One is the forest of yesteryear; the other, the woodlands of tomorrow. Both are the products of vision taking root on hillsides just outside Reading at Nolde Forest Environmental Education Center.

When Jacob Nolde took ownership of his more than 600 acres, the clear-cutting that came before him had left its mark—few trees and acres and acres of rolling fields and meadows. The hosiery magnate moved decisively to change that landscape of the early 1900s, planting thousands and thousands of trees.

There were oak, poplar and ash, to be sure, but the trademark of the emerging Nolde Forest would be the conifer. White and red pine, Douglas fir, Norway spruce, and Japanese larch. In all, a total of 500,000 plantings representing 13 species were showcased in plantation-like settings that drew public visits and acclaim from far beyond the Berks County line.

But the regimented plantings and species selection of the past were ill-suited for the forestry challenges of the future. Disease, deer, invasive insects and vegetation, together they all began to take a collective toll on Nolde’s dream of a healthy, vibrant forest, planted over 400 of his acres.

When the state took over ownership in the late 1960s, that dream was in trouble; when DCNR took a hard look at those woodlands in recent years, much of it was dying.

Enter new folks with a new vision: to again surround the Nolde Forest Environmental Education Center with healthy, regenerating woodlands that can resist disease and deer over-browsing and retard the invasive invasion.

New stewards now follow Nolde’s footsteps on the hills flanking Angelica Creek, folks like the Bureau of Forestry’s Rick Hartlieb Jr. and the Bureau of State Parks’ Rachel Wagoner and Lisa Miller.

Walk the center’s labyrinth of trails and roads with this trio and you comprehend the breadth of what may well be the most comprehensive forest regeneration effort involving their two bureaus.

What began several years ago as an effort to remove dead and dying trees along park roadways evolved into a cooperative, park-wide project. Downed limbs and fallen trees were dangerous and costly, to be sure, but woodlands scarred by overgrown, invasive vegetation ran counter to the very core of the center’s educational principals.

Visitors leaving the center’s mansion now are greeted by a view very different from that just a little over a year ago.

“It’s hard to visualize what was here before. The overhead canopy was pretty much gone. Trees were dead and diseased and, as a result, stilt grass and other invasives were out of control,” said Hartlieb, assistant district forester for the William Penn Forest District. “It was impenetrable, a real mess.”

“Our first step was to remove the dead and the dying trees, and treat the invasives to help the regenerative process,” said Hartlieb.

And plant new trees. Over the past two years, DCNR staff and volunteers have planted more than 1,800 seedlings. Oak, poplar, pine and larch now dot acres of cleared and herbicide-treated parkland in this far-reaching cooperative effort that required the dedication of volunteers, DCNR staff and the logger—D.F. Fleegle of Palmyra—contracted to do the salvage work.

And he did it well, said Hartlieb, ascribing strictly to the bureau’s logging practices and always remaining cognizant that trees were being cut down in a state park, one heavily visited and very much in the public eye. If they asked, visitors were told how the felled trees would be utilized: furniture, veneer, animal bedding, firewood and so on.

“From planning, to execution, to follow-up, this has been a classic example of a cooperative DCNR effort,” Wagoner said. “There have been larger timber salvage operations involving the parks and forestry bureaus, but this may well be the most in-depth, with extensive follow-up and restoration efforts.”

It’s a story Hartlieb says he enjoys telling when he conducts “walking open houses” on the park grounds.

“I always explain to visitors exactly what we did and why,” the forester said. “It was a beneficial way of the bureau tag-teaming with the park to effect improvement, and the public now is used to what they see.

“It all seemed to come together. The contractor was excellent and public meetings beforehand explained what we would be doing and why we had to do it, but if we did not have a solid follow-up plan it would have been a disaster.”

Along with answers, walking tour-goers get much more. Gleaned from the forester’s trained eye, they get interesting tidbits of Nolde knowledge. Like:

-- How leaf symmetry of the newly planted quaking aspen gives that tree its name;

-- The location of Kentucky coffee trees, the beans of which, Hartlieb notes, were used to dye Confederate troops’ uniforms the drab buff color;

-- Where one can find one very healthy tree unscathed by Dutch elm disease and another so far untouched by the chestnut blight;

-- And why always-browsing whitetails ignore seedling to hone in on felled trees’ emerging stump sprouts (“… finger-food or a steak dinner? ...”).

If those park visitors had a chance to listen to Wagoner, they’d also hear how the park resource manager sees the Nolde project as a precursor to a park-wide invasive species prioritization effort.

They also would appreciate how her bureau worked to soften contours of a utility line that tracks through the park and recently was cleared of dense Norway spruce stands and other covering vegetation. Look up or down the line from trail vantage points and you’ll now see bee balm, black haw, sumac and other newly planted shrubs.

Park manager Miller saw that and more. Clipbook in hand, walking the Nolde Forest grounds with Wagoner and Hartlieb, she busily was jotting down notes: monitor progress of her DCNR colleagues’ tree and shrub plantings. Check. Possible enlistment of park volunteers to fence off emerging stump sprouts from deer? Check. Deer-excluding fence needing repair. Check.

Those same park visitors just might appreciate something else. From Miller, the recently appointed head of her bureau’s first environmental education center, comes expressed commitment and appreciation:

“I am really looking forward to preserving what so many worked so hard to accomplish.”

For more information, visit DCNR’s Nolde Forest Environmental Education Center webpage.

(Reprinted from the July 23 DCNR Resource Newsletter.  Sign up for your own copy of the bottom of the Resource webpage.)

7/28/2014