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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72"><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:22.0pt;color:#548235;mso-style-textfill-fill-color:#548235;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha:100.0%'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:22.0pt;color:#548235;mso-style-textfill-fill-color:#548235;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha:100.0%'>Nature for All - Creating a Thriving</span></b><b><span style='font-size:22.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#548235;mso-style-textfill-fill-color:#548235;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha:100.0%'><o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:22.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#548235;mso-style-textfill-fill-color:#548235;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha:100.0%'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:22.0pt;color:#548235;mso-style-textfill-fill-color:#548235;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha:100.0%'>Natural Oasis at Woodend<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:22.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#548235;mso-style-textfill-fill-color:#548235;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha:100.0%'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:22.0pt;color:#548235;mso-style-textfill-fill-color:#548235;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha:100.0%'>by Alison Pearce, Director of Restoration<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:22.0pt;color:#548235;mso-style-textfill-fill-color:#548235;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha:100.0%'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>You spoke, we heard you, and we agree 100%! During our master planning process for Woodend Nature Sanctuary, surveys clearly showed that habitat restoration is the top priority for our members. Thanks to your input, we have set to work on plans to create a thriving natural oasis here at Woodend. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>Over the past 50 years, our sanctuary has suffered the loss of many plant and animal species. The increase in pavement in our neighborhood changed water flow, and Woodend’s small stream has become a deeply-eroded stormwater gully. To address runoff that was flowing from Woodend into our neighbors’ yards and Rock Creek, ANS installed an enormous rain garden at our north boundary and will add a second smaller rain garden along the driveway this year. We are also designing a stream restoration project that will heal eroded stream banks, improve the condition of our pond, create wildlife habitat, recharge groundwater, and further reduce sediment flushing into Rock Creek. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>Local forest health has declined precipitously in recent decades, primarily because the deer population has dramatically increased. Deer will eat most anything, but they dine on native plants first, especially young seedlings. This has allowed exotic weeds to become dominant at Woodend. Our preschoolers call these invasive plants “friends that do not share” because they provide little support for wildlife. More alarming still, the deer have eaten almost all of Woodend’s tree seedlings, threatening the very existence of a future forest. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>In an effort to reverse the decaying deer damage and to restore habitat for other wildlife, including groundnesting birds, butterflies, bees, small mammals, and amphibians, like marbled salamanders, we have erected a fence around 33 acres of Woodend. Despite the fence, several deer have been able to re-enter the sanctuary, surprising all the experts. Thanks to our dedicated volunteers, we have been able to gently move the deer off the sanctuary. As of this writing (fingers crossed!) there <u>are no deer on the sanctuary</u>. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>But we are watchful for their return, thanks to the donation and loan of 15 wildlife cameras that we are using to monitor the sanctuary. To ensure that we do everything in our power to restore habitat in the near term, ANS has convened a panel of deer management experts to help us solve deer re-entry problems and recommend solutions for keeping deer out of Woodend. This new Restoration Advisory Panel will present their recommendations to our Board of Directors in June. We are determined to begin restoration plantings in earnest by fall of 2018. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>And the great news is that our habitat restoration is just a part of our larger revitalization of Woodend. Time in nature is important for everyone, and we want our headquarters to be an oasis for people and wildlife. That is why we are launching our Nature for All project that will include a wheelchairaccessible trail, a nature play space, and interpretive signs and information that will inspire our community to understand and protect nature. We hope you’ll get involved! <o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>Sign up to be on our restoration team at <a href="http://www.anshome.org/volunteer">www.anshome.org/volunteer</a>. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>Donate a tree for Woodend restoration at <a href="https://anshome.org/plant-a-tree">https://anshome.org/plant-a-tree</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>See photos of red-shouldered Hawk and false sunflower by Gregg Patterson and MaryAnn Daly<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Segoe UI",sans-serif;background:#323639'>spring2018naturalistquarterly.pdf page 4</span></b><b><span style='font-size:18.0pt'><o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p></div><div id="DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2"><br />
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