Downed tallow tree showing shallow rootball
Channel: Sean Anderson
Date: 2022-03-15

This was recorded on March 14, 2022 just on the top edge of our Permanent Plot 18 (in Array 6).  This downed tallow highlights how poor this invasive, non-native species is at holding soil and illustrates its inability to resist persistent or strong winds. Hurricane Ida's category 4 winds readily toppled this individual in what historically was a forested plot dominated by large, native trees (mulberry, red maple, bald cypress, etc.). This felled tallow also demonstrates that a tallow-dominated, degraded swamp is a poor storm buffer for people and ecosystems which have historically been well-sheltered by native-dominated bottomland hardwood forest.

This was at our Woodlands Trail site in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana.