If you look at old photos of Minnie’s Island, one of the first things you notice is the abundance of trees across the island. This started changing in the 2010s, as the emerald ash borer spread to our area, rapidly killing ash trees of all sizes within several years. The impacts to Minnie’s Island were significant, as ash trees were among the largest and most common trees on the island. Areas that used to be fully shaded were exposed to the sun, often resulting in explosive growth of non-native, invasive vines, which further impacted the remaining trees. The large sunny expanses also limited use of much of the island during the summer months.
When Minnie’s Island Community Conservancy (MICC) was formed in 2021, an early goal was to restore the tree canopy on the island. Four years in, we are making good progress toward that goal. In 2022, we planted about ten small (one foot) hybrid American chestnuts. Several are now over ten feet tall. In 2023, we made a large purchase of saplings (also about one foot) from the Maryland State Tree Nursery. We planted dozens of Virginia pine, white oak, cherry, locust, and river birch trees. Many of the Virginia pines are now over four feet tall, and the slower-growing oak trees are about three feet tall. We planted the water-loving river birch closer to the river, but it is not clear if they survived several floods. This spring we planted about fifteen larger (six to eight foot) white oak and red oak trees using funding provided through a Chesapeake Bay Trust grant. Oak trees are considered a keystone species that supports a large variety of insects and animals. All of the newly planted oak trees appear to be doing well. We also planted a small number of native ornamental trees, including red bud, American plum, and sweet crabapple.
Another early MICC goal was to remove (or control) the significant growth of the non-native invasive plants. As the removal continued, it became apparent that there was significant growth of naturally occurring saplings that self-seeded, including bitternut hickory, hackberry, elm, ash, locust, and beech. These are some of the fastest growing trees, as they started from seed and developed healthy root systems early on.
Our success has taken significant effort. We cage all of our larger saplings in fourteen gauge wire to protect them from deer browse and buck rub, and we often need to increase cage size every year to match the trees’ growth. At least twice a year we clear the cages and areas around the trees of invasive vines. In addition, we have had to water newly-planted trees during dry times, including significant effort this summer to ensure our newly-planted oak trees had access to water. We have not noticed beaver impacts on the island in the last several years, but we constantly monitor and we would cage our larger trees if beaver activity is noticed.
As we approach the winter months, I’d like to remind prospective island visitors to exercise caution due to the dangers of cold water. While Minnie’s will remain open to visitation during the day, MICC typically does not sponsor events from November through February, when the combined air and water temperatures are below 100 degrees, or when the river level is above five feet as measured at Little Falls.
By Joe Saliunas, certified Maryland Master Naturalist, vice-chair of Minnie’s Island Community Conservancy
Contributing Writer