Purpose and Function at the Sallie Doss Nature Center

Parents and grandparents know how to organize households for both purpose and function! A home can keep you almost nonstop busy. Things are decluttered constantly, but the things with purpose and function tend to stay. When approaching building or maintaining a habitat yard this point of view is extremely helpful. Does this plant (or grass) have purpose? Does this plant enable wildlife - songbirds, pollinators, owls, birds of prey, turtles, deer, bears, turkeys - to better function in some way?

When the Gilmer County Airport manager had to remove a large area of trees he reached out to several plant nurseries and large gardening businesses for assistance to restore the area- not for beauty- but for habitat purpose and function. Unfortunately, he was unable to find the guidance that what he was looking for. He wanted to do the right thing, provide plants with function to offset this habitat loss. I was very pleased to be given the opportunity to direct this well-intentioned man to Roundstone Native Seed. Planting a large area could easily be thousands of dollars, he had a budgetary limit of about $500. He was able to cover the area with habitat enriching seeds. They take time to establish but are worth the wait.

Many trees were down or damaged at the upper Sallie Doss nature trail

Our Bent Tree Lake and Wildlife volunteers were looking at a similar situation a couple of years ago. A high wind storm rushed through BT taking dozens of trees down, and damaging some to the point of imminent collapse. The 'upper' Sallie Doss trail was severely affected. L&W volunteers worked alongside BTCI to ensure everyone’s safety by removing the hazards. This was hard work, and they did a wonderful job for our community. The trails of Sallie Doss provide BT residents an opportunity to walk in nature that is comparable to our very own properties here in BT. The trails have areas with deep to light shade, afternoon sun, creekside, lakeside, and slopes. That is where L&W Habitat Conservation wants to be! The volunteers need soil, sun, and slopes that are similar to what all of us have in BT, so that information can be gathered of what native plants that provide wildlife purpose and function can thrive and survive browse pressure.

This area did not come to us easily, though. The heavy machinery required to ensure our trail’s safety basically crushed the soil. The area was reminiscent of the Great Plains’ 1930s dust bowl years. The very word ‘conservation’ comes to our modern English language from ancient roots. ‘Servo’ was I guard, I keep, ‘Servare’ was to guard, to keep. When the volunteers looking at this area saw what we had to work with, we went to work with the best native plants that were seeding at the time - burnweed and acorns- and, we were laughingly called ‘the same kind of crazy.’ By the next summer the restorative pioneer burnweed prepared the hard compacted soil to be ready for more beneficial seedings. (there's still a lot of burnweed of it working there, that's the really tall mostly still green stuff!)

Large flower partridge pea is among the wildflowers 'nursed' along by the native grasses.

We refuse to let invasive stilt grass own this valuable patch of habitat. The next spring and summer we spread a diverse variety of native plants that will be in our soil’s seed bank for decades. And, thankfully, the seeds did not make us have the patience to wait that long! This summer we have 4 solid nursery grass areas. Grass is a very interesting plant within itself that could be studied for years, it provides for birds and mammals alike. When left to overwinter, it can be a lifeline for BT’s beloved wildlife. These nursery grasses are protecting our next year’s wildflowers. Their purpose, their function, is ‘servare’ -to guard and to keep- the wildflowers through the years. As we get to enjoy the serene landscape on the Sallie Doss trails, the birds and butterflies will be alongside us enjoying the native plants there that are being given room to grow, room to achieve their purpose and function.

I am (as I hope you are) very happy to see this trail join the habitat corridor that the L&W Habitat Conservation has been diligent with maintaining. From the admin garden beds, to Sallie Doss trails, to the dam, the spillway, and the back gate hill, the corridor (think of it as a roadway of sorts) provides for our year round and migratory wildlife so they can find beneficial and needed lifelines. If you would like to join your yard to the corridor it is easier than you think! Evaluate your plants (and grasses) with ‘Purpose and Function’, support non-hybrid natives by encouraging your yard’s seed bank to thrive by simply dedicating an area to not mow, or even have just a few plant pots of wildlife enriching butterfly host plants and you can have a little piece *peace* of nature at your home as the birds and butterflies will visit, live, and thrive.

Common Elephants Foot is blooming now, a whimsical fun plant that pollinators and humans enjoy.