Birds abound at Cedar Hill

The View from the side of Cedar Hill Reservation in Northborough
By Laura Mattei
Six years ago we plunged into an ambitious project to restore shrubland habitat on the top and south-facing slope at the Cedar Hill Reservation in Northborough.  Before we started the project, the former pasture was a mix of old field, shrubs, and small trees.  Over several years we cleared 16 acres.  
The land clearing was simple, but dealing with the resultant surge of invasive plant growth was not.  Bush honeysuckle and Oriental bittersweet grew back with a vengeance in grand profusion.  Invasive plants love disturbance and lots of sunlight.  Over several years, we hired certified applicators to selectively spray herbicide on the invasive plants.
If you take a walk at Cedar Hill today, you will find a mix of grasses, forbs and shrubs.  We have significantly increased plant diversity throughout.  Based on the results of our photo-point monitoring and vegetation survey, we have significantly reduced invasive plant cover; however, we must remain vigilant.  We will most likely need to do another herbicide treatment to keep the invasive plants under control.  
Our primary goal for the project was to create habitat for shrubland bird species that have suffered recent population declines.  We succeeded!  Within just a few years, target bird species arrived to nest at the site.  These birds include the perky prairie warbler, the buzzy blue-winged warbler, and the stunningly beautiful indigo bunting.  While Eastern towhees had already been common at the site, we would have lost them had we let the land succeed to forest.
What’s missing?  Native shrubs.  While we have an excellent diversity of native plants, including some native shrubs and small trees, we are missing many of the native shrubs we would want to see at this site, such as high bush blue berry and arrowwood viburnum.  Our next step will be an attempt to reintroduce more native shrubs to the site.  We may do this by collecting and propagating seeds from nearby sources, and then planting the young plants.  Deer browsing threatens young plants and we will need to encircle plants with wire mesh while they become established.  
This is a long-term project.  We are fortunate to have achieved such positive results in such a short period of time, but we have many more years of effort to reach our full biodiversity goal.
This project has been supported by the following funders: