Branchton Land Trust News April 2026

Robert J. C. Eagles and Paul F. J. Eagles

October 2025 and April 2026

 

Introduction to Invasive Species Remediation in 2025-2026

This report outlines the work done in the Branchton Forest with the money from the grant provided by the Region of Waterloo Environmental Sustainability Fund for 2025. Given weather conditions and worker availability, the work was split between September 2025 and April 2026.

In September 2025 Robert Eagles put in three days of work, to fulfill the first half of the remediation work funded by the Region of Waterloo Environmental Stewardship Grant for 2025. This involved the cutting of hundreds of trees of the invasive shrub Buckthorn (Figure 1). Then in late March and early April 2026 Robert also worked on hand removal of some invasive plant species from the forest floor.

 

Figure 1: Equipment provided by Paul Eagles

 

Buckthorn Removal

 

Robert Eagles worked from September 24th to September 26 2025 to remediate the invasive European Buckthorn. This species is highly invasive and poses a threat toward the future stability of the forest. Over that time, he was able to remove 1,597 individual trees and shrubs of this species (Figure 2).

Figure 2: European Buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica)

Mature European buckthorn can produce thousands of berries each year, and with that create thousands more young shrubs. Buckthorn is a very invasive species, and when left unchecked can overwhelm areas if it has the right conditions.  Due to issues of trees dying in the forest, the buckthorn has been able to flourish in certain areas due to high light and better growing conditions. Buckthorn likes to grow on the edge of the forest where it gets the most light. This is where he concentrated efforts for the first few days in order to remove the large shrubs that had been growing for many years along the edge.

There has been substantial ash tree death in the eastern edge of the forest. This has created strong sun conditions on the forest floor leading the heavy ground overgrowth of many species, most specifically raspberry and wild grape (Figure 3). The ash has been cut down over the last couple of years of forestry work.

Figure 3: Ground overgrowth due to the loss of ash tree canopy on the eastern part of the forests

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Figure 4- Forest before removal of the Buckthorn

 

Figure 5 – Forest after removal of the Buckthorn

Some people call them shrubs as they do not grow much taller than twenty feet in height. They do however have the ability to take over an area in what is called the sub canopy. The buckthorn are adapted to take advantage of the loss of tall trees and thus take away from growing conditions for the plants on the forest floor.  The purpose of this work is to reduce the amount of this invasive species, and to ensure the future growth of native species that belong on the site.

Remediation

 

To be as efficient as possible, Robert concentrated efforts on the edge of the forest. In 2025 he walked the entire edge and found individuals of the invasive species. Over three days he walked in concentric circles from the outside edge to the middle. He then removed the shrubs using an electric chainsaw for the larger ones and physically ripping the younger shrubs out of the ground by hand.  Larger stems were cut into pieces with a chain saw to help them disintegrate as quickly as possible.

The first day he removed 594 plants, the second day he removed 799, and the third day he removed 204. The total removed was 1597 plants.

During forestry work by Martin Forestry in late March 2026 another 5 larger buckthorn trees were found and removed.

Therefore under this grant from the Region of Waterloo a total of 1602 buckthorn trees and shrubs were removed. This large number shows badly needed was this aspect of remediation work.

Ground Level Invasive Plants.

 

During the work in 2025 forest Robert found four other herbaceous species that need to be removed.  These species are invasive from local gardens and if left unchecked create problems.  The species are 1) Periwinkle, 2) Goutweed, 3) English Ivy, and 4) Japanese Barberry (Figures 6, 7, 8 and 9).

These plants spread out from the source of the infection. They are very hardy and aggressive. They tend to overwhelm the native species of wildflowers on the forest floor.

It is no longer possible to use herbicide sprays to kill the invasive plants. They therefore have to be removed by hand.

In late March 2026 Robert Eagles removed as many of these plants as possible by physical pulling the plants out of the soil over two days of work. Three brown yard waste bags were filled with the plants removed by hand.

In addition a small experimental plot was created. This involves placement of black plastic over the invasive plants. The goal is to shade out the plants. This plot will be monitoring later in the year to assess the impact.

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 6: English Ivy

Figure 7: Goutweed

 

Figure 8: Japanese Barberry

Forestry Work

 

On April 1, 2026, Martin Tree Services provided 8 man hours of work in the forest (Figure 9), the limit of the money available. Robert Eagles has marked every dangerous tree with flagging tape for later identification. They were able to cut down about 30 dangerous trees. These trees were left in the forest to rot (Figure 10). Another 10 were identified, but these must wait until the next year of forestry work.

Figure 9: Martin Tree Service

Figure 10: Leaning trees

Poison Ivy

 

In the forest there is a problem with poison ivy.  It now inhabits approximately 50% of the site and is a reason to keep people out of the woods as it can cause medical issues with some people. Since it is a native species we do not recommend removal.

Figure 11 – Poison Ivy.

Garlic Mustard

 

Thousands of Garlic Mustard plants were removed in previous years’ forest remediation. The really good news is that we found very few plants of Garlic Mustard in the field work in 2026. Therefore, this aspect of the remediation appears to be a success.

Garbage Removal

 

During the plant remediation efforts garbage was collected and removed. The volume of garbage found is declining. This is also good news.

Robert Eagles

 

The Branchton Village Land Trust was fortunate in being able to use the services of Robert Eagles is this phase of the work (Figure 12).

Figure 12: Robert Eagles

Future Work in 2026-2027

 

In 2026-2027 there are two areas needing work. First there are 2 very dangerous trees on the north edge of the forest. One large Black Walnut has several large broken limbs high in the tree. These are now hanging loose from lower branches. They constitute a danger to anyone under the tree. The tree must be climbed by hand by a forest technician.

Another involves a dead oak hanging over an adjacent property. This one must be winched away during cutting to ensure that it does not fall on the fence and property.

Martin Tree Service estimates that due the difficult situation about $3000 in time is needed.

The other area needing work is the physical removal of invasive garden plants. The species to be removed are 1) Periwinkle, 2) Goutweed, 3) English Ivy, and 4) Japanese Barberry. These must be removed by hand, a laborious job.