2017 CPA Annual Report - #19DREPORT TO THE COMMUNITY PRESERVATION COMMITTEE
FROM THE BROAD BROOK COALITION (CONTRACT 331-16)
DECEMBER 2017
Goals: Goals for the second year of this contract were to continue suppression of several
invasive plants in the Fitzgerald Lake Conservation Area (FLCA): glossy buckthorn (Rhamnus
frangula) in Cooke's Pasture and its periphery, black swallow-wort (Cynanchum louiseae) in
Cooke's Pasture, and spotted and brown knapweeds (Centaurea maculosa and Centaurea
jacea) in Cooke's Pasture and on the Fitzgerald Lake dam.
General Approach: Owing to work performed over the past several years, we no longer have
the dense concentrations of invasive plants in Cooke's Pasture and adjoining areas that we
noted in 2008-2009. Rather, they are now dispersed, requiring the selective targeting of
individual invasive plants in a background of native plants. Land Stewardship, Inc. (LSI, formerly
Polatin Ecological Services, LLC), which has carried out most of this work, has proven to be
very adept at limiting herbicide treatment to target plants without causing collateral damage to
surrounding grasses, flowers and native shrubs.
Buckthorns and Knapweeds in Cooke's Pasture and Its Forested Perimeter. Cooke's
Pasture consists of approximatey seven acres and is maintained as open shrubland by periodic
mowing. Roughly five years ago, it became evident that mature glossy buckthorn trees growing
in the ~9-acre forested buffer zone between Cooke's Pasture and the Broad Brook marsh
provide an abundant source of seeds that can spread and give rise to new buckthorn growth in
the pasture. Some of these trees were treated with herbicide in 2011 and 2013, but coverage
was not complete and a number of small as well as large buckthorn plants persisted in the
periphery. In March 2016, buckthorns in the buffer zone were systematically cut in preparation
for subsequent herbicide treatment. At the same time, buckthorns within the planted shrub
islands in the pasture were subjected to targeted cut-stem herbicide treatment (CPC contract
250-13). Herbicide treatment of buckthorns, knapweeds and black swallow-wort was carried out
in the summer under the present contract
In the first week of August 2017, a crew of 5 from LSI treated buckthorns and knapweeds in
Cooke's Pasture and on the dam with a combination of the herbicides Garlon 3A and Milestone
using a targeted, low-volume foliar spray. The crew found that the previous year's treatment had
been very effective in curtailing the growth of these invasive plants. Later in August, the LSI
crew returned for a follow-up application of Garlon 3A to buckthorns and knapweeds in Cooke's
Pasture and its forested periphery, this time using a mist blower. Woody invasives in the shrub
islands were treated with Rodeo (glyphosate) by the cut-stem method at the same time.
Although visual inspection inspection in the fall suggested that most of the invasive plants had
been effectively suppressed, LSI owner Chris Polatin will carry put a more comprehensive
evaluation together with members of the BBC Stewardship Committee at the start of the 2018
growing season.
Black Swallow-wort in Cooke's Pasture. Black Swallow-wort is an invasive vine that can
compete with native vegetation, replacing grasses, goldenrod and milkweed by monotypic mats
and negatively impacting insects and animals such as turtles and birds that depend upon a
healthy grassland or shrubland habitat. A small patch of black swallow-wort was discovered in
the central lobe of Cooke's Pasture in 2012. Sporadic herbicide treatment failed to prevent this
plant from going to seed and the infestation expanded to roughly one-quarter of an acre. A
systematic effort to eradicate black swallow-wort, initiated last year, reduced the size of the
infestation to about one-tenth of an acre. This year individual plants were again treated with
Garlon 3A by LSI in June and August to further suppress the growth of this invasive.
Other Efforts to Control Invasive Plants in the FLCA. In 2017, volunteer crews removed
garlic mustard and multiflora rose by hand at the North Farms Road entrance to the FLCA and
pulled a total of 1,067 pounds of water chestnut from Fitzgerald Lake. Follow-up herbicide
treatment of Japanese knotweed on Marian Street and Phargmites in the Broad Brook Marsh
were carried out by O'Gara Landcare with funding from the BBC.
Plans for 2018
1. In June, black swallow-wort in Cooke's Pasture will be treated with herbicide.
2. In July, a crew from LSI will use low-volume backpack sprayers to target buckthorn and
knapweed in Cooke's Pasture, in the forested buffer of the pasture, and on the dam.
3. The LSI crew will return in August for a follow-up treatment of buckthorn, knapweed and
black-swallow-wort in Cooke's Pasture .
Expenditures in 2016:
Budgeted Expended
Landscape Stewardship, Inc.
Buckthorn control in buffer zone, $ 2,500 $ 2,500
Black Swallow-wort in pasture
Buckthorn, knapweed control in pasture 1,500 1,500
Follow-up Treatments 2,100 600
Expenditures in 2017:
Landscape Stewardship, Inc.
Black Swallow-wort control in pasture 250 250
Buckthorn, knapweed control in pasture 2,500 2,500
and on dam
Buckthorn, knapweed and swallow- 600 600
wort in pasture: follow-up
Buckthorn control in buffer zone (from 2016) 0 1,500
Total: $ 9,450 $ 9.450
2016-2018 Budget Summary: Initial Award $12,800
Expended in 2016 9,450
and 2017
Balance, 12/31/17 $ 3,350
Robert A. Zimmermann
President
Broad Brook Coalition
February 12, 2018