Recommendations
  • Develop a forest management plan
  • Allow the field to undergo natural succession: $0 – $9,450
  • Install the trails system and invest in educational materials:
    • Trails: $13,500 – $99,000 (a very conservative estimate)
    • Signs: $72 – $1350

.

Three Goals for this Plan
  1. Continue stewardship of the property’s natural spaces and vegetation
  2. Capitalize on the educational potential of the property’s natural spaces and vegetation (through nature trails, educational materials)
  3. Further integrate ecological food production into overall site management (permacultural reworking of garden/orchard)
.
Addressing Goal 1

Methods

  • Survey of onsite flora
    • We observed plant communities and identified approximate borders for each community
    • We mapped plant communities with a GPS unit and this map became the basis for subsequent site analysis and further data collection
    • We conducted a survey of all trees (DBH > 3 in.) in two major plant communities (lawn and maintained winged elm- dominated stands). We targeted these for the relative ease of data collection, and their prominence and importance within the landscape
  • We conducted a survey of representative canopy trees in other major enclosed-canopy forest communities (areas deemed too large to sample comprehensively).  In each stand, 10% of total stand area sampled, results extrapolated for approximation of overall stand composition.
  • Vegetation management recommendations
Results
.
Figure 1: Trees sampled in the lawn and maintained, winged elm-dominated portions of the property.

.
Figure 2: Trees sampled for the representative plots in other forested communities on the property.
.
Figure 3: Species distribution of trees surveyed in the lawn and maintained winged elm- dominated stands on the property.

.
Figure 4: Plant community map for the entirety of the stone circles property.

.
Addressing Goal 2

Methods

  • Used survey results to create
    • Proposed trail network, with associated educational signs
    • Educational maps and descriptive species index

Results

.

Figure 4: Proposed trail with educational signposts (black) located at each community and stage of succession onsite.


.

Addressing Goal 3

Methods

  • Created a detailed landscaping basemap (structures, building footprints, topography)
  • Performed a permaculture-informed site analysis
Results
.
Figure 5: Master plan overview permaculture redesign.

.

Grant Opportunities for the Conservation Management Plan
  • Cedar Tree Foundation awards grants in amounts up to $300,000 in the areas of environmental education, environmental health, and sustainable agriculture.  They favor grant proposals that have strong environmental justice and/or conservation elements.
  • The Conservation Fund Greenways Program provides seed grants to organizations working to expand trail and greenway networks.
  • The North Carolina Adopt a Trail Program grants up to $5000 for new trail construction, trail side facilities, brochures, and media.
  • The Rudolf Steiner Foundation Social Finance Seed Fund grants up to $5000 to new initiatives in the areas of food and agriculture, education and the arts, and environmental stewardship.
  • Wallace Genetic Foundation awards grants of up to $40,000 in the areas of sustainable agriculture, protection of farmland near cities, plant genetic research, biodiversity protection, and environmental education and media.