Replanting

We heeled-in these trees and shrubs:

100 black cherry
100 witch hazel
30 black chokeberry
33 red osier dogwood
25 silky dogwood
15 flowering dogwood
25 mountain ash
15 pitch pine
14 nine bark
9 button bush
7 arrowwood viburnum
5 winterberry

Thanks to members of the Hastings Pollinator Pathway for contributing 75 of these! And to the Jong/Mon family for their donation of fencing supplies.

Taro Ietaka, curator of Westchester County's Mountain Lakes Park, manager of several others and certified arborist consulting on the HWR project, taught a handful of volunteers to heel-in the tree babies. POW volunteer Cat McGrath created this video so that others can learn!

Heeling-in is a method of keeping tree and shrub seedlings alive and well until they can be permanently planted at a later date. NYS Dept of Environmental Conservation's seasonal seedling sale had to be picked up in early May, but we planted in late May so we could include Hastings students.

The nursery worked out great. We selected a shady, convenient spot, and it kept the seedlings quite happy until we were able to plant them.

In May 2021, High School AP Environmental Science students, buddying in pairs with 2nd graders, planted 130 seedlings. Teams tubed the trees to protect from deer (which we'll remove once we install deer exclosure fencing) and PE classes water them as needed. Huge thanks to the HHS PE Department, the HHS AP Environmental Science class, and Hillsides' 2nd Grade Team.

HWRP volunteers planted the remaining seedlings from our spring purchase over several work sessions. We got 360 plants in the ground! 

We selected species available from the DEC seedling sale that were recommended by our management plan, as it is the least expensive source of trees. We have many more species to include, which we'll be able to purchase once we receive our grants.