Stewardship and Ecological Threats: Basic Mesic Hardwood Forest (Coastal Plain / Piedmont Type) in Rock Creek Park
The composition or abundance of species in a natural community can be threatened by a variety of factors, such as invasion by non-native invasive plants or insects. Good stewardship strategies can help mitigate the damage. For stewardship information specific to this natural community, scroll to the bottom of the page.
Here’s how you can help protect natural communities:
Ecobit: Stewardship at Home and While Visiting Rock Creek Park
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Current and potential ecological threats for the Basic Mesic Hardwood Forest in Rock Creek Park include the following:
- Excessive deer browse: decimation of wildflowers, oak seedlings, and shrubs (but not pungent northern spicebush or pawpaw)
- Emerald ash borer (potential): damage to green and white ash
- Viburnum leaf beetle (potential): damage to southern arrow-wood, blackhaw, mapleleaf viburnum
- Asian long-horned beetle (potential): damage to maples and slippery elm
- Gypsy moth: damage to northern red oak
- Dutch elm disease: damage to slippery elm
- Elm yellows (potential): damage to slippery elm
- Beech bark disease (potential): damage to American beech
- Sudden oak death (potential): damage to oaks
- Dogwood anthracnose: decline of flowering dogwood
- Flash floods: damage to plants in the lower elevations of this non-flood-tolerant community
- Non-native invasive plants: competition with natives for soil nutrients, sunlight, and pollinators; degradation of animal habitat
Non-native Invasive Plants
The fertile soils of the Basic Mesic Hardwood Forest naturally support a diversity of plant species; unfortunately, those soils also support a wide variety of non-native invasive plant species. (* indicates non-native)
- Chinese wisteria* (vine)
- chocolate vine* (vine)
- English ivy* (vine)
- garlic mustard* (low plant)
- Japanese barberry* (shrub)
- Japanese honeysuckle* (vine)
- Japanese hop* (shrub)
- Japanese maple* (tree)
- Japanese snowball* (shrub)
- Japanese stiltgrass* (low plant)
- linden arrow-wood* (shrub)
- mile-a-minute weed* (vine)
- multiflora rose* (shrub)
- Norway maple* (tree)
- oriental bittersweet* (vine)
- porcelain-berry* (vine)
- privets (shrub)
- sweet mock orange* (shrub)
- wine raspberry* (shrub)
- winter creeper* (vine)
- winged burning-bush* (shrub)
Stewardship
Here are a few ways Park staff are managing some of the ecological threats to the Basic Mesic Hardwood Forest:
- Excessive deer browse: deer management plan in place since 2012 using lethal and non-lethal means1
- Gypsy moth: bacterial and viral insecticides, naturalized fungus, release of parasitic wasps
- Flash flooding: efforts to reduce stormwater runoff
- Potential arrival of diseases and invasive insects: Vigilance of Park staff and visitors
Ecobit: An Extra Set of Eyes
