Ruth Park Golf Course and Rabe Park, University City, Missouri

Working on a forested site north of Ruth Park Golf Course, the operations involved switching the soil between specific square plots and evenly re-distributing the wild seedlings that emerged. While the swapping and re-distribution operations would initially have quite an impact, my investigations showed that the effect would become less visible over time, highlighting the capacity of natural systems to incorporate disturbance into their ongoing evolution. The second site was Rabe Park. The intervention was based on the site assemblage study, and used the process of rotting wood as a food source for chickadees. Nesting boxes were erected on thick wooden poles in a structured order over the entire site. The poles used are highly susceptible to rot and subsequent infestation by insects, a food source for the birds. Eventually the poles fall over, decompose and become sites for seedling trees to flourish, as the area around the posts cannot be mown. Over time, as the wood completely decays mowing can again be established, but by this time the seedling trees will have grown sufficiently to become part of the tree infrastructure of the park and act as new nesting sites for birds. Working on a forested site north of Ruth Park Golf Course, the operations involved switching the soil between specific square plots and evenly re-distributing the wild seedlings that emerged. While the swapping and re-distribution operations would initially have quite an impact, my investigations showed that the effect would become less visible over time, highlighting the capacity of natural systems to incorporate disturbance into their ongoing evolution. The second site was Rabe Park. The intervention was based on the site assemblage study, and used the process of rotting wood as a food source for chickadees. Nesting boxes were erected on thick wooden poles in a structured order over the entire site. The poles used are highly susceptible to rot and subsequent infestation by insects, a food source for the birds. Eventually the poles fall over, decompose and become sites for seedling trees to flourish, as the area around the posts cannot be mown. Over time, as the wood completely decays mowing can again be established, but by this time the seedling trees will have grown sufficiently to become part of the tree infrastructure of the park and act as new nesting sites for birds.