Five years have passed since the grass covered lot in Moss Point began its journey toward restoration to a mature natural wetland. To look at it now, it can appear to untrained eyes to be a mess – a tangled thicket of weeds and shrubs that, well, looks messy. Let me tell you why it is not and what it will look like as it continues its journey to a mature Bayhead Swamp that it is meant to be.
As I previously shared in this venue https://www.ourmshome.com/a-wetland-is-reborn-in-moss-point/,this site began its journey of rebirth in late 2019, transformed from a wet lawn, consisting of a near monoculture of invasive grass, to a more diverse assemblage of native grasses, shrubs and small trees. Known as ecological succession, this transformation is a process by which the structure of the plant community evolves over time.
From open ground created by the removal of the original forest, in this case a Bayhead Swamp, grasses and sedges give way to small shrubs and young trees. Over time, shrubs in turn give way to the ever-growing trees and a mature forest canopy. It is all about how different forms of plants grow and how they impact each other over time. Shorter-lived grasses, sedges, and many small herbaceous plants thrive in full sun, but die back once taller shrubs and small trees shade them out. Over time, longer-lived trees and shrubs dominate and form a more stable habitat.
The process takes time to unfold – years from open ground to even a young forest, and yes, it appears messy to many. But messy is the norm for natural habitats, especially those in the early years of ecological succession. Only humans try to manage nature to look neat, as with our trimmed lawns, hedge rows and trimmed trees. But if you understand what is happening at a site like the one in Moss Point, it is fun to watch the steps in the process. For simplicity, there are three main ages along the way – an original grass-herbaceous stage, a shrub/small tree stage, and the ultimate tree-dominated final stage.
Over the last five years, the grass stage gave way to the shrub stage within the first year or so, with the rapid growth of shrubs like Groundsel, Wax Myrtle, Yaupon Holly, and a mixture of young trees like Willow, Sweet Gum, Sweetbay Magnolia, Black Gum, Red Maple, Water Oak, Loblolly Pine, Redbay, and others. As the shrubs grew taller and thicker over the next three years, they shaded out the original cover of grasses and herbaceous plants https://www.ourmshome.com/a-wetland-grows-in-moss-point/. To venture into the thicket today, will find few plants growing under this canopy.
Today, a careful inspection along the edge of the site shows remnants of grasses and herbaceous plants, a thick wall of tall shrubs, but also the tops of canopy trees poking above the shrubs. Over time, the shrubs will thin out under the expanding shade of canopy trees. Some will remain, like Wax myrtle and Yaupon Holly, and other shade-tolerant small trees will enter the scene. The thicket will give way to a more open view into the maturing Bayhead Swamp.
The “mess” will become less “messy”, yet I hope that those of you that take the time to understand the process will embrace it. Afterall, the goal of any restoration is to bring back what was lost. The future mature Bayhead Swamp growing here will be more beautiful than the grass lawn it is replacing.
Hope to see you in our great outdoors!