Kentucky Invasive Plant Council’s 2023 Annual Conference

By: Heidi Braunreiter, KNPS Director

The Kentucky Invasive Plant Council (KY-IPC) hosted their annual conference on November 2, 2023 at Kentucky State University’s Research and Demonstration Farm in Frankfort, KY. This was the first time KY-IPC hosted an in-person conference since the event started virtually in 2021, with over 150 people in attendance. The conference was a great opportunity for land management professionals, private landowners, natural area volunteers/stewards, researchers, and nonprofits from across Kentucky to get together to discuss the latest news and emerging threats here in the state and to earn continuing education units (CEU’s) for their pesticide license.


2023 KY-IPC Conference at KSU’s Research & Demonstration Farm in Frankfort, KY

This year’s conference was split into indoor presentations and outdoor demonstrations. Some of the topics discussed included managing invasives when installing native grasslands, biological controls of invasive plants (garlic mustard aphid and honeysuckle leaf blight), invasive species to watch for (spotted lanternfly, Japanese chaff flower, amur cork tree, and overlooked invasive plants along fire breaks), and a case study of aerial spraying of bush honeysuckle at Clay WMA. Demonstrations included using drones for invasive plant monitoring and management, research plots of invasive plant management at KSU Farm, and invasive plant management with goats.

Another highlight of the annual event was to recognize people and places that are doing great work towards invasive species eradication in the state. KY-IPC solicited nominations for three categories to recognize a professional land manager, a nonprofessional individual, and a natural area or organization.

Ryan Fortenberry, OKNP Cumberland Plateau Land Manager

The 2023 KY-IPC award recognizing a professional land management practitioner in invasive species management went to Ryan Fortenberry, the Cumberland Plateau Land Manager for Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves (OKNP). Ryan is an excellent steward of the nature preserves under his watch. He is charged with protecting many sensitive sites with high quality natural communities and rare species, which he maintains through his vigilance of looking for and eradicating invasive species before they become a problem. He also has multiple sites where the invasives were already a problem, and he has worked to eradicate those populations through his hard work and dedication.

Terri Koontz, Kentucky natural areas steward and volunteer

The 2023 KY-IPC award recognizing a nonprofessional individual went to Terri Koontz, a volunteer at several natural areas in Kentucky. When she learns of a new emerging invasive plant, she is not satisfied simply to know it exists; she goes out of her way to learn all she can about it, including why it is in invasive, how to correctly identify it, and what she can do to manage it. Terri recently learned to recognize Japanese chaff flower and took it upon herself to remove a large population behind the Gladie Visitor Center at the Red River Gorge. By sharing her passion, knowledge, and willingness to get down on the ground and work with friends and other volunteers, Terri stewards Kentucky natural areas wherever she goes.

Jimmy Woods, KDFWR Wildlife Biologist, accepting award on behalf of Clay WMA

The 2023 KY-IPC award recognizing a natural area or organization dedicated to invasive species eradication went to Kentucky Division of Fish and Wildlife Resources’s (KDFWR) Clay Wildlife Management Area. Clay WMA is one of the most intensively managed areas for wildlife habitat in Kentucky through invasive species eradication and prescribed fire. The current land manager, Jimmy Woods, wrote a three-year management plan to treat the entire WMA for bush honeysuckle, which included a 2022 aerial herbicide spraying of large tracts of the forest in collaboration with UK researchers to evaluate the effectiveness of the treatment. Clay WMA has also hosted several educational field days for various groups to view and learn about large-scale management operations of invasive species.

The final highlight of KY-IPC’s 2023 annual conference was the announcement of this year’s winner of funding for a natural area boot brush station, which was awarded to Kentucky Natural Land Trust for their Blanton West Preserve near Blanton Forest State Nature Preserve in Harlan County. A boot brush station will help fight the spread of invasive species and signage will educate the public about invasive species.

To learn more and stay in tune with KY-IPC’s news and events, follow them on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KYIPC/

Save the Date! KNPS Wildflower Weekend 2023 – April 14th-16th, 2023

Save the Date! April 14th-16th, 2023 at Cumberland Falls State Resort Park

Cumberland Falls. Photo: H. Braunreiter

Exciting news! Next year’s KNPS Wildflower Weekend date has been set for April 14th – 16th, 2023! For over 30 years, Kentucky Native Plant Society has partnered with Natural Bridge State Resort Park to offer guided hikes to explore Kentucky’s rich natural history and resources in the Red River Gorge. This coming year, Kentucky State Parks has offered to host our annual Wildflower Weekend at another of Kentucky’s beautiful state parks: Cumberland Falls State Resort Park. We are excited to hike new trails, see new wildflowers, and increase access to this event for members in a different part of the state. We hope you will join us and other nature lovers, families, community scientists, amateur naturalists, and professional botanists from across the Commonwealth, to explore the beauty and diversity of our native plants in April.

