2002 Natural Resources Management

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Upland Natural Community Descriptions and Management Recommendations The uplands in Reservoir Woods include oak woodland /forest, prairie, and some lowland hardwood forest. Also, because of a massive pine planting effort in the early 1900's, there is a nice pin- hardwood forest here. The earliest planted pines will soon approach 100 years of age. This curios pine forest, along with the quality oak and prairie communities make this park a natural gem, almost unheard of so close to the core of a densely populated urban area. Community RW -U1 Mesic Oak Forest Qualitative Rank: BC Nonnative Shrub Rank: 13 This oak forest is on a slight to moderate north- facing hillside on the southwest side of Reservoir Woods. The canopy of this forest is generally closed with bur, white, red, and pin oaks being the most common trees. These average approximately 12 -18 inches across the community. Other, smaller trees that have grown up under the oaks include black cherry, American elm, and green ash. Where canopy gaps occur between the oaks, these younger trees have, or will soon fill them in. The shrub layer includes a moderately large number of species and includes both small trees and true shrubs. The most common shrub are the nonnatives European and glossy buckthorn. Other members of the shrub layer that were frequently encountered include boxelder, green ash, black raspberry, gooseberry and red - berried elder. The ground layer composition is moderately poor in the south portion of this community but is better quality along the north portion. Here ferns and forbs characteristic of oak forest are more common and provide better overall community composition to the forest. Nonnative shrubs such as European and glossy buckthorn has also likely been a factor in delaying the establishment of woodland flowers and graminoids. The ground layer also indicates a history of grazing because of the fairly common thorny species. City of Roseville 121 Parks Natural Resource Management