D.E. Campus Life Editor

Jim Fralish considers Thompson Woods to be a valuable University landmark valuable enough that he has invested several thousands of dollars to restore it to its natural status for future generations of SIUC students to enjoy.

In the last two years, Fralish, a retired associate professor of forestry at SIUC, has donated $10,000 to the Thompson Woods Management Committee. Fralish, who taught at SIUC for 27 years, would like to see the woods restored to its original condition

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The woods is going to look worse before it looks better, Fralish said. If (SIUC) lets it go, then you’re going to see the herbaceous (floor) layer disappear and sugar maples really start to grow in the area.

The sugar maple is a shade-tolerant tree that competes with the oaks that grow in Thompson Woods.

Philip Robertson, chairman of the Thompson Woods Management Committee and professor of plant biology, created a program called Adopt-A-Patch two years ago to allow concerned organizations and individuals to sign up and weed out problems in the woods.

The woods is a hazard, he said. I can remember a few years ago when a massive black oak fell near the Agriculture Building and nearly fell on some students. It was a monster.

Adopt-A-Patch volunteers will plant 60 new ball stock oaks and seedlings Dec. 6 in their efforts to restore the woods. Volunteers pull vines, rake areas and plant trees two times a year.

A ball stock oak is between 6 and 12 feet tall with about a 1 1/2-inch diameter. Each tree costs about $45.

Robertson said there are 12 groups in Adopt-A-Patch actively participating in planting and restoration activities. The woods has been divided into different areas, and different sized groups monitor various areas.

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One of the things the Adopt-A-Patch groups do is weed out the exotic species that have overtaken the woods. Exotic species were planted by the University to help prevent erosion.

Robertson said the main exotic-causing trouble is the Japanese Honeysuckle. Japanese Honeysuckle is the vine-like plant that resides all throughout the woods around oaks, maples and birch trees.

Aside from the Japanese Honeysuckle taking over the woods, Fralish said there are three things wrong with the woods. He said the oak trees are near the end of their lives, as they are about 160 years old.

He added that in 1981 a couple of big storms occurring about a week apart devastated the woods and really accelerated the death of over-aged oaks.

Also, the University has allowed too many sugar maples to grow to the point where they now can produce even more seedlings.

The problems with the Japanese Honeysuckle and the sugar maples have accelerated because Thompson Woods is an isolated woods, which means that it is not self-sustaining.

Many woods can sustain themselves because of their large size, but the relatively small size of the 16-acre Thompson Woods makes it difficult to maintain a natural status.

A self-sustaining forest is a forest connected to adjacent wooded areas, and does not need human intervention to maintain its natural status. In the case of Thompson Woods, intervention is necessary because natural occurrences such as forest fires never happen.

A hardwood forest, which normally is composed of oaks, maples and birch, relies on occasional fires to maintain its natural condition.

James Tweedy, chairman of the Campus Committee for the Environment and vice chancellor for Administration, said the woods is going to be restored as quickly as possible.

The Campus Committee for the Environment oversees the Thompson Woods Management Committee.

We know that there are a lot of dead trees and exotics in the woods, Tweedy said. We are replacing the oaks and removing the exotics, and those things should make the woods looks like it once did.

Tweedy said things like dead oaks and wild exotics, while seemingly unattractive, are necessary for animals living in the woods.

There are squirrels, woodpeckers and other animals that live in those trees, Tweedy said. As far as the woods goes, what is unsightly to some people isn’t unsightly to others.

Fralish said that if the University does not take action, the woods eventually will turn into a sugar maple forest.

This situation is akin to an ostrich placing its head in the sand when a lion is nearby, he said. This won’t go away on its own, and that’s why I’m helping the process along.