On a beautiful day in early November, Audubon Vermont, Gund Institute for the Environment, Vermont Land Trust, and Philo Ridge Farm convened a team to plant 200 shrubs along the Mud Hollow Brook at the farm. This project was the continuation of an effort to restore habitat along the brook. The project has involved several steps that will continue into the spring of 2023. Initially in late fall 2021, we worked with USFWS Partners Program staff to remove a large area of invasive species that were growing along the brook. In the early spring, we planted nearly 100 live shrub willow stakes and fascines along the wetland. Then, in November, USFWS Partners Program purchased 200 bareroot (meaning the plant has not been potted, but has been harvested from a growing bed at the nursery and soil removed from roots) plants from the Intervale Conservation Nursery to plant along the edge of the wetland.

The large team made light work, and the planting was completed in just a few hours. Plants included shrub willow, Aronia, buttonbush, and silky dogwood. These wet tolerant shrubs will eventually grow to provide food resources for birds and bees and nesting structures for birds. Stay tuned for our spring planting project, which will involve putting another 200 bareroot shrubs in the ground.