A guided walk through the Fernbank Forest takes place 1 to 3 p.m. today. Visitors must register in advance. Information on this and other forest walks: www.fernbankmuseum.org/calendar-of-events/
Information on how to volunteer for the forest restoration project: 404-929-6360 or www.fernbankmuseum.org/give/volunteers/polaris/
Steve Place loves the woods. In fact, the Atlanta ecologist and professional gardener loves them so much that he is leading a group of volunteers uprooting Chinese privet, English ivy and other pesky plants trying to overtake Atlanta’s Fernbank Forest, a 65-acre old-growth urban Piedmont forest believed to be the country’s largest. The forest is adjacent to the Fernbank Museum of Natural History and managed by Fernbank, originally established to preserve and protect this stretch of oaks, hickories and poplars as a “school in the woods for nature study.” One Saturday a month, Place and a group of eight or so volunteers do their part to get rid of the plant-life bullies that are not welcome in this school.
Q: How did you become an ecologist?
A: My degree is in ecology from Emory University and I worked for many years as one of the caretakers of the Lullwater estate, the president’s residence. At Lullwater, I fell in love with Piedmont forests, especially urban forests.
Q: What is a Piedmont forest?
A: Essentially, it is the forest cover dominated by hardwoods species that extends around Atlanta reaching northward towards the Appalachians.
Q: How did you come to volunteer at Fernbank Forest?
A: Nearly two years ago, I learned that Fernbank was working on a restoration plan for the forest. On the one hand, I saw this beautiful piece of forest. On the other, I saw how disturbed and damaged it is. I also immediately understood the scale of the endeavor.
Q: What makes this forest so special?
A: Where else can you bring people in Atlanta into the forest and see a 100-year old oak?
Q: You can only visit Fernbank Forest as a visitor to the museum. Do you think the public should be able to go for free?
A: The work that is going on there is enormously expensive. I really worry that some people won’t value that property appropriately.
Q: How disturbed is the forest?
A: In the winter, a Piedmont forest should be brown, with the exception of a magnolia or the odd juniper. Now you see all this green in the forest and that is Chinese privet. It is squeezing the life out of our native plants like azaleas.
Q: What are you and the other volunteers trying to do?
A: To enhance the forest by getting rid of nonnative invasive plants — kudzu, privet, English ivy, wisteria — that are problematic and take away from the forest’s natural beauty.
Q: You don’t think wisteria is beautiful?
A: As a gardener, I see beauty in most, if not all plants, but wisteria is a plant that does not belong in this ecosystem. It develops very, very strong vines that reach up into the trees and break those trees to pieces. The real danger of these nonnative plants, which grow very dense, is fire. A Piedmont forest should be open, with little fuel to feed a fire.
Q: The effect of these invasive plants extends beyond trees, right?
A: They completely change the ecosystem. There is always a relationship between plants and birds and other wildlife.
Q: Is taking out the invasive plants hard?
A: It is physical because we are removing the root systems — we are not using any chemicals. We have a great group of volunteers, including a high school student and a nurse from the CDC, that bring a huge range of experiences and knowledge to draw from.
Q: What kind of progress have you made?
A: You can really see where we have been. You can almost feel the forest begin to breathe again.
Q: So you are almost done, right?
A: Our goal is to restore this forest to good health. After we remove the invasive plants, there is maintenance. We are going to be at this for years and years and years.
The Sunday Conversation is edited for length and clarity. Writer Ann Hardie can be reached by email at ann.hardie@ymail.com.
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