The event will include guided hikes through beautiful natural areas throughout the weekend, a Friday evening Friends & Members Social, and Saturday evening presentations.

The week prior to Wildflower Weekend, KNPS will be hosting our third annual week-long state-wide BotanyBlitz on iNaturalist from April 8th-15th. This week-long BotanyBlitz allows us to broaden our spring wildflower scope to the entire state of Kentucky and allows us to highlight natural areas across the commonwealth! If you work/volunteer at a natural area in Kentucky and would like to partner with us to host an iNaturalist hike at your site to kick off the BotanyBlitz week, please send an email to: WildflowerWeekend2023@knps.org

Also, if you would like to get involved and help plan this event, please contact: WildflowerWeekend2023@knps.org

To learn more information about Cumberland Falls SRP, click here.

KNPS 2022 Fall Meeting – Save The Date, Oct. 15

Save the date for our 2022 Fall Meeting at Blue Licks Battlefield State Resort Park on Saturday, October 15th. There will be a meeting in the morning from 10am-noon with interesting talks and updates from KNPS, and hikes in the afternoon to look at some of the plants and communities that occur at the state park. The fall meeting will be held in tandem with the Short’s Goldenrod Festival being put on by the state park.

Blue Licks Battlefield State Resort Park is known as one of the only locations in the world where the rare Short’s goldenrod occurs, with the other known population occurring in Indiana. Short’s goldenrod is a perennial herb that grows in glades, along old bison traces, in old fields, and on rock cuts along roads. It has typical yellow goldenrod flowers and hairless foliage. It blooms from mid-August to late October, so it will be in full bloom for all to see at the fall meeting. Other potential flowers of note to see will be Agueweed (Gentianella occidentalis), Cream Gentian (Gentiana alba), and Great Plains Ladies’-tresses (Spiranthes magnicamporum).

Stay posted for next month’s Lady Slipper for more details!

Winter Creeper Pull at Ashland- The Henry Clay Estate

Join us April 2nd at 11am EDT as we pull winter-creeper from populations of running buffalo clover at Ashland, The Henry Clay Estate in Lexington following the iNaturalist tutorial hike. To learn more about running buffalo clover, click here. You do not need to partake in the iNaturalist tutorial hike to help pull winter creeper, but you are welcome to! Bring a knee pad and gardening gloves if you have them. We will meet next to the Gingko Cafe. If you wish to join in, please email Heidi Braunreiter, heidi.braunreiter@ky.gov.

Save the Date! Fall Membership Meeting

Every year, KNPS hosts a fall membership meeting to discuss yearly updates and upcoming activities. This year, we will be hosting a virtual meeting via Zoom on Saturday, October 23rd at 4pm Eastern time. An agenda and full meeting information will be published in the October Lady Slipper. Please stay tuned if you would like to attend!

Delisting of Running Buffalo Clover

By: Heidi Braunreiter, Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves Plant Ecologist 

OKNP botanist conducting running buffalo clover survey in 2019 along Boone Creek in Clark County. Photo by Heidi Braunreiter.

Running Buffalo Clover (Trifolium stoloniferum) is a perennial clover with showy white flowers and leaves divided into three leaflets, and was historically native to several eastern and midwestern U.S. states. Based on numerous references to clovers in historical literature, it is believed to have been abundant across its historical range in pre-settlement times, which included the Bluegrass Region of Kentucky (Campbell et al. 1988). However by 1900, its extent had drastically reduced, and only five populations in total remained (Brooks, 1983). Throughout the 20th century, there were numerous fruitless attempts to relocate populations, which lead scientists to believe the species was extirpated from states where it was historically common. Finally, in 1983 populations were relocated in West Virginia and Indiana, as well as in northern Kentucky in 1987 (Campbell et al. 1988). With so few populations known, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) opted to list the species in 1987 as ‘federally endangered,’ because it was at a high risk of extinction (USWFS 2007).

The decline of running buffalo clover is believed to have been caused by a combination of factors: as land was settled, habitat destruction ensued and competition from non-native invasive species became a problem (Campbell et al. 1988). Another factor was the loss of the American Bison on the landscape. Historical observations noted the clover’s preference for sites where American Bison congregated (Bartgis 1985). Bison likely provided a means of fertilizer, seed scarification, seed dispersal, and the periodic disturbance regime necessary for the running buffalo clover’s life cycle (Campbell et al. 1988). The loss of bison from the landscape would have dramatically affected the species’ propagation.

