Journal of Student Research 2023

Tamarack Restoration in a Wetland Reserve Property: Comparison with a Natural Reference Site 15 (+/- 0.350 SD) while the mean density of other woody sepecies at the Downsville Wetland was 0.052 stems/m 2 (+/- 0.073 SD; Table 1).

0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5

Stem Density of Other Species (#/m 2 ) t = -9.914 P = < 0.001

Downsvillle

Muddy Creek

Site

Figure 5: Comparison of the non-tamarack woody species density (stems/m2) between sites using a two-sample t-test (t = -9.914, P = < 0.001).

Muddy Creek had standing water throughout the site while there was no surface water in the tamarack plots at the Downsville Wetland. The average standing water depth at Muddy Creek was 10.37 cm (Table 1). We observed a negative relationship between water depth and average tamarack density at Muddy Creek, although the correlation was non-significant (r = -0.286, P = 0.221, Figure 6).

r = -0.286 P = 0.221

Average Tamarack DBH (cm)

0 102030405060

0

5

10

15

20

Water Depth (cm)

Figure 6: Relationship between the average tamarack DBH (cm) and water depth (cm) (r = -0.286, P = 0.221) at the Muddy Creek site.

Both sites had similar reproductive capablities and deer utilization. About 90% of the tamaracks observed at the Downsville Wetland had cones, as compared to 100% at Muddy Creek. Meanwhile, 30% of the plots sampled at the Downsville Wetland had at least one individual present in the plot bearing a deer rub compared to 10% of the plots sampled at Muddy Creek.