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In addition, the cool moist understory of woodlands and forest edges are easily invaded by such species as buckthorn, garlic mustard, and invasive earthworms. Fire-maintained ecosystems, however, discourage their growth and spread. Prairie Savanna (5-50% cover) Woodland (50-70% cover) Forest (70-100% cover) (from the presentation Oaks, Fire and Climate Change by Heather Holm) Chatham Trails What had once likely been an oak/aspen savanna gradually became a degraded woodland–likely over the course of decades–due to the suppression of fire and the fact that buckthorn and other invasive trees & shrubs were allowed to grow to maturity and reproduce. The offspring of those original buckthorn have also been allowed to mature and produce seedlings over an even larger area. So we are now dealing with at least three generations of buckthorn. In some parts of the park, virtually nothing else will grow under the dense understory canopy they’re created. PTRC Member Mark Kelliher and other local residents have been volunteering to remove buckthorn from the area over the past few years and have made good progress in the area dominated by cottonwoods (which I will refer to as the Terrace Forest). With the approval of the City Council, goats were brought in during September of this year to weaken the young buckthorn, browsing on all leaves between a height of ~6”-6’. The goats will be returning in the spring of 2024 to weaken the young buckthorn further. Additionally, the noxious weeds Amur maple and non-native honeysuckle have also become established in the Chatham Trails area but, at this time, volunteers are not allowed to remove it. The wet meadows in Chatham Trails–like most wetlands in Arden Hills–also have problems with invasive species. Though I have not spoken with any residents who have lived here long enough to remember what the wet meadows once looked like, the cattail monoculture suggests that it has been taken over by the invasive hybrids. Though cattails do perform some ecological services, we have no shortage of cattails in Arden Hills. We do, however, have a shortage of healthy wet meadow ecosystems dominated