Running buffalo clover in a cemetery in Boone County, Kentucky. Photo by Heidi Braunreiter.

Today, you will find running buffalo clover in areas that have periodical disturbances mimicking bison; for example, along trails where plants get trampled, in old estate lawns or cemeteries that are regularly mowed, and on stream terraces with occasional flooding events. Running buffalo clover also prefers dappled sunlight in a forested setting. If the forest canopy becomes either too closed or too open, running buffalo clover populations tend to decline in number as it does not tolerate full shade or full sun (USFWS 2021).

Over the past two decades, the Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves (OKNP) has conducted monitoring on running buffalo clover populations in Kentucky in order to look at population trends and manage for non-native invasive plants. Over this time, many new county records were discovered through targeted searches of historical estates, cemeteries, and stream restoration efforts in the Bluegrass Region. Several successful propagation and introductions efforts have also occurred over the years, for example, new populations were introduced and are now self-sufficient at Shaker Village at Pleasant Hill in Mercer County and Taylor Fork Ecological Area in Madison County.

In 2019, running buffalo clover was proposed for delisting by the USFWS, as many populations had been discovered since its initial listing over 30 years prior. In response to the 2019 proposed delisting, OKNP conducted a state-wide assessment of our running buffalo clover populations. Despite set-backs from the pandemic, we were able to survey 61 populations, which covered the majority of the known extant populations in Kentucky. Sites not included in the assessment were already determined to be extirpated, or inaccessible. Most populations in Kentucky occur on private lands, and although obtaining access to private lands can be difficult, we have been grateful for the curiosity, interest, and enthusiastic response from many property owners. Overall, population trends in Kentucky show approximately half of the populations as stable or increasing in size while the other half of populations are declining in size or extirpated (Table 1). Figure 1 shows an updated range map of extant running buffalo clover populations in Kentucky.

Table 1. Population trends of running buffalo clover in Kentucky during the 2019-2020 statewide survey. 

Population Trends Number of Populations 
Relatively stable  11  
Increased in size  18  
Decreased in size  21 
Extirpated** 9 
Not applicable* 2 
Total 61 

**Majority previously believed extirpated; extirpation confirmed 

* Previously uncounted; unable to compare trend 

A huge success that came out of the 2019-2020 statewide survey was the discovery of the largest running buffalo clover population in Kentucky. On the Mt. Folly Farm in Clark County, a population of over 6,000 plants was counted along the Upper Howards Creek. Other large populations of running buffalo clover in the state top out around 1,000 to 2,000 plants. The significance of this population led to the creation of a new Registered Natural Area with OKNP at Mt. Folly Farm. The clover occurs in the floodplain of the creek in cattle pastures and riparian woods. This site holds potential for future research as it has running buffalo clover in areas with and without a cattle-grazing regime.

As of September 2021, running buffalo clover was delisted by USFWS as they believe there are a sufficient number of populations occurring on publicly owned and managed lands to sustain the species’ viability (USWFS 2021). As of 2020, 175 extant populations occur across its range in Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, and biologists in these states discover new populations every year. Within Kentucky, many populations occur on Wildlife Management Areas where stream restoration projects are ongoing. The key to the future success of this plant is the continued management of populations to keep invasive plants at bay and the continued implementation of appropriate disturbance regimes, be that mowing, grazing, or trampling.

If you are interested in adopting a running buffalo clover population in Kentucky to do yearly checkups to remove invasive species, please contact me! heidi.braunreiter@ky.gov.  

Figure 1. Extant range of running buffalo clover in Kentucky as of February 2021. 

Bibliography 

Bartgis, R. 1985. Rediscovery of Trifolium stoloniferum Muhl. ex A. Eaton. Rhodora 87:425–429. 

Brooks, R. 1983. Trifolium stoloniferum, Running buffalo clover: Description, distribution, and current status. Rhodora 85:343–354. 

Campbell, J.J.N., M. Evans, M.E. Medley, and N.L. Taylor. 1988. Buffalo clovers in Kentucky (Trifolium stoloniferum and Trifolium reflexum) – Historical records, presettlement environment, rediscovery, endangered status, cultivation and chromosome number. Rhodora 90:399–418. 

USFWS. 2007. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service: Running Buffalo Clover (Trifolium stoloniferum) Recovery Plan: First Revision. Department of the Interior, U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Great Lakes-Big Rivers Region (Region 3), Fort Snelling, MN. 

USFWS. 2021. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Running Buffalo Clover Final Listing Determination Fact Sheet. https://www.fws.gov/midwest/endangered/plants/rbcl/runningb.html. Accessed 2 September 2021.