Kentucky Nature Preserves, in partner with KNPS and other conservation agencies, is throwing the first annual Nature Summit at Pine Mountain State Resort Park. This event will be April 24th-26th and will be a gathering of naturalists of all ages to celebrate and explore the biodiversity in the Pine Mountain region.
Join us for hikes, presentations, children’s activities, and exclusive night time field trips all led by the experts! Some field trips have limited space and require sign-up with registration. Others occur on park property all day long and do not require sign-up. There is something for everyone, so bring the whole family!
Kentucky Native Plant Society has helped put together the hike at Bad Branch State Nature Preserve on Saturday, April 25th: Join KNP botanist Heidi Braunreiter and Cumberland Falls SRP Naturalist Olivia Immitt, on a hike through Bad Branch SNP. This preserve protects the largest concentrations of rare and uncommon species known to the state! We’ll pass babbling brooks and hemlock groves through a deep ravine on our way to a 60-foot waterfall that crowns the natural beauty of this site. Learn about rare plants, medicinal plants, and the overall forest ecology of the area. This field trip requires sign-up with registration.
Click here to register and see a full schedule of the Kentucky Nature Summit. All participants must register to attend. An email regarding field trip sign-up will be sent to you once you have registered.
Congrats to our iNaturalist project winners! For the Kentucky Botanists Big Year 2019 project, we awarded prizes to the top five people in three categories:
Most Observations:
Kendall McDonald, winner in two categories of the iNaturalist Project: Kentucky Botanists Big Year 2019
Joey Shaw
John Abrams
Tara Littlefield
Kendall McDonald
Elsa Wachter
Most Observed Species:
Tara Littlefield
John Abrams
Joey Shaw
Elsa Wachter
Kendall McDonald
Most Identifications:
Mikayla Groce
Dwayne Estes
Margaret Carreiro
Richard Abott
John Abrams
Prizes will be given out Saturday, April 4th at our 2020 Wildflower Weekend at Natural Bridge State Resort Park during the evening speaker session.Each winner will receive a KNPS mug with the project name and their winning category on it!
We hope
everyone is having a peaceful winter. I
have been enjoying the mild weather, spending time analyzing plant data from
last year’s projects, studying winter tree ID, and lots of planning for the
year ahead. Out in the forest we are seeing
incredible moss displays and the greening up of many overwintering basal rosettes
of spring wildflowers. The term rosettology comes to mind, coined by a
notorious southeastern botanist, meaning the study of plant rosettes. It is
true I am a rosettophile, or one who loves rosettes, including dutchman’s
breeches, harbinger of spring, spring beauty, and winter annuals such as glade
cress that are visible now.
Select mosses and rosettes seen in Kentucky over the past month (from L to R): 1. Spoon moss (Bryoandersonia illesebra), common moss in Kentucky Forests; 2. Dutchman’s Breeches ( Dicentra cucullaria), Anderson County, Kentucky. 2020-01-12; 3. Kentucky Glade Cress rosette-Federally threatened winter annual (Leavenworthia exigua var. laciniata), Jefferson County Dolomite Glade, 2020-01-11. T.R. Littlefield
The KNPS board and officers have been busy planning for some fantastic events this year. We will announce our field trip and workshop schedule soon, so check back by mid-February to view our 2020 calendar. Several workshops and classes will be offered either individually or as part of our Native Plant Stewardship Certification Program. Classes offered include Botany in a Day, Natural Communities of Kentucky, Remnant Natural Community Management, Native Plant Gardening, and more. Hikes by legendary botanists are currently in the works.
We will be
meeting in late February for a strategic board meeting at Bernheim Forest. The board will be revising our strategic plan
with emphasis on prioritizing our efforts in native plant education,
conservation, and restoration. A
reminder that this year we have the 34th Annual Wildflower Weekend
at Natural Bridge, April 3-4. It is
earlier than usual this year, but with warmer temperatures we might expect the wildflowers
to be early as well.
