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#1 |
Salamander
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Iowa, USA
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Our property has few trees considering its size, so we always enjoyed walking down the road where there is a line of trees. We suspect there used to be a homestead there as one shed still stood. Then beyond that is an unmowed pasture used for grazing, then the tree lined creek.
Well, as I speak that first tree line is going down. This is more than a little upsetting because there were patches of trees here and there, but one by one they are going down to work that one or two additional acres because the price of farmland is going up, up. I am not good with history, but weren't a lot of these trees put up to hinder erosion? Last year a house with all the extra buildings and trees were torn down and burned. My husband figured all that work gave them 3 acres to work with. It's their property, so they can do what they want I suppose ![]() |
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#2 |
A Bee's Best Friend
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Chicago Illinois USA
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Sorry to hear that. I hate to see established stands of woodland or meadow turned to agricultural trying to wring a few extra dollars from the soil. The added erosion and chemical imput is bad enough but small wooded areas like that are known to be habited by many bees and other pollinators that farmers with wind pollinated crops will not concern themselves.
There is much you can accomplish but sometimes, some places are out of your hands. |
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#3 |
WG Hospitality & UAOKA recipient
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Pennsylvania
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I would be heart-sick, too.
![]() I know you can't replace what was lost in an instant, but perhaps you could start your own patch in a small section of your yard--I know you like your meadow, but perhaps you can find a spot for some trees. Edge habitat is supposed to be very productive for wildlife.
__________________
"If suburbia were landscaped with meadows, prairies, thickets or forests, or combinations of these, then the water would sparkle, fish would be good to eat again, birds would sing and human spirits would soar." ~ Lorrie Otto ~ A Native Backyard Blog ~ |
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#4 |
Fox
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Chesterfield, Virginia
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Tch! Tree-lined roads are good for the soul as well as the wildlife.
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#5 |
WG Hospitality & UAOKA recipient
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Pennsylvania
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You said it, benj!
__________________
"If suburbia were landscaped with meadows, prairies, thickets or forests, or combinations of these, then the water would sparkle, fish would be good to eat again, birds would sing and human spirits would soar." ~ Lorrie Otto ~ A Native Backyard Blog ~ |
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#6 |
Heron
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Michigan/detroit
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It's possible too that the AG Dept. stopped paying the farmers to keep it in Un-Plowed condition but that normally is 10 acre tracts for ten years,, Americans didn't start planting trees till after the Dust Bowl. Now the big thing is No-Till where I guess they leave the stalks to decay. I say guess because after the round-up and ammonium sulfate how much fungi and bacteria is in the soil to utilize it. A good movie to see about the dust bowl is called "Grapes of Wrath".
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Prairie Plants ![]() First year they sleep ![]() Second year they creep ![]() Third year they leap; So plant some today ![]() |
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#7 |
A Bee's Best Friend
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Chicago Illinois USA
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Prairie or meadows are habitat for many birds and other wildlife species so changing to woodland is not necesary to protect birds. Here in Illinois many trees have been removed for restoration projects even where savanna is the aim. My favorite walks these days are through some of the older prairie restoration projects where every step brings something new and amazing to light.
The problem with tree removal in small pockets such as this and the one in my own neighborhood recently is the land use after removal. Another couple of acres of agricultural land or one more bloody mall is the ususal "land improvement" intended. |
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#8 | |
WG Operations, Facilitator
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Northern Wisconsin
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#9 |
WG Hospitality & UAOKA recipient
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Pennsylvania
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Great shots, 4-B! You could start a thread with those...or at least enter them in the POM contest if you can remember what month they were taken.
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__________________
"If suburbia were landscaped with meadows, prairies, thickets or forests, or combinations of these, then the water would sparkle, fish would be good to eat again, birds would sing and human spirits would soar." ~ Lorrie Otto ~ A Native Backyard Blog ~ |
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#10 |
Salamander
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Twin Cities, MN
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The problem with planting a tree on your property is you have no control over what the next homeowners will do to it. Trees outlive people so its impossible to protect it from the next homeowner that buys the property. Unless of course you sell the land to the DNR.
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Tags |
acres, agriculture, develop, development, farm land, farms, land, land improvement, property, removal, remove, tree, upset |
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