Get free trees if you live along the Rocky River!What is the Backyard Buffer Program?
As a stream side property owner, you have a special opportunity to restore the Rocky River and its tributaries. The Rocky River Backyard Buffers Program provides tree and shrub seedlings, and planting guidance free of charge to stream side landowners in the Rocky River Watershed. Streamside landowners should watch for a brochure in the mail in early Spring 2022.
Properly maintained riparian buffers stabilize stream banks, decrease high storm flows, filter nutrients and sediment from storm water, provide essential habitat for fish, birds, and other wildlife, and increase property values.
The only requirements are that participants:
1) Watch this video on care and planting of bare root seedlings and/or these videos (video 1 and video 2) on live stakes, depending on whether you wish to receive seedlings or live stakes (see more information below on choosing which is right for you).
No stream is too small! In fact small tributaries can be the most affected by the re-establishment of riparian vegetation buffers
Registration has now filled for the 2022 Rocky River Backyard Buffers Program: please sign up for the Rocky River Watershed Council's newsletter here to be informed of any future seedling giveaways.
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Bare root seedlings are transplants with roots attached, between 18-36 inches high, that can be planted in small holes - do not mound dirt up around the seedling. Plant them within 15 feet of the stream and at least 5 feet apart (3 ft for shrub species) - see Picture 2 above for an example. With protection from deer and regular watering during drought, these seedlings will grow fast!
Live stakes are cuttings of species that thrive very close to the stream and help stabilize streambanks. These need to be planted where the stream meets the banks of small streams. They will sprout roots and grow into mature plants that can provide more live stakes once branches are 1-2 inches thick. See Pictures 5 & 6 above for an example of what kind of area live stakes should be planted in. Do not add cages or netting since the live stakes are located too close to the stream and these will be washed away. You must make a pilot hole with rebar or a garden stake, then insert the live stake into the hole - the hole should be at least half as deep as the plant. Stakes should be 1-2 feet apart from another.
Not sure whether to choose lives stakes or seedlings? Check out Picture 6 above for examples and compare to what's on your stream. You may opt to receive a mixture of both!
You may want to purchase additional seedlings or live stakes - they can be purchased quite affordably from nurseries, and erosion control projects are most successful when the entire stream bank is planted. Each participant will receive 10-25 seedlings/live stakes, as desired and based on the number of actual enrollees. CSWCD encourages landowners to use these seedlings as the start of their own backyard stream buffer. We hope you will purchase and plant more trees and shrubs as possible- and to create "no-mow" zones for 25 feet out from each side of the stream.
Species will include:
- Swamp White Oak
- American Elm
- Arrowwood (shrub species)
- Bur Oak
- Hackberry
- Pin Oak
- Red Maple
- River Birch
- Steeplebush Spirea (shrub species)
- Gray and Silky Dogwood
- Buttonbush (shrub species)
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Additional Resources
Woods For Waters: A guide to planting riparian buffers for healthy streams by Cuyahoga River Restoration
Tennessee's Urban Riparian Handbook (check any recommended plants species are also native to NE Ohio) and flyer on the benefits of riparian buffers.
LEAPBio and Cleveland Metroparks maintain an online list of regional native plant nurseries here.
Conservation Buffers: Design Guidelines for Buffers, Corridors and Greenways by USDA and the US Forest Service
And Cuyahoga SWCD’s own Life at the Water’s Edge: Living in Harmony with Your Backyard Stream
Cuyahoga SWCD is an equal opportunity employer and provider. There shall be no discrimination exercised against any person because of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, gender, ancestry, age, disability, sexual orientation, sexual identity, genetic information, political affiliation, or military/veteran status when fulfililng the purpose of this engagement.
What is the Rocky River Watershed?
The Rocky River Watershed consists of the entire area that drains to the Rocky River when it rains. This 294 square-mile network of neighborhoods, farms, forests, parks, roads and streams stretches from Medina to Lake Erie, and includes parts of Cuyahoga, Medina, Lorain and Summit Counties, including all or part of 32 municipalities and townships
Did You Know? As a streamside property-owner, you have a special opportunity to protect and restore our local creeks and watersheds by establishing or maintaining a healthy riparian buffer.
What is a Riparian Buffer? Why do they matter?