Don’t forget
our website can be a resource to find out about other botanical events not
directly organized by KNPS occurring throughout the state, so please contact us
if you have an event that you would like to promote on our website. We
are stronger together!
For the love
of native plants and natural communities,
KNPS’s “The Lady Slipper” has supplied native-plant enthusiasts across Kentucky with relative information for a long time—over thirty years. In fact, the February 2020 issue marks the newsletter’s 34th anniversary. A lot has changed over the years. What started as a typewritten newsletter distributed via snail mail eventually made the change to electronic format. During the summer of 2019, we made the switch to blog newsletter.
Articles are available as published; simply visit the blog! On or about the first of each month, subscribers will receive an email announcing the current issue that contains a short synopsis of each blog and a link. Of course, you’re invited to review the blog at any time.
Our content will maintain the same comprehensive quality you’ve grown to trust. We hope you enjoy the new format as we are excited for this transition.
Please share news and events that you think our readers would want to know. If you are interested in writing for us, our submission guidelines are simple: Contact us with a brief description of what you’d like to cover… that’s it! We’ll get back to you quickly.
Susan Harkins and Nick Koenig, Editors, ladyslipper@knps.org
As we begin a new year and a new decade, anticipating the year ahead, it can be fun and informative to look back and reflect on the Society’s activities in 2019. Beginning in early April and ending in November, with events and activities across the Commonwealth, KNPS had another great year spreading the message of the value, importance, and beauty of the native plants and ecosystems of Kentucky. We hope you enjoy these images and descriptions of the Society’s 2019 activities and that you will be able to join us in the field in 2020.
Wildflower Weekend, April 12 & 13
Wildflower Weekend participants exploring the native plants along the Rock Bridge Trail at Natural Bridge State Resort Park
On Friday, April 12, and Saturday, April 13, over 100 lovers of Kentucky’s native plants joined with some of the best botanists in the state to explore Natural Bridge State Park and the Red River Gorge in search of spring wildflowers. Besides wildflower hikes on Friday and Saturday, there was a Friday night social where folks had the opportunity to meet other KNPS members. Saturday evening had educational talks, a book-signing (by Dan and Judy Dourson, Wildflowers and Ferns of Red River Gorge and the Greater Red River Basin), live music by the Forest Fiddleheads, and a panel discussion on recreational uses and impacts of the Red River Gorge. Wildflower Weekend in 2020 will be on April 3 & 4 at Natural Bridge SRP. Hope to see you there.
Field Trips
Dwarf sundew (Drosera brevifolia)
As part of its educational mission, each year KNPS organizes field trips to explore Kentucky’s natural areas. Trip leaders are knowledgeable about the area being explored and the native plants and plant communities that are found in that area. In 2019, there were several field trips, at natural areas across the Commonwealth.
The Field Trip season began at the Hazeldell Meadow Nature Preserve in Pulaski County on April 5, in search of Kentucky’s rarest carnivorous plant, the dwarf sundew (Drosera brevifolia).
Botanist Tara Littlefield, one of the field trip leaders at Hazeldell Nature preserve, discussed rare plants and the rare wet meadow community along with current conservation activities such as management, research and volunteer opportunities. Dr. Jim Krupa discussed the long term monitoring and research of the rare dwarf sundew (Drosera brevifolia).
Old growth oak at Griffith Wood WMA
On May 11, Dr. Julian Campbell led the trip to Griffith Woods WMA, in Harrison County, to explore this iconic bluegrass woodland with old growth oaks and hickories, cane thickets, and remnant mesic herbaceous flowers, such as bear grass and running buffalo clover. Julian has been studying bluegrass woodland vegetation for over 40 years and is the authority on past and present plants and communities in the region. Go to http://bluegrasswoodland.com/Griffith_Woods.html for information on Griffith Woods compiled by Julian.
On a rainy June 22, Laura Baird, assistant preserve manager and naturalist, at Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill, in Mercer County, led several KNPS members on a hike to view the prairie restoration, as well as the adjacent forests, at Shakertown. Although a bit damp, the participants enjoyed many prairie flowers, trees and shrubs, and woodland flowers.
