Haley Bloomquist grabbed hold of a cut tree branch stuck in the Pontotoc Ridge Preserve’s forest canopy and pulled. The limb was blocking access to the day’s target: a thicket of an invasive plant called privet.
Bloomquist manages The Nature Conservancy’s Blue Boggy Preserve, made up of four properties, including the 2,900-acre wildlife habitat in south-central Oklahoma suffering from privet. In late September, she oversaw staff and volunteers as they continued restoration work on a dense patch of the invasive plant.
The preserve is closed to the public and volunteer days are among the only ways to visit.
“I call it VIP access,” Bloomquist said.
The biodiverse land is part of the Cross Timbers ecoregion, home to prairie, forest and streams. The Conservancy says more than 90 butterfly species have been documented at the preserve to date. That’s about half the total number found statewide, according to an estimate from science nonprofit The Xerces Society.
With most of Oklahoma privately owned, wildlife, including migratory birds, rely on landowners like The Nature Conservancy, farmers, ranchers and average backyards for food. As birds flee the cold north until spring, fueling up for thousands of miles of air travel is essential to their survival.
Invasives like privet can complicate the search by tangling up vital native plants.
“We just don't have the predation for it, and so one of the conservation tools that we utilize for invasive species management is chemical application along with mechanical,” Bloomquist said.
Since Aug. 1, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology estimates more than 350 million individual birds have flown to or over Oklahoma’s night skies while migrating south. The organization says common migrants in mid-October include the indigo bunting, blue-headed vireo and sparrows.
Tim O'Connell, an ecologist and professor at Oklahoma State University’s Natural Resource Ecology and Management, said the state’s position between the eastern broadleaf forest and the foothills of the Rocky Mountains creates a unique blend of wildlife habitat.
“Every state calls themselves an ecological crossroads — you go to Rhode Island, they're like, ‘We're an ecological crossroads.’ No one is an ecological crossroads like Oklahoma,” he said. “We have an extraordinary diversity of ecosystem types.”
The Cross Timbers ecoregion cuts across the central part of the state, roughly marking where the east meets the west. O’Connell said the preserve, located in the region’s southern portion, provides a vital resource for winged visitors.
“A place like Pontotoc Ridge — just because it's open and the native plants are available — that becomes an oasis of food for birds that might have difficulty finding that food elsewhere,” he said. “And for that reason alone, it's providing a real benefit to our native birds.”
Pontotoc Ridge’s restoration work was bolstered by Southeastern Oklahoma State University’s wildlife club. While Conservancy staff used brushcutters, volunteers pulled limbs and sprayed a blue-tinted chemical to kill off the troubling plant. Cuts of the dense brush were left in a tall pile to later burn in a prescribed fire.
Student and wildlife club member Vanessa Gray dragged tall branches to the pile and monitored privet stumps. Being outdoors with others and observing forest dwellers like birds and skunks drew her to wildlife studies.
“As someone who wants to go into conservation, it's very nice to see what's actually in the area and to educate people on, you know, we have this, we should try to protect it,” she said.
Restoring a wildlife habitat degraded by humans or invasive species can take decades, leaving future conservationists with tall orders in the field. But Bloomquist said the management practices college students learn while volunteering will likely be useful in the future.
“It might be labor-intensive, but in the long run, what they're doing today is going to be applied the next 10, 20, 30 years down the road, right? So it's something to be proud of,” she said.
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