Great Success at Smith

SVT's Stewardship staff is delighted to report that our habitat-restoration efforts at Smith Conservation Land in Littleton are yielding great results!

Over the past couple of years, SVT staff and volunteers have fought invasive plants at Smith in the hopes that native plants would emerge and thrive. We've pulled invasives by hand and smothered areas with cardboard, and we have contracted with specialists to clear an area of non-native trees and apply targeted chemical treatments to the most pernicious invasives. 

As we cleared the invasives, we made a conscious decision not to plant natives but to see what grew in by itself. 

This past week, we invited Ted Elliman, a well-regarded local botanist, to join us as we assessed the habitat-management areas. We needed to monitor the results and adjust our tactics as needed.

We were thrilled with what we found. Invasive plant abundance is noticeably low (less than 5% in most areas), and a great diversity of native plants are growing, including American elm, sugar maple, black cherry, winter berry, choke cherry, joe pyeweed, and boneset.

The results so far are fantastic, and we do not need to do any additional seeding or planting at this time. No adjustments needed!

Thank you to all of the volunteers who have helped in this effort.

We encourage you to visit Smith for yourself. The property straddles Whitcomb Avenue near the Littleton-Harvard town line. The eastern portion offers a gentle walk down to the Beaver Brook marshes and a view of a heron rookery in the distance. The trail on the western portion cuts through deep woods to a stunning ravine trail with views of Black Pond and scenic marshes.