ghostsofevolution's video: Florida Torreya to Cumberland Plateau 1 - Rewilding an Endangered Tree

Episode 24a is the first of a two-part series on the assisted migration of Torreya taxifolia to a privately owned "Stewardship Forest" on the east side of the Cumberland Plateau (near Spring City, TN). November 2015 Chris and Christina Anderson received 400 freshly harvested seeds via Torreya Guardians. As Chris explains in this video (filmed onsite exactly two years later), the seeds were immediately put into the ground in their 232 acre forest (sampling a variety of habitats for experimental purposes, but with the bulk planted in cool, moist, deep ravines. In September 2017 the first above-ground sprouts began to appear. These are featured in this video (filmed November 2017). Of all Torreya Guardians plantings, this locale is the best example of "free-planting" and thus "rewilding." Each seed was placed 3 inches deep into the forest soil or beneath a rock (to protect from seed-eating rodents). Of the nearly 50 sprouts surveyed by Chris and the Torreya Guardians video team (Connie Barlow and Michael Dowd), only one had its apical bud nibbled off by an above-ground herbivore. More predation may ensue and thus set back early growth. Our experience, however, is that above-ground browsing of young seedlings rarely kills the plant outright. Because the lower leaves are hardened and tipped by some of the sharpest points in the plant realm, initially naive herbivores that sample the upper leaves do not damage the entire plant. Timecoded sequence of topics: 00:28 Onsite introduction by Chris Anderson; 400 seeds planted two years earlier (2015) 02:00 System of one flag when seed planted, then a second flag when seedling emerges 02:31 Topographic orientation and identification of main canopy trees (deciduous) 04:11 Close-up of one of the largest seedlings marked by flags 04:40 Deciduous canopy gives evergreen Torreya fall, winter, and early spring for photosynthesis 06:15 topographic map of the property and watershed where seeds were planted 06:46 Explore first ravine: video-record seedlings thru 12:25 Along jeep trail (firebreak), video-record seedlings thru 15:40 Pine pocket, reforested area along jeep trail, seedlings and 16:50 Other side of jeep trail is a tall hemlock, treated to repel the woolly adelgid 17:48 Map of eastern USA colored by "year of documented infestation" of hemlock adelgid 19:05 Close-up of a 2nd mature hemlock; explanation of how marked to record treatment 20:05 Seedling across the road from the 2nd treated hemlock 20:46 Swampy, sunny section of jeep trail: , (apical nipped off), and Continue to the last half of this 2-part video documentation: https://youtu.be/USjIi5Gh3zU