Max standing alone observing a remnant limestone savanna and glade along I-59 near Fort Payne, Alabama, June 2018. Photo courtesy of Dwayne Estes
We have lost one of the most gifted botanists of the past 100 years of the southeastern U.S.
I knew of Max many years before I met him. I heard of him from other professional botanists while I was just a graduate student. Some painted a picture of Max as a reclusive, unkempt, disheveled botanist who had been down-and-out for a long time and who had given up his large private collection of 17,000 plant specimens. I had seen his unpublished PhD dissertation which was well over 1,000 pages and multiple volumes and had always admired his work long before I met Max and became his friend.
But the Max I first met in July 2009 was hands-down one of the most brilliant and gifted botanists I’ve ever had the privilege to know. In spite of the very real challenges he faced, I was truly a fan of Max and I loved him, although I’m sad to say, I wasn’t there for him. Max, to those who know him, was a complicated man. But I wanted to share a few select stories from some of my remembrances of him.
When: Saturday, Oct. 19, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm EDT Where: The Sasafrass Room in the Bernheim Arboretum Visitor Center, Clermont, KY
Mark your calendars and plan to meet up with other KNPS members and friends as we head to the Bernheim Arboretum for the Society’s 2024 Fall Meeting, on Oct 19th. We will meet in the Bernheim Arboretum Visitor Center in the Sassafras Room. If you want to learn more about KNPS, meet other Kentucky native plant enthusiasts, and learn more about the native plants of Kentucky, then the KNPS Fall Meeting is for you!
Schedule of Events
All times are Eastern Daylight Time
Morning Session, 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon
We will meet in the Sassafras Room which is located in the Bernheim Arboretum Visitor Center. The session will begin with an update from KNPS leadership on the Society’s activities in 2024 and plans for 2025. After the update, we will have two talks on plants native to the area and the special plant communities they are part of.
10:45 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. – Open Discussion from the Group Ask the KNPS Board questions or express thoughts and ideas you have about KNPS
11:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. – Boo! Botany Goes Bump in the Night! – Kendall McDonald Join KNPS Vice President and OKNP botanist Kendall McDonald as she shares about Kentucky’s creepiest botanical wonders. The plant world is full of fascinating adaptation, and sometimes it can make your skin crawl! There’s no need to fear, all guests will be safe from poisonous blooms, carnivorous botanicals and parasitic plants! Oh my!
11:30 a.m. – 12:00 noon – Ethical Seed Collection – Tyson Gregory Join KNPS member Tyson Gregory as he teaches us about ethical seed collection in the world of foraging and conservation.
Lunch, 12:00 noon – 1:00 p.m.
12:00 noon – Lunch is on your own. You can get lunch at Issac’s Cafe in the Visitor Center or bring your own lunch. We will eat together in the Sassafras Room.
Afternoon Walk – 1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. – Pine Creek Barrens Nature Preserve – Alan Abbott 2 miles. Easy, but rocky (possibly muddy). Participants will need to drive/carpool to site.
Join Kentucky Native Plan Society member Alan Abbott on a tour of Pine Creek Barrens Nature Preserve in Shepherdsville. The preserve is considered one of the best publicly-accessible examples of Kentucky limestone/dolomite barrens. Expect to see a number of plants that are uncommon or rare in Kentucky, including Barrens Silky Aster (Symphyotrichum pratense), Great Plains Ladies tresses Orchid (Spiranthes magnicamporum), and Stiff Gentian (Gentianella quinquefolia var. occidentalis). The hike is about 2 miles and can be rocky and muddy. However, there’s very little change in elevation. Even though it’s late in the growing year, plan for ticks and bring plenty of water. Alan Abbott is the Field Trip Coordinator for Kentucky Native Plant Society. He lives in Louisville and, if anyone asks, his favorite plant is American Columbo
This event is open to KNPS members and friends alike. There is no cost for the event, but in order to plan effectively, we are requesting that folks pre-register for this event. If you are likely to attend, please fill out this form. Thanks, hope to see you there!
Mark your calendars and plan to meet up with other KNPS members and friends as we head to the Bernheim Arboretum for the Society’s 2024 Fall Meeting, on Oct 19th. We will meet in the Bernheim Arboretum Visitor Center in the Sassafras Room. If you want to learn more about KNPS, meet other Kentucky native plant enthusiasts, and learn more about the native plants of Kentucky, then the KNPS Fall Meeting is for you!
We are still finalizing details of the Fall Meeting, but here is the schedule for the day (all times are Eastern Daylight Time).
Morning session: 10am, in the Sassafras Room in the Visitor Center at the Bernheim Arboretum 2075 Clermont Road, Clermont, KY
10am – Welcome and KNPS Updates – KNPS Board
10:45am – One or more talks on plants native to the area and the special plant communities they are part of.
12noon – Lunch on your own. You can get lunch at Issac’s Cafe in the Visitor Center or bring your own lunch.
1pm – 4:00pm – Afternoon Walks – We are still finalizing our walk schedules.
