By Nicole DeLizzio
Spring is almost here, and with it will come bursts of green everywhere! While we are all counting down the days before we see spring ephemerals waking up from their long winter nap, there are still a few things we can be doing this dormant season. One of those activities is live staking, a simple but effective restoration technique that uses living plant material to help control streambank erosion and stabilize waterways.
Live staking is a low-cost soil bioengineering method that uses dormant woody cuttings that are about 12-36 inches in length and 0.5-1.5 inches in diameter from native plants, such as willow or dogwood, that are planted directly into areas like streambanks. These cuttings develop roots and grow into new vegetation, which helps stabilize banks, reduce erosion, and restore riparian buffers. As the plants mature, their root systems secure the soil and enhance water quality by limiting sediment runoff into nearby waterways. It is a simple process that almost anyone can do!
The first step is finding the right tree species that have evolved in areas of high disturbance and easily flooded areas. Some of these species include our native willows (Salix spp.), stemmed dogwoods (Swida sericea), boxelder (Acer negundo), and winterberry (Ilex verticiliata). Most of these plants that get commonly exposed to disruptions, such as beaver damage and constant flooding, cannot simply get up and run away. So instead, they found ways to evolve to be able to survive in these scenarios. Plants such as willows and elderberries have intense root systems and are capable of rooting very quickly into streambanks. The next time you are taking a hike at our Ashbridge Preserve, you will start to notice many areas along the path where larger willow trees have fallen right next to the streambank. What happens then is that branches will snap off and float downstream. When they land on a streambank, they quickly shoot out roots and grow where they end up!
Last Thursday, the Stewardship Team and a group of our wonderful volunteers spent the day working in Ashbridge Preserve. Together, we harvested more than 200 cuttings that will be used as live stakes to stabilize a severely eroding streambank at the preserve along Shugart Run that connects with Ridley Creek. By planting these stakes now, while the plants are dormant, we give them the best chance to root and establish before the growing season begins.
Projects like this are a great reminder that restoration doesn’t always require heavy equipment or complex technology. Sometimes, the most effective solutions come from working with natural processes. By using living plant material and mimicking the way plants naturally spread along waterways, live staking allows us to restore streambanks in a sustainable and ecologically beneficial way.
We are incredibly grateful to our volunteers who helped make this work possible. Their efforts are helping ensure that the streams at Ashbridge Preserve remain healthy, stable, and full of life for years to come.
