This is what the Horse Barn site looked like before we started working on it: three quarters of an acre of sloping, barren, eroding soil. (March 2008)

We did our first planting in May 2008, with locally-propagated stock from our Wild Plant Nursery. Here, we’re setting out plants. We usually place all our stock before planting, to make sure that the plants are distributed properly. (May 2008)

Stormwater run-off had begun to cut some gullies into the site. To slow erosion, we put a lot of plants in and around the gullies. (May 2008)

Our planters are environmental science students from Lake Braddock High School. Lake Braddock’s environmental science program is one of our key collaborators at Meadowood. Here, the students are being oriented by the BLM’s Jinx Fox (in white shirt) and Chris Bright (blue shirt). (May 2008)

We planted mostly trees and shrubs—only a few herbaceous plants were included in this first planting. (May 2008)

All done! We put tree shelters over about three-quarters of the plants. These “tree tubes” prevent deer from browsing the seedlings. The tops of the tubes are fitted with bird net, to prevent birds from trying to nest inside—generally a fatal experiment, for both bird and seedling. This first planting included about 200 saplings. (May 2008)

A group shot of our planters. On the left, that’s Lisa Bright in the green jacket, squatting down in front. Behind her, the pregnant woman in the striped shirt is Maureen Goble, who teaches this class and runs the Lake Braddock environmental science program. Maureen is now a mother—and her daughter, Paige, has already been out to several of our field sites! (May 2008)

The gully shown in a previous photo, about a month after the initial planting. The plants are taking hold and beginning to bind the soil. As a further measure against erosion, BLM staff sowed the site with grasses. (June 2008)

Lake Braddock environmental science students returned to the Horse Barn site in April 2009 to do a second planting. (April 2009)

Our initial planting had done very well over the intervening year; we estimate 1-year mortality in the first planting at under 10%. A scouting project coordinated by the BLM had replaced many of the tree tubes with more generously proportioned wire cages. (April 2009)

This second planting resulted in a good, strong density, averaging perhaps one stem per 100 square feet. After a couple more years of growth, this little patch of land should begin to look like early-succession forest. (April 2009)

During this second planting, we also began the process of connecting the Horse Barn site to the Ecological Display site, by planting the intervening area with a selection of herbaceous species. As with the shrubs and trees, these herbs were grown at our Wild Plant Nursery. (April 2009)

A view of the site from about the same place as the first photo in this slide show, about 16 months after planting began. Growth has been strong, there are as yet no serious problems with invasives, and erosion is greatly reduced. (September 2009)

Another view from about the same spot in May 2011, three years from the initial planting. The site is doing well. The only serious problem is deer browsing; we need to enclose more of the saplings in wire cages that are higher than those green tree tubes. (May 2011)

A view of the site from the other end. The site is arriving at the “woody oldfield” stage. (May 2011)