Forestry Management

Hudson Farm has an active and intensive forestry management program for over 2 decades which include harvesting trees for timber and firewood sale and planting tree seedlings to promote species diversity.

Reforestation Program with the Boy Scouts

A local Boy Scout troop planted approximately 5,000 trees in the past two years on Hudson Farm property. The tree species included Pitch Pine (Pinus rigida), White Oak (Quercus alba), Red Oak (Quercus rubra),  Black Cherry (Prunus serotine) and Willow (Salix sp.)

Burning

The use of fire as a management and tool has been widely accepted and utilized all over the world. The removal of invasive species, creating habitat for endangered wildlife species and returning vital nutrients back to the soil are just a few of the many benefits burning can provide.

In 2018 Hudson Farm in cooperation with the NJ Audubon Society and the NJ Division of Fish and Wildlife implemented a burn program. The following is a brief outline of the research being conducted at Hudson Farm.

Burning Hardwood Forests to Enhance Wetlands Ecosystems in NJ (2018-2020)

New Jersey Audubon has obtained an North American Wetlands Conservation Act (NAWCA) small grant in 2018 in conjunction with a proposal to demonstrate how prescribed burning can be a cost-effective tool conservation tool for managing both wetland and upland habitats in the Northern forests of NJ.

Forest ecosystems are fundamental for supplying water to adjacent wetlands, and changes in the terrestrial system can have significant impacts on wetland functioning. In the Appalachian Mountains Region, fire was an integral part of oak-hickory forest ecosystems, with some of the drier ridgetops and south-facing slopes historically experiencing a wildfire every 10 years. Fire suppression and a lack of prescribed burning (RxB) have become the norm in NJ’s fire adapted plant communities, allowing mesic species such as maple, beech and birch, along with certain invasive plant species such as Japanese barberry, to encroach and alter how these systems function. Without fire, seasonal water levels in forested wetlands may be lower than optimum for wildlife due to increased interception and transpiration, and lower soil hydrophobicity.

The Hudson Farm Club (HFC) is a matching partner in the grant who manages several thousand acres owned by IAT Reinsurance in Northern NJ.  HFC staff and New Jersey Audubon Society (NJAS) staff are to receive professional training to be certified to participate in and conduct RxB on the IAT properties. Both staffs will work with the New Jersey Forest Fire Service (NJFFS) to complete RxB on 200 acres at the property, of which, 74 acres are wetlands and 126 acres are associated upland forest. RxB will restore a fire adapted ecosystem and associated wetland function, while helping to control invasive species and promoting increased understory diversity. Burning wetland areas will reduce encroaching woody cover, creating more open conditions to benefit dabbling ducks and other waterfowl. Vegetation structure along the wetland – upland interface will be improved for migratory species such as woodcock, as well as other threatened and endangered species. Avian response to RxB will be monitored through breeding bird surveys conducted during and after the project period. The HFC showcases its conservation work to the public by hosting numerous statewide meetings and tours on the property throughout the year, allowing for this project to become a replicable model for the region. By working with HFC, NJAS plans to showcase how RxB can be a cost-effective tool conservation tool for managing both wetland and upland habitats.

Prescribed burns will be used to enhance wetlands and the associated uplands and will be completed in house by Hudson Farm staff with the assistance of the New Jersey State Forest Fire Service.  Additional vegetative management will be completed by Hudson Farm staff with technical assistance from Gracie and Harrigan, NJ Audubon and the Natural Resource Conservation Service.  Monitoring of bird species before and after project completion will be conducted by the NJDEP Fish and Wildlife division.

Habitat for migrating American Black Ducks, Mallards, American Wigeon, Ring-necked Ducks, and Wood Ducks will be enhanced through an increase in water yield. Habitat for breeding Wood Ducks will be created and enhanced through an increase in water yield and the creation of snags for nesting cavities. These snags will be located within and adjacent to 8.2 acres of seasonally flooded forested wetlands and four acres of seasonally saturated forested wetlands, which may become seasonally flooded with the increase in water yield after the burn. The snags will also be within ¾ mile from 33 acres of existing lacustrine habitat and 175 acres of existing PEM, PSS, and PFO habitat, which is within the distance Wood Ducks are known to travel from a nest cavity to standing water. About twelve snags per acre will be created with a low-severity prescribed burn within and adjacent to wetlands in the Tract. Based on this average, burning 83 acres will create almost 1,000 snags.

Ten acres of uplands forest have already been managed within one area of the property to create Golden-winged Warbler habitat through a previous grant with the USDA-NRCS, specifically the Working Lands for Wildlife (WLFW) program and the USFWS Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program. Species already observed using those ten acres include the American Woodcock, Blue-winged Warbler, Canada warbler, Wood Thrush, and a migrating Olive-sided Flycatcher.  Conducting a prescribed burn on 200 acres, which includes the ten-acre WLFW site prescribed burning will open the forest canopy, increase the diversity of understory, promote the growth of sedges and forbs, and create snags. All of these new characteristics within the forest will enhance existing breeding and post-breeding habitat for all the aforementioned species, which will result in increased productivity create post-fledging survival. The new forest characteristics as a result of a prescribed burn will also create suitable breeding habitat for the Red-headed Woodpecker, Cerulean Warbler, Kentucky Warbler, and Golden-winged Warbler, all of which are known to breed within the natal dispersal distance from this Tract.