeuser tree farm. You can see this in Three Forks, Chinook Bend, all over the place and even dare I say Capehart. I believe that all the Native NW deciduous trees including, Ash, Alder, Maple and Cottonwood and Birch as well as non-deciduous Madronas are more valuable for the wildlife that is most in the crosshairs, such as neotropical insectivorous birds, than are the Conifers.? I am not credentialed in the least in Botany, Wildlife Biology or Ecology, so take this as an opinion. However, although? I'm not sure it's fair to drag someone in here, I believe Doc (Dennis) Paulson has expressed this view or something similar and that may be where my conviction originated.
That said, thanks Connie for all you have done for the Montlake Fill, oops, I mean Union Bay and thanks for this latest heads-up.
Cheers,
Ed Newbold







  
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