On the NAL Ecological Front
Some ecological and environmental notes about NAL Site activities as provided by Robert Hines, Farm Management, and Robert Ebl, Landscape Architect, Site Management:
** 80 acres near the NAL Village have been seeded into oats. Some oats will be used for feeding buffalo; the balance will be a nurse crop for grass seeding in 1972.
** Some 180,000 pounds of blue grass seed have been used since the Fall of 1969. Another 100,000 pounds is on order.
** A crew of seven full-time and two summer period employees is assisting Farm Management's staff. One summer employee is Randy Theis, grandson of a former site tenant in pre-NAL days.
** 200,000 trees will be planted on the NAL site in a program that began May 1 and will end June 30th.
** Continuation of boundary planting, from Eola Road along Butterfield Road to the E.J. & E. Railroad, then along the railroad right-of-way and the utility corridor to Batavia Road, is underway. This is a continuation of the 1970 plantings running from Kautz to Eola Roads. Completion of these plantings will mean that about one-fifth of NAL's site boundary will be planted. Plantings will consist of shrubs and native low and medium trees, about 10,000 separate plantings in all.
** Some 50,000 white pine, red pine, red cedar and northern white cedar will be planted in a 100-foot band on the outside of the Main Ring.
** In and near the NAL Village, mass plantings of pine and hardwood seedlings (12 to 30 inches high) are scheduled for windbreak and natural areas that will not be designated for Laboratory development or for grazing. For example, 20,000 trees will be planted on each side of the East entrance to the site on Batavia Road. Mass planting of pines also will take place near Sauk Circle.
** NAL has purchased a "hydro-mulcher" for planting the berms around the Main Ring, etc. This machine has a 1,000-gallon tank in which seed, fertilizer, wood fiber mulch and water are mixed. The mixture is blown through a hose onto the berms at a high velocity. The wood fiber dries into a mat, providing a micro-climate in which the seed can germinate and grow. This method prevents erosion and also creates a germination bed for seed. It also will be used for Main Ring berm maintenance.