Autumn Olive

WATCHING TREES GROW

AUTUMN OLIVE

Invasive Plant or Wildlife Powerhouse

By Quert Evans

Autumn olive is not my favorite wildlife shrub I prefer hazelnut, thorn-apple, dogwoods, and Amur maple. However, no one can dispute the fact that autumn olive is by far the fastest growing, easiest to establish wildlife shrub available. I have seen it planted upside down and it still somehow survived. It thrives on poor soils and abandoned farm lands. It was once described as an ideal plant for those who want to attract wildlife, conserve soil, beautify odd areas, establish plant barriers or make ornamental plantings. Once established the plant has a tendency to spread. The spreading has created a stir around the plant and battle lines have been drawn regarding its usage. NRCS has gone from paying to establish the plant to paying for its removal through its various cost share programs. The MNDR wildlife biologists once rated the shrub the number one wildlife shrub available. Now they have it listed as an invasive species. Other groups such as the conservation districts have stopped selling it in their annual tree sales. I can acknowledge the plant does have some drawbacks. This article however, is written to tell the other side of this environmental issue.

I wonder, has anyone actually studied the plants impact on the landscape? Has there been any real discussion on the benefits verses the pitfalls of this plant? It’s been around this county for 100 years or more. It is seen popping up in old sand blow areas, railroad grades, abandoned fields and idle lands and many conclude that it is competing with native species. Farmers may have the best complaint as the plant does pop up under fencing and become a maintenance issue. Foresters in the south report the plant invading woodlands but no evidence of this is occurring in the north.

Autumn olive was introduced to the country in the 19^th century and quickly escaped from cultivation. In the 1960 – 1980’s it was widely planted for wildlife, farm windbreaks and soil erosion. As mentioned, NRCS pushed the plants attributes and assisted in its wide spread establishment.

Autumn olive is a nitrogen fixing plant which allows it to thrive on poorer soils. At the NRCS plant material center 24 plants were recorded to yield more than 900 pounds of berries annually. Robins, quail, pheasants, grouse and a host of other bird species find autumn olive berries highly attractive as a food source. The fruit ripens in the fall and is specifically important to migratory birds traveling south for the winter.

As a side note, autumn olive is an edible fruit for humans and contains 17 times the antioxidant Lycopene than the average tomato. The berries also contain high levels of vitamins A, C, and E, and flavonoids and essential fatty acids. Funny how wildlife always no what is good for them and what is not.

In Antrim County Autumn Olive has provided exquisite habitat for rabbits, deer, nesting song birds and turkey. No other plant can be seen concentrating wildlife in the fall like Autumn olive. Deer love this plant for a variety of reasons. First as food, but they normally cannot kill it because the plant grows to fast to be browsed to death. Some have observed deer feeding on the fruit itself. Secondly, deer love to use large blocks of autumn olive as display areas, bedding and escape cover all season long. Turkeys too love the fruit and spend early winter feeding on this plant almost exclusively. In the winter of 2009, 55 turkeys were observed every day in a larger block planting through the month of January.

Ruffed grouse love this plant. They love the overhead cover the plant provides for young broods as well as the fruit provided in the fall. Grouse can always be found near any block or planting of autumn olive. Rabbits may be the next benefactor of autumn olive planting. They use it for cover and raising young as well. There is normally grasses and other nutritious ground plants on the ground floor. Rich in nutrients from the nitrogen fixing attributes of the plant? Ground nesting birds, cedar wax wings, robins, blue jay, and others tend to love this plant. Autumn olive is extremely difficult for predators to hunt, although they do because this is often where their pray exists.

What else can be said. Oh did I mention the plants ability to act as a successional species. That is as the plant takes over an abandoned or idle field it creates an environment for additional species to take hold. These fields normally contain Canada thistle, grasses, wild strawberry and others. Autumn olive cools the site and allows trees like sugar maple to seed in under its protection. Nurse crop for hardwood plantings?

Autumn olive often freezes back to the snow line here in NW Lower Michigan. Meadow voles girdle the plant where it exist with grasses and often damage the plants ability to grow very large. It is not shade tolerant at all and can not survive in our predominant northern hardwood forest. I have spent 30 years working in the woods here and have never seen it take over a woodlot.

Conclusion, in Northern Michigan the plant seems to be a welcome addition to available food and cover for many wildlife species. If you are a sportsman you love this plants ability to attract wildlife. If you hate this plant it is understandable.