stewardship

Schiff Natural Land Trust's active land acquisition and stewardship program ensures that our growing system of nature  preserves  are indeed "preserved in perpetuity for conservation and passive recreational purposes". We prepare and implement  detailed  management plans for our preserves, and  we have also developed a detailed Forest Stewardship Plan that helps to address some of the land management challenges and opportunities that we face. 

There are two primary stewardship goals for  Schiff’s system of nature preserves. The first is to provide exemplary public access. We accomplish this by maintaining an expanding network of multi-use trails and supporting the activities of the Schiff Nature Center through creation of demonstration projects and maintenance of a variety of buildings and supporting infrastructure. The second goal is to conserve the biodiversity of native plants and animals found on our preserves. We do this by finding creative, cost effective ways to deal with the major problems threatening the ecological health of Schiff. 

Dealing with ecological threats at Schiff’s nature preserves: 
Overabundant white- tailed deer and invasive non-native plants
White tailed deer densities are at 10 times the ecological carrying capacity in the area that includes our preserves.  Overabundant deer are browsing native understory plants. As the native plants are browsed, they are quickly replaced by r less palatable non-native invasive plants which proliferate and then out-compete the remaining native plants. As a result, there is almost a complete absence of native understory shrubs, wildflowers, and tree seedlings.  This has serious implications for the future of  our forests, as wel as  the types of animals that can call these forests  home. 

As large trees naturally die in a healthy forest, smaller trees should be taking their place. This process is not happening on our lands. When trees fall at Schiff, gaps that are formed are filled with non-native invasive species, not new native trees. As the structure of the understory is browsed away by overabundant deer, that important habitat layer is lost. The shrub layer that is being lost is especially important for certain migrating songbirds, which are becoming less common. To address these serious ecological problems, the Schiff Natural Lands Trust  has begun to implement a deer control project. 

The second, and closely related  ecological threat to Schiff’s preserved lands  is non-native invasive plants. These tend to be plants that were introduced from Europe and Asia and have established themselves in our forests and grasslands. White- tailed deer prefer to eat the native plants while the invasives are unpalatable. In addition, non-native invasive plants have other competitive advantages that allow them to proliferate even in areas where deer populations are low. As native plants get replaced by non-native invasive plants, entire habitats can change, affecting the amount and diversity of wildlife.

The most wide-ranging and potentially effective measure Schiff Natural Lands Trust is taking to control non-native invasive plants is to lower the population of deer on the nature preserve through our deer control project. Where it is feasible, we are also actively controlling targeted non-native invasive plant species. These include oriental bittersweet, Russian and Autumn Olive, barberry, and the Tree-of-Heaven, as well as species that have been identified as emerging invasive species by the NJ Invasive Species Strike Team. http://www.njisst.org/Index.asp

For more information on how to identify and control non-native invasive plant species visit: http://www.invasive.org/eastern/

Maintenance of Grassland Habitat
Schiff’s landholdings include  the Great Meadow and the Farrelly Meadow, which are beautiful grassland areas that play an important ecological role by providing unique wildlife habitat. Schiff  has been working with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, the New Jersey Forest Fire Service, and the Ralston Fire Company to remove non-native invasive plant species and conduct prescribed burns, which maintain these unique grassland habitats. Although prescribed burning is conducted primarily to reduce the danger of a wildfire starting on our lands  and damaging adjoining homes, it has the added benefit of being a more natural and cost effective way to maintain native grasslands.

For more information on Stewardship at Schiff Nature Preserve or if you are interested in volunteering, please call us at 973-543-6004.