| <div class="ck-content"><h4>Sometimes wisteria requires an axe</h4><p>I came across this massive wisteria vine (actually two big vines entwined) near Booker Creek. I tried (and tried and tried) to use my big Silky Ibuki saw to cut through it, but it kept binding.</p><div class="raw-html-embed"><img src="https://drive.google.com/thumbnail?id=1JwNBf381ichAntejiY3_TMPIOjPjDMhu&sz" alt="REPLACE" width="300" height="400"></div><p>These big vines can be harder to cut than a tree of similar diameter. Sure the vine is soft and easy to cut, but it applies all sorts of pressure on the blade because it is hanging, more mobile than a tree.</p><p>In any case, I struggled for a while, and then resolved to come back...with an axe!vAnd it was <i>still</i> one hell of a hard job, in part because I didn't have a whole lot of room to swing the axe. There was a young ironwood (American Hornbeam) right next to the vine (and under attack by another smaller vine). It had survive so far, and I didn't want to take any chance of damaging it.</p><p>So lots of really short, concentrated chops. It reminded me of the scene in Kill Bill where Uma Thurman punches her way out of a coffin.</p><div class="raw-html-embed"><img src="https://drive.google.com/thumbnail?id=1_7l8bu0E3n7QDttpO4JxNJUXMWhn-GWb" alt="REPLACE" width="500" height="257"></div><p>Chip chip, chop chop….ah, so close! </p><div class="raw-html-embed"><img src="https://drive.google.com/thumbnail?id=12GHK-VzzoBU_YmyxgUwkwF1d4jmmTrxD" alt="REPLACE" width="300" height="400"></div><p>And then I cut through, the vine snapped apart, and oh my those several trees being destroyed by that vine are going to be so happy come spring!</p><div class="raw-html-embed"><img src="https://drive.google.com/thumbnail?id=1sMuV17VKqYe9lzPkBhaLdmowObnE5vJ4&" alt="Finally cut through" width="300" height="400"></div><h4>Lions making fewer zebra kills due to ‘chain reaction’ involving invasive ants</h4><p>Came across this <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/jan/25/how-invasive-ants-are-impeding-lions-hunt">fascinating article</a> in The Guardian this week.</p><div class="raw-html-embed"><img src="https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/dcec8b2574052bdcd8acd214cdbb6319dfb65f64/995_513_4944_2967/master/4944.jpg?width=620&dpr=1&s=none" alt="Lion at rest" width="300" height="170"></div><blockquote><p>When a lion decides to chase down a zebra it seems as though nothing can stop it. But now researchers have discovered these enormous predators are being thwarted by a tiny foe: ants.</p><p>Scientists have found the spread of big-headed ants in east Africa sets off a situation leading to lions making fewer zebra kills.</p><p>Prof Todd Palmer of the University of Florida, a co-author of the research, said the findings were a surprise. “I was stunned,” he said. The fewer kills appear to be due to the upending of a crucial relationship – between native ants and the trees in which they live, causing a loss of cover for lions.</p></blockquote><p style="margin-left:0px;">It's an excellent demonstration of how one invasive species can cause a ripple effect through an ecosystem. </p><p style="margin-left:0px;">A first-time volunteer recently asked me about how privet specifically disrupts our native flora and fauna. Let me count the ways (that I am aware of):</p><ol><li>Mature privet has a thick leaf cover that cuts off sunlight to the ground. When it has been around long enough, there is <i>nothing</i> growing underneath it. No new native trees, minimal ground cover, not even new baby privet. </li><li>The direct change in flora then has a ripple effect through the animals who eat or benefit in some other way from those plants, including pollinators, and therefore other plants as well.</li><li>Seed saturation in area results in a multitude of small privet all vying for dominance, leaving little room for anything else to grow.</li><li>All those privets consume water and nutrients that would otherwise be available to others.</li><li>It generally displaces other understory trees and shrubs, like viburnum and elderberry.</li></ol></div><p>Resources you might find useful:</p><ul><li><a href="https://shop.naisma.org/collections/buckthorn-blaster">Buckthorn Blasters</a>: safe, easy herbicide delivery system from the North American Invasive Species Management Association. Don't start cutting without them!</li><li><a href="https://nc-ipc.weebly.com/nc-invasive-plants.html">NC Invasive Plants list</a>: recently updated by NC-IPC, the NC Invasives Plants Council.</li><li><a href="https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/AG259">Overview of different herbicides</a>: glyposphate, triclopyr and others - which should you use?</li><li>Volunteer for <a href="https://triangleland.org">Triangle Land Conservancy</a>: the biggest land conservancy group in our area. </li><li>Volunteer for <a href="https://ellerbecreek.org">Ellerbe Creek Watershed Association</a> (Durham): a wonderful group working hard to maintain contiguous natural areas along Ellerbe Creek.</li></ul> |