The riparian area is the land alongside a stream or river that directly affects—or is affected by — the water. A riparian buffer is a green corridor along a river or stream that separates the water from surrounding land uses. Healthy riparian buffers contain trees, shrubs, and other vegetation that protect both the stream and streamside property. In our local watersheds, as in many places throughout the world, many of our riparian buffers have been cleared in order to make additional space for lawns, houses, fields and roads. The lack of healthy riparian buffers has contributed to stream bank instability and erosion, diminished water quality, and habitat degradation. Properly maintained riparian buffers stabilize stream banks, decrease high storm flows, filter nutrients and sediment from storm water, provide essential habitat for fish, birds, and other wildlife, and increase property values. Generally, the wider the buffer, the more effective it will be. At a minimum, a streamside buffer should extend to the top of the streambank slope. A healthy riparian buffer protects your property from the stream, and the stream from you.
So how do I go about establishing a healthy Riparian Buffer?
1. Stop mowing next to the stream. Generally, a buffer width of at least 25 feet is recommended, but every little bit helps – do what you can! If you can only do one step from this list, this is the one you should do.
2. Plan your Planting.
- Species:Native trees and shrubs adapted to floodplain and streamside conditions should be selected. Native grasses and wildflowers can be seeded as well. You’ll also want to consider site conditions such as amount of sun/shade.
- Number: For complete reforestation of a 25-foot wide buffer along a 50-foot long stream segment, you’ll want to plan on planting about 12-15 trees and fill in with gaps with at least that many shrubs.
- Spacing: The trees that will have the largest mature canopy should be planted at a distance of 20-25 feet from each other, then the rest of the trees filled in, maintain at least 10-12-foot spacing between trees. Shrubs can then be filled, and even clumped together, to fit the landscape of the planting site.
3. Plant your trees and shrubs. The best times of year to plant trees are early spring and fall. For healthy plants and improved survival, follow these simple guidelines for planting trees and shrubs:
- For live stakes: simply make a pilot hole by pounding in a sturdy cylindrical object, such as a broomstick, rebar, or garden stake. Make sure the hole is close to the stream and half as deep as the live stake. Then remove the object and insert the live stake into the hole. You're done!
- For seedlings: Dig your hole as deep as the tree’s root system, and 2-3 times as wide.
- Spread the roots out. It may be necessary to cut the roots if they are bound.
- Adjust the depth of the hole to ensure that the root flare (where the trunk begins to spread out near its base) is just above the level of the surrounding ground.
- Backfill the hole with the dug soil or a combination of soil and compost. Mulch the area that was dug for the hole, being careful to make sure that no mulch touches the trunk or root flare.
- Water your new trees immediately after planting (5 gallons per inch of trunk diameter) and at least once/week over the first summer (5 gallons per tree).
4. Protect your trees.
- Deer:If you live in an area that gets browsed by deer, you’ll want to cage your trees. This can be done using chicken wire or welded wire fence, both of which are available at hardware stores and garden centers. The fence should extend at least to the tree’s dripline, and anchored with wooden stakes.
- Beaver: Deer protection will deter beavers as well. If you have beavers but not deer in your area, use the deer protection, but the perimeter of the cage can be closer to the trunk.
- Cicadas: While healthy, mature trees will easily be able to withstand any cicada damage, your younger trees will be more susceptible. If your trees are small enough, you can cover them with a nylon mesh netting (secure it by tying loosely around the trunk) during the period when the adult cicadas are active (probably for a couple weeks during May). Otherwise, check on your trees a couple times each day and remove any adult cicadas by hand.
Additional Resources
Woods For Waters: A guide to planting riparian buffers for healthy streams by Cuyahoga River Restoration
Tennessee's Urban Riparian Handbook (check any recommended plants species are also native to NE Ohio) and flyer on the benefits of riparian buffers.
LEAPBio and Cleveland Metroparks maintain an online list of regional native plant nurseries here.
Conservation Buffers: Design Guidelines for Buffers, Corridors and Greenways by USDA and the US Forest Service
And Cuyahoga SWCD’s own Life at the Water’s Edge: Living in Harmony with Your Backyard Stream
The Rocky River Backyard Buffers Program is made possible through a Watershed Partner Service Agreement with the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District.
We thank these partners for their ongoing support of Rocky River Watershed Council and our initiatives! The Rocky River Backyard Buffers Program is brought to you through a partnership between:
Rocky River Watershed Council
www.MyRocky River.org
Cuyahoga Soil & Water Conservation District
www.CuyahogaSWCD.org
Cuyahoga SWCD is an equal opportunity employer and provider. There shall be no discrimination exercised against any person because of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, gender, ancestry, age, disability, sexual orientation, sexual identity, genetic information, political affiliation, or military or veteran status when fulfilling the purpose of this engagement.
These plants will be available and ready to plant in April 2022.
Questions? Please contact Meg Hennessey,
Watershed Coordinator
Phone: 216-524-6580 x1004
E-mail: mhennessey@cuyahogaswcd.org