HAVE YOU EVER NOTICED A TREE OR AN ENTIRE FOREST SMOTHERED IN VINES?
​What you are seeing is the ever-growing problem of non-native invasive plants. Due to their aggressive growth and lack of natural controls, these plants are a serious threat to the health and resilience of our native forests. They also imperil the important environmental and public health benefits forests provide. This is especially true for riparian forests that grow alongside waterways and play an essential role in protecting water quality and stream health.
In recent years, many organizations, local governments, and community members in the Charlottesville, Virginia area have begun to take action on their own to control invasive plants, largely through volunteer workdays. The enormous scale of the problem has made it clear, though, that real progress can only be made through a focused and coordinated approach. To help address this issue more strategically and on a larger scale, in 2023, the Rivanna Conservation Alliance (RCA) initiated a project called the Rivanna River Forest Health and Resilience Project, which was funded by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF), with support from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Chesapeake Bay Program. A grant from NFWF enabled RCA to bring together more than a dozen nonprofit organizations, local government agencies, technical experts, and other community stakeholders to begin working together.
This tree is competing against winding vines of bittersweet and aggressive English ivy.
ABOUT THE PROJECT
The Rivanna River Forest Health and Resilience Project is a multifaceted project with the goal of improving forest health along the urban Rivanna River through the management of high-risk invasive plants and the planting of new native trees. It is a collaborative and coordinated effort to make on-the-ground improvements in forest health, and to motivate and support the wider Rivanna River watershed community to take action on these issues.
​The project focuses on the five-mile urban corridor of the Rivanna River around Charlottesville, from the confluence of the North and South Forks of the Rivanna down to Moores Creek. It includes activities at two scales:
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Broad scale mapping, outreach and engagement with riverfront property owners, and coordination take place along the entire five-mile project area.
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Field assessments, forest management planning, invasive plant management, and native tree plantings take place in the three public parks in the project area: Darden Towe, Riverview, and Pen Parks.
The initial NFWF-funded project included a wide range of activities and efforts to help achieve both short- and long-term goals related to improving forest health and resilience in the urban Rivanna River corridor:
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Developed a robust partnership
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The project established the long-term, collaborative Rivanna Forest Restoration Partnership, made up of nonprofits, local governments, technical experts, and other community stakeholders. The Partnership helps guide different aspects of the overall effort, including determining the highest priority locations in the three parks for invasive management and tree planting.
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Created targeted forest management plans
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With support from trained volunteers, the project has and will continue to collect field data on current forest conditions, including native tree canopy and prevalence of invasive species. The Partnership uses these data to determine management priorities, create and update targeted forest management plans for each park, and track progress over time.
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Began implementing the highest priority management actions
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The grant supported the initial removal and management of invasive vines, shrubs, and trees and the planting of new native trees and shrubs in the highest priority locations by contractors and volunteers. Contractors treated about 15 acres across Riverview Park, Darden Towe Park, Pen Park and volunteers have managed about 10 acres. Volunteers and contractors planted 1,810 trees and shrubs in these locations to restore native canopy.
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Trained community members
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The project has recruited and trained hundreds of community members to carry out forest health assessments, manage invasive plants, and plant trees.
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Raised awareness and promoted wider scale action
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​The project also included research into how best to support private property owners and Homeowner Associations (HOAs) along the Rivanna River in addressing invasive plants and started developing outreach materials and strategies to meet these needs.
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The project helped raise awareness of the issue of invasive plants and their threats to our riparian forests throughout the community through public events, social media, TV news stories, newsletters, door hangers, and signage.
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The project also widely shared technical resources to help the community take action.
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What is a “resilient” forest? Forests can experience many different threats and disturbances, including drought, flooding, insect damage, excessive deer browsing, disease, human activity and recreation, and climate change. A resilient forest is one that has the ability to withstand and adapt to these stresses without losing its ecological integrity.