Moravian Preservation Master Plan.indb - Society for College and ...

Moravian College • Preservation Master Plan
small tools, before employing chemicals.
Avoid the use of heavy equipment.
◦ Cut all tree and shrub trunks to be
demolished flush with the ground, and
grind to remove. Avoid leaving stumps.
• Prior to tree removal, field-check clearing
locations with an archeologist, natural resource
specialist, and historical landscape architect to
ensure that other natural or cultural resources
will not be adversely affected.
• Incorporate methods that minimize the impacts
and threats to cultural and natural resources and
known and potential archeological resources.
Undertake removal monitored by an historical
landscape architect and/or archeologist.
• Work should be conducted by certified
arborists with successful experience working
at historically significant sites.
• Cut stumps; do not uproot them. Remove
to ground surface by using a stump grinder.
Consult with an archeologist to determine the
potential for archeological resources before
grinding stumps. Exceptions to this rule would
include streetscape trees. Stumps should be
completely removed and the trees replaced in
the original location in order to maintain the
scale and character of the streetscape.
• Minimize the use of heavy vehicles as much as
possible to limit soil compaction in or around
the root zone of other nearby trees; restrict use
to times when soil is firm to reduce erosion
potential.
• Remove felled trees and large shrubs without
dragging, which can gouge the ground
surface.
• On steep slopes, minimize scarring of the
ground surface to the greatest extent possible
during pruning operations and limiting access
by heavy equipment. Do not remove or drag
fallen limbs from the forest floor in heavily
wooded areas. Rather, they should be left to
decompose naturally. Large limbs and logs
should be cut to minimize their potential to roll
down the steep slopes, which may cause safety
hazards, vegetation removal, or soil erosion.
• If any scarring should occur, resulting in removal
of leaf litter or exposure of the soil, the area
should be replanted with native or naturalized
species and covered immediately with hay
or other approved erosion control material to
reduce the potential for soil erosion.
• Ensure that the removal of historic trees is
noted in the tree inventory.
Replacement of Historic Vegetation
• Replace dead or damaged historic plant
materials in-kind.
• If in-kind species are no longer available
or appropriate (due to disease, hardiness,
maintenance requirements, etc.), replace with
species of similar size, shape/habit, texture and
color.
• Ensure that replacement vegetation is added
to the tree inventory for record-keeping
purposes.
Planting of New Vegetation
• Develop and adhere to a planting master plan
that contains a list of preferred material for
any future plantings within the campus. This
includes within either historic or non-historic
areas.
• Include in the planting master plan locations
for tree-planting projects that would enhance
the character of historic areas. Choose locations
within non-historic areas that support designed
qualities of these areas that are detailed in
Chapter 5.
• Ensure that the design palette incorporates
appropriate species for each location. For
example, avoid using a large-scale shrub
adjacent to a walk that will require excessive
pruning to maintain at an appropriate scale.
• Engage a qualified archeologist to monitor
new planting efforts in areas that may contain
subterranean cultural resources.
• Procure plants from local growers as much
as possible, in order to reduce energy use
and other negative environmental impacts of
shipping and ensure that plants are adapted to
local environmental conditions.
• When proposing new plant materials in
non-historic, non-specialized, or non-thematic
locations, use species that are native or
naturalized to the region, because they tend to
require less maintenance, survive longer, and
rarely become invasive.
• Avoid installing vegetation that is known
to be invasive. Invasive plants grow quickly
and aggressively, and tend to overtake and
out-compete native, or less aggressive,
John Milner Associates • October 2009 • Chapter 6 • Landscape Guidelines • 149