Restoration & Management

This 2014 update builds on the original 10-Year Lake View Conservancy Restoration & Management Plan, Applied Ecological Services, Inc that is still being followed today. The overall restoration goal is to improve the health of the canopy tress: oak, hickory, walnut, and other native trees now growing in the park, and to restore a healthy native plant understory. To accomplish this goal the strategies include:

• Remove invasive black locust trees, buckthorn and honeysuckle shrubs, and think native box elder, black cherry and maple trees to create more space for other native canopy trees.
• Promote a healthy moist woodland soil for successful reintroduction of a companion wildflower and shrub community.
• Remove rapidly spreading invasive plants such as multiflora rose, mulberry, thistle, garlic mustard, pokeweed, and Japanese hedge parsley to favor more desirable and diverse native species.
• Conduct prescribed burns to stimulate the growth of native seedlings and to discourage invasive species not adapted to fire.
• Plant native grasses, sedges, and flowering plants suitable for the hill. Collect seed from the pre-existing and planted native plants and spread through the park. Reestablish native shrubs such as hazelnut, nannyberry, wild plum, chokeberry and serviceberry.

The original plans include:

• Restoration and Management Plan for the Esch Property – 2004 (PDF)
• Lake View Conservancy Restoration and Management Plan – 2003 (PDF)