CLEVELAND, TENN., April 11, 2022 — The Cherokee National Forest (CNF) recently partnered with Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) and the Cherokee Chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF) to fight the encroachment of non-native invasive plants at Baker’s Fields, just north of the old Sylco Campground.
The ecological concern in the area is the spread of a non-native, invasive, exotic plant called autumn olive. It was once planted for erosion control and as a wildlife crop. Multiple animal species eat autumn olive and they spread the seeds, which outcompete native plants for sunlight and nutrients, reducing biodiversity in both forest and field.
Between the 1840s and 1940s, the Sylco area was a mountain community and the site of a Civilian Conservation Corps Camp called Camp Cleoga. But by the 1950s, the community had been absorbed as National Forest lands. Most traces of occupancy have been covered by brush, trees, and overgrown fields, including autumn olive. “We, along with TWRA and NWTF, are doing our best to remove the plant from wildlife openings to attempt to gain control of its invasion throughout the Forest,” said Bo Reynolds, Biological Science Technician of the Cherokee National Forest.
NWTF donated $2,500 to TWRA, who used funds from the Pittman-Robertson Act to match their donation 3:1, providing a total of $10,000 committed for partnership work with CNF in Spring 2022. This multi-agency partnership provided the resources to regulate autumn olive encroachment in the historic Sylco area and to enhance habitat for native wildlife, including wild turkeys. This management activity compliments the landscape-level vegetation treatments and prescribed burning in the area.
USDA Forest Service biologists are using a combination of mulching, mowing, and herbicide treatment to control the autumn olive regrowth, and are expecting to see early successional plant species such as native grasses, flowers, and forbs thrive in the area. These native plants are valuable resources to native wildlife species as food, shelter, and escape cover. Deer, turkey, bear, small mammals, birds, insects, and pollinators are just a few of the species expected to benefit from this cooperative effort.
