A(1) Something you can volunteer to help us with. See below for details!
A(2) A cutting from a species of plant that can itself be planted to grow a new plant. These cuttings are from one to several feet long. They get pushed or pounded into the ground, rooting end down, in the moist areas along waterways. For the first couple of weeks to months, they just look like so many sticks poking out of the ground, or stakes. But, if conditions are right, they will gradually turn into full-fledged plants of their own, both rooting and sprouting leaves and eventually branches.
A few years ago the River Town Team did a pilot project to try out live staking amid the riprap (rock-lining of the creek bank) along Bull Run just upstream from the covered bridge. We were figuring out what was involved and whether it was feasible. There is a long term goal and vision to restore the floodplain in that reach of the creek, so there's no desire to invest in substantial or expensive plants for now because they may all need to be removed. But in the meantime, the bank is continuing to erode and vegetated buffers are an inexpensive improvement.
We did it again the following spring. And then we really started to get into it. We're now part of a regional project to harvest cuttings/future live stakes! We've been to a training put on by the Chesapeake Conservancy office out of Susquehanna University and are taking part in the Live Stake Collaborative. This means we have a better sense of how to cut the stakes and what it's all supposed to look like, as opposed to the uncertainty that characterized our first forays. We're still working out the spring schedule in coordination with other regional partners, but it looks like there will be a live stake planting activity on March 29 and a tree planting that will include live stakes on April 18 or 19... stay tuned.
If you like this idea and want to do more of it, definitely follow our On the River -- Lewisburg facebook page to stay abreast of activities. The first year we only had silky dogwood and red ossier dogwood stakes. We would have liked to have some black willow as well. The Live Stake Cooperative made it possible for us to also plant native Alder and Sycamore as well!
'
