Wildlife Photograph

From the Ground Up: What Fall Brings to Ijams

Thursday November 10, 2005
Read here to learn what's really going on at Ijams.

    Fall is here and we can enjoy cooler temperatures, migrating monarch butterflies, the calls of Canada geese overhead and the abundance of blooming asters.  Our eyes are drawn to the changing colors of the leaves and it is a great time for a walk through the forest trails at Ijams Nature Center.
    The park has approximately 130 acres of forests with cove hardwoods and oak-hickory as the predominant forest types.  As you walk along the North Cove Trail and the River Trail you will encounter a cove-hardwood or mixed mesophytic forest.  Tulip poplar, basswood, sycamore, sugar maple and box elder are overstory trees with Carolina silverbell, spice bush, bladdernut and smooth hydrangea in the understory.  Cove hardwood forests generally occur in mid to low elevation coves.
    Oak-hickory forests vary in composition due to elevation, directional aspect and moisture.  Along the South Cove and Tharp Trace trails the forests contain white oak, black oak, chestnut oak, northern red oak, pignut hickory and red maple growing on southwest-facing aspects.  On these moderately dry sites the oak forest are described as sub-mesic oak forests.
    On the Discovery and Serendipity trails at the Ijams home-site the oak forests contain white oak, northern red oak, southern shagbark hickory, mockernut hickory and tulip poplar growing on northeast facing aspects.  These forests may have dogwood, black gum, sassafras, black cherry and red maple as associates with maple leaf viburnum and hearts-a-bustin’ shrubs in the understory.  The forest is described as a mesic oak forest as the site is moist and cool and trees that favor these conditions grow here.
    There are many threats to our forests.  The main threat at Ijams is invasive exotic pest plants.  By removing Chinese privet and Amur honeysuckle shrubs from the forests there will be less competition for water, minerals and sunlight. This allows tree seedlings and wildflowers to grow.  Several Eagle Scout candidates and their Boy Scout Troops have taken on service projects to restore these forests to earn their Eagle Awards.

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