Growing Atlantic White Cedars for Wetland Restoration Sites

The past two weeks, Moses has been helping me winterize the nursery. Tasks include putting pots in pans of water so the roots of the AWC potted trees stay moist, cleaning the plastic ends and cover rolls on the greenhouse, putting up a snow fence, wrapping the groups of larger AWC that are growing up by the house to protect them from the intense sun and drying winds of spring that can be destructive prior to leaf out of the river birches.

Olivia Kurz, a doctoral student in Ecology at SUNY ESF, will be studying the mycorrhizal fungi (fungi that partner with the roots of plants) communities of Atlantic white cedars at natural cedar swamp sites as well as sites where cedars have recently been restored. Olivia is thrilled that Tidmarsh Wildlife Sanctuary will be one of the sites representing restored Atlantic white cedars. Through this research, Olivia hopes to contribute basic research about the mycorrhizal dynamics of cedar swamps in hopes of contributing knowledge to improve cedar cultivation and cedar swamp ecosystem restoration efforts.

On September 2, our friends, Mary Roemer, Susan Robinson, and Susan's mothers doxen, CoCo, who were visiting for a few days, pitched in to transplant some AWC seedlings. Having waited patiently all summer, these trees that ranged from 1.5 to 2.5 years of age are now enjoying their larger quarters.