6.2 at 1 Camp Cozy Park_NRMP_2023

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44 Friends of the Mississippi River Camp Cozy Park NRMP Site Description & Recommended Plant Communities A natural resources inventory and assessment was conducted by FMR ecologists during the summer of 2023 to ground-truth the MLCCS data and document existing plant and wildlife communities, identify opportunities for restoration and develop guidance for long-term public use. Based on this assessment, ecologists identified five primary vegetation cover types: remnant dry prairie, oak forest, mixed deciduous forest, terrace forest, and floodplain forest. These cover types occur in eight distinct units across the park, and vegetation for each unit is documented in Appendix A. Camp Cozy Park can be described as a dry prairie and oak savanna complex surrounded by oak forest and bordered by floodplain forest and terrace forest near the Elk River. In the oak forest areas, the tree canopy is dominated by white and red oak, but native species common in secondary growth forests including box elder, green ash, black walnut, silver maple, and northern pin oak are also common. Emerald ash borer infects a number of ash trees in the forested and woodland areas, and this will cause a significant shift in the forest’s canopy over the next several years. Additionally, the lack of a soil organic layer signifies that the forests are affected by non-native earthworms. Invasive earthworms, through rapid consumption of organic material in the soil profile, are contributing to both soil loss and the absence of conditions that would otherwise support a more abundant and diverse herbaceous plant community. Many native species are present in the herbaceous layer of the oak forest, but there is a lack of abundance, cover and species diversity. The shrub layer in a few distinct areas is dominated by nonnative and invasive common buckthorn, but native shrubs including red elderberry, red-osier and gray dogwood are present. Three distinct mesic prairie remnants have persisted in the oak forest. Each is only 0.1 - 0.2 acre and surrounded by dense forest, but species such as leadplant, common harebell, culver’s root and prairie dropseed are in abundance. A high degree of species diversity is found in the remnant dry prairies, the central cores of the park. Here, the plant composition is dominated by native graminoid species typical of dry, sandy prairies such as little bluestem, needle and thread grass, and Indian grass. Forb species such as prairie spiderwort, common lupine and hoary vervain are all common. The last prescribed burn of the prairies occurred in 2003. As a result, the prairies have woody encroachment by native species such as smooth sumac, eastern red cedar, and quaking aspen. Despite the woody cover, native prairie species persist under the shrub layer. Both prairies are encircled by wide mowed paths, and the north prairie has several internal mowed paths with trail connections to the forested areas. The terrace forest and floodplain forest are only separated by 1-2 feet of elevation, and flood flows from the Elk River reach both units and affect the plant communities similarly. The terrace forest is dominated by moisture-tolerant, nutrient- and shade-loving species such as blueflag iris, fowl manna grass, rice-cut grass, sensitive fern and smartweeds. A variety of