The Uihlein Foundation in Lake Placid is partnering with the Ausable Freshwater Center on a project to determine which native trees are best for river and stream bank stabilization.
“Hi, how’s it going?” greets Kiana French.
“Pretty good,” replies Pat Bradley. “Are you Kiana?”
“Yes I am,” French confirms. “Welcome!”
On a sunny, breezy day, Ausable Freshwater Center Nursery Curator Kiana French is happy to show off the greenhouse and lab where she spends a lot of time. It’s located at the Uihlein Foundation’s Uihlein Farm, where the foundation is providing the Ausable Center facilities and 10 acres to grow native trees for use in restoration projects in the Lake Champlain basin, beginning with stream bank stabilization.
French said the Ausable Freshwater Center began to collect seeds last year.
“We started around 35,000 trees in this greenhouse this spring and summer and as they grew into their tubes we then shuttled them outside so that they’re hardening off. They’re kind of putting on their sunscreen, experiencing the ebbs and flows of temperatures,” French explains. “And so they’re all outside next to the greenhouse now waiting to be planted into the production field, which is on our left here.”
French walks to the fence surrounding the field.
“They’ll grow in the field for about one to two years, depending on the species. They’ll get to be around two to four feet and at that time we’ll go in,” French says. “We have a big lifter with a blade and kind of some fingers that lifts them out of the ground, shakes the dirt off and then that’s our final project for restoration projects.”
No trees have yet been planted in the production field. A fence to block deer was just completed and the irrigation system is still under construction. A cover crop of buckwheat, oats and peas has been planted to build organic matter in the soil and provide weed suppression.
French says by next year the trees will be planted.
“My goal is by 2027 to have 600,000 stems annually in the field. Right now we have around 45,000 sitting on the benches here. But we are planning on making some investments to help us reach those goals.”
French explains that they are growing a number of different fast-growing, water loving tree species, including birches, alders, maples, willows, oaks and dogwoods to determine which are best for stabilizing streambanks.
“We want to be growing stock that’s genetically adapted to the very specific climate of the Adirondack region and the Ausable River watershed,” French says. “The plants here are used to growing in these harsh conditions and what we’re hoping to do at this nursery is to grow those genetically adapted species to this area specifically.”
“If this is successful at stabilizing the stream banks, how important is that during flood season?” Bradley asks.
“It’s going to be a really important function,” French replies. “And being able to grow these trees to a height that they’re able to really do the job of securing the banks during erosion you know that’s going to take time. We’re just working on ways to help speed up that process for revegetation.”
Uihlein Foundation CEO Jim McKenna says the foundation is glad to be able to provide the support.
“They are cultivating a woody shrub nursery where they’ll have something like 20-30-40 thousand woody shrubs growing over the next couple of years. And that’s to restore river banks on this side of the Lake Champlain basin. So we’re working closely with them and we charge then a dollar a year for our property,” McKenna notes.
The Ausable Freshwater Center is conducting two stream bank projects in Upper Jay, and plans to begin projects in Jay and Keene.
