Trash, Logging and Opportunities

Trash. Nobody likes it, yet we create lots of it.

Humans are hard on the land. Not as often, but still today some people choose to save money and not pay for trash pickup and use their back woodlot as the disposal area for the family. Leaving a mess for future generations to clean up.

Holley Savanna like many properties was used as a depository for the family trash back in the day. Thankfully they confined it to a couple of locations.

We have known about the trash at Holley Savanna since before NICHES became the owners of the land in 2005, but the location was not the easiest to get to back to you, due to thickets of hazelnuts, oak grubs and wetlands.

This past winter, NICHES opted to work with a timber company to log the woods at Holley in order to achieve our goal of having the canopy structure closer to 30-40% than the 80% or more that covered most of the property, which will be great for many of the savanna species that need light on the ground.

The tree dropping part of the logging operation is done, and the structure when you look up on the property looks nice and open, just as we desired. The ground level looks like a timber operation, or a little rough as they all do with tops scattered about here and there in piles and temporary roads for skidding the logs out of the woods winding through the property.

The temporary skidding roads have created a perfect opportunity for NICHES to get on the removal of the human trash that was left behind. On February 4 NICHES will be hosting a workday starting at 10 AM ET at Holley Savanna and help clean up debris piles that we will then either recycle or haul to the Newton County Landfill for disposal. We will be working until 3 PM. Join us for as much of the day as works for you. 

Its winter and cold in the Midwest, most days, so we will be burning some of the timber slash near the garbage piles to help keep warm and also clean up the site for future management work.

If you are unable to make the workday, NICHES is hosting 2 upcoming events at Holley Savanna.

March 14: noon-1:30 PM
NICHES Executive Director will be leading a walk, discussing the whys and how to prepare for a timber harvest. Maybe a timber harvest is right for your land objectives? Come on out and ask questions

March 14: 2-4 PM
Put on muck boots, we will be exploring the ephemeral wetlands on the property in search of fairy shrimp. Did he say shrimp? Sure did. The fairy shrimp have a rather short lifespan as adults in the cold water of fish free wetlands. If you wait, they will be gone.