There is no fee to attend the meeting, but we are requesting that folks pre-register for the meeting using the form below.
Conservation is a primary interest of KNPS, as stated in the mission statement and elsewhere, but what are its precise goals for “education, preservation, and protection of Kentucky’s native plants and ecological systems”? Are we just going to accept goals developed by government, or will we seek a more cooperative discussion? Without clear goals, how can we assess progress?
Natural Heritage Programs were developed for each state government about 50 years ago through partnerships with The Nature Conservancy. There is a need to revive this system through stronger grass-roots interactions, inviting all people committed to our native flora and fauna. There is now greater potential for more effective flow of new information through networks of observers. The NHP (as managed by Nature Preserves in Kentucky) was initially envisaged as an integrated system of databases, linking records at whole site level (prioritized lands and waters for conservation), habitat level (including degraded types for restoration), and species level (especially those rare natives deserving recovery). There was also an elaborate system for maintaining stewardship records, but never widely adopted. Priorities for action have become relatively clear at site and species levels in most of our 120 counties. However, the habitat level generally needs a lot more work to define types in an understandable manner, to design restoration of degraded types, and to keep track of progress.
KNPS could become the botanical glue that builds (or mends) the network we need in Kentucky. It is particularly important to seek more interaction among the few scattered professional botanists, restorationists and horticulturalists interested in promoting natives. There has not been enough bonding between such varied groups of ‘plants-people’ in the state. It is of course difficult for KNPS to work across the whole state, but we could start at more amenable regional or local scales.
I have become increasingly interested in the potential for county-based efforts in conservation planning. KNPS and Nature Preserves could play a central role. In brief, I envisage that we—with partners—would focus on a few counties at first, perhaps starting with Fayette as a model. We could begin this winter. We would host a one-day meeting for each county, developing clear goals for conservation and assessing progress with following agenda.
1. Invite all professional and amateur people interested in direct action, aiming to get 10-100 key people. I would contribute $500 for refreshments and supplies. I am sure we could get more donations to cover short-term expenses, and grants for subsequent follow-up.
2. There would be a tabling room for informal standing conversations, and there would be another room for more formal presentations and seated discussions among participants.
3. Each relevant organization (or significant individual) would get 5 minutes for introductory remarks, focusing initially on suggestions for a collaborative map to show priorities for design and care of more natural areas in the county. We would indicate the range of potential wildness, from strict preserves to strips of riparian or roadside corridor with varied types of plantings.
4. We would allow a few hours in middle of the meeting for presentations and discussions of how to define natural habitats in most need of restoration, and how to manage them. Issues would be at least outlined if not resolved—these include difficult matters concerning areas set aside for old growth forest (ideally with removal of aliens), streams or wetlands (with or without beaver), and grassland or shrubland or open woodland (with browsing, burning or mowing at best season).
5. We would finish by reviewing less common native species that deserve recovery and more invasive aliens that deserve reduction. In addition to background with lists of species, which would be presented in the tabling room, there would be brief presentations on case studies.
In subsequent follow-up and field trips, we would continue to refine this material. We would develop an educational booklet (and website) on “Natural History and Conservation Planning in ___ County”. Such booklets would be produced and revised in partnership with Nature Preserves staff, linked to databases as much as possible. They would become an essential resource!
If you are interested in working with Julian Campbell on this concept or if you have any questions or ideas of your own, you can email him at julian.campbell@twc.com or call him at (859) 229-7711.
Julian Campbell is a botanist, a founding member of the Kentucky Native Plant Society, and creator of the Kentucky Plant Atlas.
The Lady Slipper newsletter of the Kentucky Native Plant Society has been published since the Society’s founding in 1986. We occasionally feature an article from a past issue. This one, about remnant prairie ecosystems in western Kentucky, first appeared in the winter of 1995, Vol. 10, No. 4. If you would like to see other past issues, visit the Lady Slipper Archives, where all issues from Vol. 1, No. 1, February 1986 to Vol. 38, 2023, can be found.
Remnant Prairies at West Kentucky Wildlife Management Area
by Charlie Logsdon, West Kentucky Wildlife Management Area Supervisor [at the time of this article, 1995]
The history of the land and people that have inhabited the area of what is now West Kentucky Wildlife Management Area (WKWMA) would be suitable for a Michenor novel. West Kentucky Wildlife Management Area is about 6,700 acres in size and is located about 12 miles north west of Paducah . Long before European contact the area was frequented by mound builders, Chickasaws and other native Americans.
During European contact, the adjacent Ohio river provided access for explorers, traders and adventurers. The subsequent settlement changed the area from frontier, to one of agricultural and river based economy. In the l 940’s the Department of Defense purchased 16,000 acres, (including the lands that are today WKWMA) for the construction of the Kentucky Ordinance Works. After the second World War, the land was redistributed to private individuals, the Atomic Energy Commission, and the Tennessee Valley Authority. In the late 1950’s and early 1960’s some of these lands were deeded and or licensed to the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources (KDFWR), for wildlife management and wildlife related activities.
