Natural Resource Inventory and Assessment - Town of Guilford

Uplands
D6
As old fields revert back to forest, shrubs, small trees, and herbaceous plants take hold. Shrubs and
vines provide plentiful food (insects, fruits) and cover for many birds and mammals. Power line rights of
ways exacerbated fragmentation of the Town’s forests (See Threats below), but today are one of the few
places actively managed to exclude large trees, and therefore serve as important shrubland habitat.
Characteristic plants:
Trees: white and gray birch, red cedar, black cherry, choke cherry, young oaks
Shrubs: red stemmed and gray dogwoods, sumac, pussy willow, alder buckthorn, maple leaf
viburnum, autumn olive (invasive), multiflora rose (invasive)
Vines: poison ivy, Virginia creeper, grape, raspberries, currant, greenbrier, morning glories,
honeysuckle
Herbaceous plants: ragweed, goldenrods, Queen Anne’s lace, beggar’s ticks, asters, sunflower,
thoroughworts, thistle, various grasses
Suburban Yards
Characteristic animals:
prairie warbler, field sparrow, eastern box turtle, racers, milk snake, common garter snake,
hawks, red fox.
Examples: field in Braemore Preserve; Bittner Park; area behind Medad Stone Tavern
Yards have become a dominant element of Guilford’s landscape. Unlike manicured lawns, mature
trees and shrubs enhance wildlife habitat in yards.
Characteristic animals: Eastern mole, little brown bat, gray squirrel, raccoon, mourning
dove, blue jay, American crow, black-capped chickadee, tufted titmouse, northern
cardinal, northern mockingbird, American robin, and several non-native birds, such as
European starling, house finch, and house sparrow. Yards near natural areas receive
visiting animals that are characteristic of those habitats, as well.
D.3 Threats and Concerns
Guilford’s zoning and subdivision regulations address activities conducted in the uplands, however they
do not address the integrity of the uplands themselves.
Loss of habitat that species depend upon for their survival is one of the greatest threats. For example,
agricultural lands and associated grasslands have disappeared, and with them many of the birds and
butterflies that once were familiar inhabitants of the region. Clearing of forests for development also
creates loss of forest habitat.
Old hayfields that traditionally were harvested late in the season provided ideal breeding habitat for birds.
Today, hayfields are mowed earlier and more often in the summer. If timed appropriately, various agricultural
practices including grazing can be effective tools to maintain some of these habitats. For example, grasslands
where nectar-producing plants are allowed to flower before cutting typically support a diversity of butterflies.
Sources of stress: residential development, lack of grassland management, incompatible agricultural
practices
Habitat fragmentation is the breaking up of a contiguous landscape into progressively smaller patches
by roads, development, roads and increased traffic volume. Fragmentation increases the amount of edge
habitat at the expense of forest-interior habitat, creates barriers to many species that must move between
different habitats to complete their life cycles, promotes the invasion of invasive plants and parasites, and
causes various other ecological problems. Direct road mortality may significantly affect reptile and
amphibian populations, in particular.
Sources of stress: residential development, roads, incompatible recreation
Invasive and overabundant species, whether native or introduced, are those that tend to replace other
species and become dominant, reducing species diversity and sometimes forming almost pure stands.
Natural Resource Inventory and Assessment Town of Guilford, CT