Friends of Samuel Howlett Park

City of Rochester City Beautiful Commission Wednesday, June 7, 2011

BioBlitz: Saturday May 21, 2011

A BioBlitz is an inventory of species of plants and animals found in a given area. A BioBlitz creates awareness and appreciation of biodiversity.

BioBlitz: Saturday May 21, 2011

Species Inventory of Park Habitats

Wet Meadow

Mixed Oak Forest Submergent Marsh

Oak Barren

Floristic Quality Assessment

Floristic Quality Assessment (FQA) is a tool to assist natural resource managers in assessing the floristic, and implicitly, natural significance of any given area throughout Michigan. It is intended to be a simple, consistent, and repeatable method for evaluating the relative significance of tracts of land in terms of their native floristic composition.

Floristic Quality Index

Virginia Bluebells Mertensia virginica C = 10 Common Trillium Trillium grabdoflorum C=5

Fall Dandelion Leontodon autumnalis C=0

Floristic Quality Index

Coefficient of Conservatism

Each native species is assigned a value from 0 to 10, that represents the probability that this plant species is likely to occur in landscapes relatively unaltered from those of pre-settlement times. Plant species with high C values are relatively specialized in their requirements, and thus are found in more restricted habitats. Plants with low C values are not particularly specialized and more likely to occur in disturbed habitats.

Virginia Bluebells Mertensia virginica C = 10 Common Trillium Trillium grabdoflorum C=5

Fall Dandelion Leontodon autumnalis C=0

Floristic Quality Index

Coefficient of Conservatism: A Restaurant Analogy Rochester Mills Brewery C = 10

Kruse & Muer C=5

McDonalds C=0

Howlett Park Floristic Quality Assessment

# Native Species: 31 # Adventive Species: 30

FQI<20 have minimal significance from a natural quality perspective FQI >=35 are floristically important from a statewide perspective FQI >50 are globally significant

Native Mean C= 3.5 w/adventives 1.8

Native FQI = 19.6 w/adventives 14

Howlett Park: Natural Feature Assets

Diverse topography

Wet Meadow

Diverse habitats Large water feature

Mixed Oak Forest Submergent Marsh

High-quality native, old trees (Black Cherry, Red Oak, Burr Oak, Swamp White Oak, Siver Maple, Cottonwood) Some remnant high quality ground flora (bloodroot, sensitive fern, lady fern, woodland forget-me-not) Some high quality wetland/wet meadow species (Boneset, Swamp Milkweed, sedge, Blue Flag Iris, rush)

Oak Barren

Howlett Park: Natural Feature Threats

Wet Meadow

Significant invasive plant populations Lack of healthy understory Lack of healthy ground flora Stormwater inputs to Howlett Pond

Mixed Oak Forest Submergent Marsh

Oak Barren

Howlett Park: Invasive/Nuisance Plants

Woody Species:

Garlic Miustard (Alliaria petiolata) Common buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica) Smooth Buckthorn (Rhamnus Frangula) Autumn olive (Elaeagnus umbellata) Eurasian honeysuckles (Lonicera species) Asian bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus) Multiflora rose (Rosa multiflora)

Wetland Species:

Reed canary grass (Phalaris arundinacea)

Nuisance Species:

BullThistle (Cirsium vulgare) Curly Dock (Rumex Crispus) Cottonwood (Populus deltoides)

Howlett Park: Recommended Next Steps

Site Stewardship:

Friends of Howlett Park Fall Invasive Removal Volunteer Work Day with Six Rivers Regional Land Conservancy (Saturday, October 29, 2011) CBC/ FOHP work with SRRLC to develop long-term stewardship/restoration plan and ongoing work days (cost sheet provided)- Fall 2011/Winter 2012 Work with Jake Lloyd to develop planting plan for spring 2012 (volunteer) (Fall 2011/Winter 2012) Work with City to implement Howlett Pond Assessment Recs

Watershed Management

Work with CRWC/FOHP to implement storm drain stencils, stewardship flier and interpretive signage (Spring 2012) Work with City on stormwater management options for church parking lot expansion (unknown timeframe)

Neighborhood Outreach/Stewardship

Neighborhood stewardship flier Howlett Park Neighborhood on www.networkedneighbors.org/ Friends of Howlett Park Facebook Page (16 friends!) Patch Blog Web page

www.networkedneighbors.org

www.networkedneighbors.org

www.networkedneighbors.org

www.networkedneighbors.org

THANK YOU!!!