At Reading Town Forest, our team is working through several areas along the Ipswich River where invasive plants have become well established. The wet, low-lying areas of the forest provide ideal conditions for glossy buckthorn (Fragula alnus), which has formed dense patches throughout the understory.
The project includes five targeted areas, each a few thousand square feet, where invasive species management is needed. As our team began working through one of the larger buckthorn patches, they noticed there was more happening beneath the invasive vegetation than they expected.
Looking Beyond the Buckthorn
Glossy buckthorn tends to have shallow roots that spread outward near the soil surface, making smaller plants relatively easy to pull. Larger plants that cannot be pulled are cut at the base and treated immediately to prevent regrowth. As the team worked through the patch, they began to uncover a variety of native plants growing among the buckthorn.
Highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum), winterberry (Ilex verticillata), viburnum (Viburnum spp.), and ferns were all present. The team also found some less expected species, including mayflower (Maianthemum canadense), northern starflower (Trientalis borealis), bracken fern (Pteridium aquilinum), and pink lady’s slippers (Cypripedium acaule).
What initially looked like a dense stand of buckthorn turned out to contain a surprisingly diverse native understory.
Buckthorn is not the only invasive species the team encounters at Reading Town Forest. Dense patches of bittersweet and black swallowwort are also present, along with smaller populations of morrows and amur honeysuckle, tree-of-heaven, knotweed, multiflora rose, and barberry. Each species requires a different approach to invasive plant removal and treatment. Bittersweet, like buckthorn, often has shallow roots that make pulling possible. Black swallowwort is more difficult to remove by hand because of its deeper, brittle roots can break apart in the soil. In those areas, the team uses a foliar herbicide treatment.
What Comes Next?
What stood out from this patch was not just how much buckthorn was present, but what was already growing alongside it. Finding so many native species within an invasive-dominated areas gives the team a better sense of what’s already established and what may have an opportunity to respond as invasive vegetation is managed.
For now, the team will continue to monitor these areas and see what emerges as the invasive plants are reduced. The native plants already present give us plenty to keep an eye on as the Reading Town Forest understory changes over time.