At each stage of human involvement with the land, the plant communities were affected . Most of western McCracken, and central and eastern Ballard counties were an island of tall grass prairie prior to European settlement. This was a portion of the 2.5 million acre prairie that existed in Kentucky prior to settlement. These prairie communities were fire dependant for their persistence . Fires were either started by lightning or by the Native Americans . The dominant vegetation were the tall grasses, such as Indian grass (Sorghastrum nutans), big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii), prairie cordgrass (Spartinapectinata) , little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium), and eastern gama grass ( Tripsacumdactyloides). A number of forbs were also associated with this tallgrass prairie . A number of Silphium species (compass plant, cutleaf prairie dock, cup plant), blazing stars (Liatris sp.), wild indigos (Baptisia sp.), sunflowers (Helianthus sp.), and rattlesnake master (Eryngium yuccifolium) were all found in this region, as well as many others.
During this period the Ohio River bottomland was almost entirely forested. Numerous bottom land hardwoods such as oaks, hickories, cottonwoods, hackberries and others could be found, as well as tupelo swamps and cypress dominated lakes. A rich herbaceous layer was present with a profusion of wildflowers such as spiderwort, trillium and Indian pink.
With European settlement, major land use changes occurred . Fire was suppressed and grasslands were converted to croplands. European plants were introduced intentionally as livestock forage and inadvertently as weed seed contaminants. Bottomland hardwood forests were cleared and the associated wetlands were drained and converted to agriculture. In modern times, as industry moved into the region, land was further converted and covered with buildings, roads, parking lots, etc. However, remnants of the past plant communities are still present in the WKWMA.
The area contains some of the larger tracts of remnant tallgrass prairie remaining in Kentucky . These prairie remnants are maintained through active management and the use of prescribed burning . Annually, 200 to 400 acres of grasslands are burned. All of the prairie species mentioned earlier can be found in the managed grasslands. Some areas of particular interest are large colonies of compass plant (Silphium laciniatum}, white and cream colored wild indigo (Baptisia leucantha and B. leucophea) and dense blazing star (Liatris spicata). Total prairie acreage is difficult to judge due to its being in various stages of restoration. Approximately 1,500 acres of grassland are present with prairie plants being found in most of the stands.
Bayou Ridge Natural Area is also contained within WKWMA . This area is considered to be one of the few best remaining examples of an old-growth bottom land forest in Kentucky. Twenty-six species have been identified in the canopy. Included in the stand is the states largest cottonwood. An excellent tupelo (Nyssa aquatica) swamp is nearby, as well as water hickory (Carya aquatica).
Although WKWMA is one of the most heavily used KDFWR areas, it is managed as a multiple use area. In order to make the most of your visit, contact the WMA Supervisor’s office. I can provide you with a drive-through tour guide for the area and direct you to some of the more accessible sites. A teacher’s study guide is also available for the driving tour. Controlled bum seminars are held annually to educate the public in the use of fire to manage wildlife and restore and maintain the tallgrass prairie.
Several other unique areas are present in the vicinity including Metropolis Lake, and Ballard County WMA. If you are coming from a great distance, plan to visit as many of these areas as possible!
At the time of the original publication of this piece (1995) Charlie Logsdon was the West Kentucky Wildlife Management Area Supervisor.
We were sad to hear of the passing in July of Bonnie Reid, a landscape architect and arborist in the Bluegrass Region. For most of 1986, she worked with Julian Campbell at the University of Kentucky to collect seed, cuttings and diggings of trees and shrubs for the planned Kentucky State Arboretum. In that year also the KNPS was formed.
Bonnie was very interested in native plants and the Society. She was one of few licensed female arborists and an early proponent of using native plants in landscaping, specializing in perennial displays. Her clients included some of the old horse farms, often surrounded by ancient ashes and oaks. Even in town, her life connected auspiciously with the native flora. Working in the garden of Joan Gaines on Gratz Park, she discovered a small patch of running buffalo clover and called Julian, who helped to grow the plant and collect seeds. We thank her family and friends for donating to KNPS in her honor.
Purple fringeless orchid (Platanthera peramoena) – Photo by Pat Ranval
By Jeff Nelson, KNPS President
The purple fringeless orchid (Platanthera peramoena A. Gray) is one of Kentucky’s 40+ native, terrestrial orchids. It is widespread in Kentucky, though uncommon. The species is found in moist forests, woodlands, meadows, and thickets, as well as in marshes and swamps. It grows from 1’-4’ tall, producing 2-5 spreading leaves along its stem. In early to mid-July the plant bears an inflorescence of multiple, showy, pink or purple flowers.
In 2016, I came across a single volunteer specimen of P. peramoena growing in moist woods on our 10 acres in SW McCracken county, Kentucky. At the time I am writing this, in early July of 2024, there are fifteen plants, twelve of which are flowering. In this post I am going to go through the processes that led to the (so far) successful expansion of this population of orchids.
