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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