Reforestation costs were high because each tree had to be tubed for protection from deer browse and netted to prevent bird mortality. The fields will be kept mowed the first three years of establishment to reduce weed competition. Rim ditches bordering the fields were plugged to restore associated wetlands.

Post-planting monitoring in 2007 indicated survival of planted seedlings was high. Mortality can be a problem in reforestation attempts due to drought, deer browse, or carelessness due to the planting contractor. Always use a trusted source for materials and labor when possible and perform frequent inspections during planting.

Virginia Partners For Fish and Wildlife Program planted 114 acres of native hardwood trees on former agricultural fields within the Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge during March 2006.  Cleared and ditched around the turn of the century for agriculture, the fields became available when local farmers no longer desired to participant in the refuge's farm legacy program.  The project was funded through a North American Waterfowl Conservation Act (NAWCA) grant and included plugging drainage ditches to restore 32 acres of wetlands within the fields located along the western edge of the Back Bay estuary.  Project accomplishments include reduced nutrient inputs to the bay, increased habitat for neotropical migratory birds, restored wetlands, and the restoration of an unfragmented forest buffer beside the bay. 

The five fields ranged in size from 11 to 42 acres.  Seedlings were planted on 20-by-20 foot spacing and tubed to prevent deer browse.  Netting was placed over the tops of the tubes to prevent the death of birds attracted to insects inside.  Islands of planted shrubs were incorporated among the trees to increase habitat diversity.  In restored wetlands, pure stands of bald cypress and swamp blackgum were planted.  Upland portions will be kept mowed between the trees for three years to assist forest establishment. Post-establishment monitoring in 2007 indicated seedling survival was high.

The 8000 acre Back Bay estuary was historically a premier waterfowl and fishing area.  However, by the 1970's populations had declined dramatically due to wetland destruction and degradation.  In addition, water quality degradation linked to numerous dredging and ditching projects draining to the bay increased turbidity and sedimentation that blocked light penetration to submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV).  Today SAV covers less then 5% of the bay.  According to Gary Costanzo, state waterfowl biologist for the Commonwealth of Virginia, SAV in the Back Bay estuary is critical to the presence of migratory waterfowl.  "In our annual aerial surveys of the bay, the majority of the areas where we find waterfowl is on top of the SAV.  Without the SAV the birds just keep flying past the bay without stopping". 

Many of the smaller dredging projects were performed by hunting and fishing enthusiasts desiring quick access to the bay from their property.  Over the years these channels to the bay widened though bank erosion such that today the channels are many times the width of the original.  This process has released great quantities of sediment to the bay and assisted in the decline in SAV over time.  Many of the released particles are very small and do not settle out of the water column easily.  Coupled with a low degree of flushing in the bay and an average depth of less than four feet, sediments become resuspended easily with wind driven turnover.  To make matters worse, phragmites has invaded large swaths of native marsh land rendering them unsuitable for waterfowl. 

This reforestation project is part of a larger effort by Virginia Partners for Fish and Wildlife, Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge, USFWS Realty Division, and NAWCA to improve water quality in the bay by reversing habitat degradation in and around the Back Bay estuary.  Learn more about these efforts in additional ARS reports like this one.

Author / Office Willard Smith, R5-Virginia FO804-693-6694 x124 E-Mail: willard_smith@fws.gov