
If someone were to step into the backyard of the Ashokan Watershed Stream Management Program (AWSMP) you could forgive them for thinking they were on the grounds of a plant nursery. That’s because our backyard is home to the Catskill Streams Buffer Initiative (CSBI) Plant Material Center (PMC). The PMC is the location that holds all the plants that we use to revegetate streambanks here in the Ashokan Watershed. CSBI seeks to inform and assist landowners with better stewardship of their riparian (streamside) area through protection, enhancement, management, or restoration. CSBI recently received a large delivery of plants that AWSMP staff helped unload and sort in the PMC.
The plants in these photos will be used in eight planting sites this fall and coming spring where approximately 79,156 square feet of streambank are slated to be revegetated. To date 65 landowners have had projects completed on their properties. Over 10,000 trees and shrubs have been planted and over 18,510 feet of stream (or 3.5 miles) have been revegetated. All told 13.153 acres have been restored since 2009.
Not just any plants are used in these projects. Riparian plants that are native to the Catskill region are utilized for several reasons. Riparian plants have strong and robust root systems that grow deep into the soil and interlock with roots systems of adjacent plants. This helps keep the plants firmly rooted in the soil during floods and has the added benefit of minimizing streambank erosion. Native Catskill Mountain region plants fill an important ecological niche that non-native plants usually do not fill. They provide habitat for an assortment of other plants and animals including pollinators like bees and butterflies. They provide cover for animals helping to shield them from predators and shade the stream, keeping the water cool for several fish species that thrive in colder water, such as native brook trout. Furthermore, native riparian plants are more suited for their environment and require less maintenance than non-native ornamental vegetation.
Several of the native riparian plants that are used will be familiar to most people. These include tree species such as red maple (Acer rubrum), sugar maple (Acer saccharum), red oak (Quercus rubra), white oak (Quercus alba), paper birch (Betula papyrifera) and sycamore (Platanus occidentalis) to name just a few. It also includes shrubs such as winterberry (Ilex verticillate), witch hazel (Hamamelis virginiana), meadowsweet (Spiraea latifolia), elderberry (Sambucus nigra), chokeberry (Aronia arbutifolia), and buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis) among many others. In addition, there are several different types of sedges, which are a type of grass that likes to grow in wet, riparian areas. The PMC currently holds 61 different species of native plant and there are currently over 2,000 plants in the PMC. The vast majority will be planted this fall. Any plants not used will be covered in mulch and overwintered until the spring where they will be used in planting projects for that season.
Projects for this season are already scheduled, but if you’re interested in participating in the CSBI program in a future season and have streamside property in the Ashokan Watershed, contact the CSBI Coordinator, Bobby Taylor at 845–688-3047 or at bobby.taylor@ashokanstreams.org.
