CW Native Plant Farm Newsletter November 2026

CW Native Plant Farm Newsletter

November 2026

Three New Educational Presentations

I was talking with Charlotte one day.  I had an idea for a series of classes/talks on plant communities and she helped me clarify exactly what I wanted to do.  We decided to draft these together and co-present them next year - Plant Communities in Waterways, Forests and Meadows in WNY.  This will be a deep look at these ecological categories and the plants that live there.

Plant Communities in the Waterways of WNY

Waterways in WNY are key aspects of the ecosystem.  Waterways in WNY include fens, creeks, rivers, lakes, vernal pools and bogs.  The great lakes is a reservoir of fresh water with lots of waterways that feed these systems and the plant communities in which they live.  My own seasonally flooded back property along Murder Creek, where it joins Tonawanda Creek, is a unique system.  It incorporates grasslands and waterways since it was clear cut so long ago.  Grover Cleveland deeded our property, through a sheriff’s deed, when he was erie county sheriff in the 1800’s.  What wasn’t cut down, and everything was cut down except hawthorns and ash trees, and the back 5 acres has eroded ever since.  Now, what remains is a meadow of giant ragweed, stinging nettle, wood nettle, sensitive fern, purple stem angelica, asters, joe pye weeds, goldenrods and more.  This area is subject to ice shear - large ice shelves form in the winter, then crack in the spring rains dropping to the ground killing any newly emerged young trees.  This is an area where the waterways meet meadows and/or forests.  We have tried to incorporate all of these types of waterways on the property to demonstrate the plant communities.    

Plant Communities in the Grasslands of WNY

Grasslands in WNY include successional meadows, riparian grasslands, savannahs in oak openings, and alvar grasslands (more central and eastern NYS).  The plant communities in meadows support a wide variety of plants, animals, reptiles and birds.  As the seasons pass, these meadows change and support different communities.  Large grasslands, like hay fields or abandoned agricultural sites, support bobolinks and meadowlarks in summer, then short eared owls and northern harriers in the winter. 

Our own floodplain, given the loss of trees and bushes, is an unintentional meadow.  Ice shear reduces the ability of woody species to grow so it exists as a form of riparian grasslands -  an area containing highly specialized wildflowers and grasses.  While this “meadow” won’t support traditional meadow birds, it does have indigo buntings, wrens, pileated woodpeckers and more that live and breed there.  Our property south of the tree canopy also has 4 meadow areas (we stopped mowing these), but we have aggressive European grasses given our property was historically a horse pasture.  We will be adding some aggressive native sunflowers and Jerusalem artichokes to push back on these non-native species.  Iroquois NWR also has grassland areas where sandhill cranes nest and birds of prey thrive.  Finally, agricultural fields in Orlean and Niagara counties serve as grasslands in winter and support snowy owls, horned larks, snow buntings, short eared owls and northern harriers.

More recently I discovered we have a new grasslands preserve for short eared owls in the Town of Niagara. 

“We are excited to announce our other property, a 38 acre parcel, located west of Miller Road and north of the power-lines, south of Colonial Drive and adjacent to the Town of Niagara Veterans Memorial Park woods. This will become a designated Short-Eared Owl preserve. A team of biologists will prepare the site by removing invasive species, replacing them with native meadow plants that are ideal for the establishment of ground-nesting Short-Eared Owl. This preserve will help bring back the dwindling population of Short-Eared Owls to Western New York. The project will be funded by Military Road Solar, a subsidiary of Carson Power.”

https://preserveruralniagara.org/short-eared-owl-preserve/

Grasslands are rare, and getting rarer, in NYS.  Wildlife use these open areas of fields and wildflowers to find food, cover, or nesting. Most of today's grasslands are the result of land clearing but will require maintenance to stay as grasslands – mowing or burning.

Plant Communities in the Forested Lands of WNY

Forests are important to WNY wildlife.  Trees, bushes and perennials support birds with food, safety, and places to rear their young.  Migrating birds rely on these forests for protection and food.  Forest communities in WNY include Beech-Maple Mesic Forests, Allegheny Oak Forests, Bottomland or slope woodlands and Black spruce-Tamarack bogs.  Beech Maple forests live on moist, well-drained soils, with sugar maple and American beech.  Allegheny Oak Forests are found on the unglaciated high Appalachian Plateau across Cattaraugus, Allegany, and Steuben counties where white, chestnut, red, and black oaks thrive along with red maple and an understory of American chestnut sprouts.  Bottomland and Slope Woodlands, like Zoar Valley, are river-valley and gorge ecosystems along Cattaraugus Creek where eastern cottonwoods, American sycamores, tulip poplars, and hemlocks live.  Finally Black Spruce-Tamarack Bogs are specialized conifer forest systems found in acidic peatlands and cool, poorly drained depressions.

Our forest lands are critical areas that contain a great deal of biodiversity, but climate instability, invasive species and wildfires threaten their existence.