Field trip leader, Devin Rodgers, discussing one of the native prairie species found along The Trace in the LBL.
On July 6, Devin Rodgers, botanist at Kentucky Nature Preserves, led the group of KNPS members to several botanically important sites at LBL from prairies to wetlands. Devin has worked extensively at LBL conducting floristic surveys, rare species surveys and habitat characterizations. The participants learned about ongoing efforts to protect rare species and communities at botanical sites at LBL and how to help by assisting with monitoring, management, and restoration projects.
Sedge Identification and Diversity Workshop, May 21 & 22, 2019
Workshop instructor, Rob Naczi, points out the characteristics of a species of Carex.
Many of the grass-like plants one may encounter in our natural areas in Kentucky are not actually grasses. Although similar, they are members of an entirely different family of plants, the sedge family (Cyperaceae). With close to 150 species in the Carex genus found in Kentucky, the diversity of sedges is astounding and they can tell us a lot about the natural communities upon which they are found.
On May 21 & 22, Rob Naczi, curator of the New York Botanical garden and North America’s Carex expert, taught 17 KNPS members about sedge diversity and how to identify this notoriously difficult group. The workshop combined classroom instruction with work in the field over two days. Due to the success of this event, more workshops are in the works.
Invasive Plant Cleanup Days
Volunteers removing invasive bush honeysuckle (Lonicera spp.)
In November, several KNPS members volunteered to remove invasive plant species in Fayette and Franklin Counties with partners from Kentucky Nature Preserves. On Nov. 2, members joined Heidi Braunreiter, with Kentucky Nature Preserves, to help pull winter-creeper (Euonymus fortunei) from populations of running buffalo clover populations at Ashland, The Henry Clay Estate in Lexington. Running buffalo clover (Trifolium stoloniferum) is a federally-endangered plant that requires periodic disturbance and a partially shaded canopy.
Federally-endangered plant running buffalo clover
On several weekends in November, KNPS worked with Kentucky Nature Preserves to organize several work days at state nature preserves and natural areas in Franklin County. Volunteer activities involved manually removing invasive shrubs, such as bush honeysuckle and privet. Members who assisted in invasive species management at these sites had a direct impact on rare plant recovery as the sites are designated as critical habitat for federally listed plants.
The Nature Conservancy’s Mantle Rock Nature Preserve, in Livingston Co., is a fascinating part of Kentucky. The centerpiece of the Preserve is a 30-foot high natural sandstone bridge spanning 188 feet (the longest sandstone arch east of the Mississippi) embellished by bluffs, shelters, honeycomb formations, fluorite deposits and a rock-lined stream. The nature preserve also contains extraordinary biological diversity, with spectacular springtime wildflowers and an upland forest interspersed with the best example of rare and fragile sandstone glades in all of Kentucky. Kentucky’s only known occurrence of June grass thrives here along with other glade species such as prickly pear cactus, rush foil, hairy lipfern, little bluestem, pinweed and poverty grass. Scattered deep soil pockets are dominated by gnarled and stunted post oak, blackjack oak, farkleberry and red cedar.
On a hot and humid July 13, the Kentucky Native Plant Society conducted a detailed floristic inventory of the sandstone glades, barrens, woodlands and mesic forests at this botanically fascinating site. Several of the region’s preeminent botanists spent much of the day locating, identifying, and documenting over 200 native plant species. The data collected will be used by The Nature Conservancy as they develop long range management plans for this site.
Fall Membership Meeting, Oct. 12
KNPS members browse the native seed and plant exchange table.
For this year’s fall membership meeting, KNPS partnered with West Sixth Brewing to have a Native Plant Day at the West Sixth Farm in Frankfort, KY. Native plant enthusiasts, young and old, heard a review of KNPS 2019 activities and plans for 2020. A new and exiting activity that was enjoyed by everyone was KNPS’s very first native plant and seed exchange. West 6th Farm is one of the few locations in the world where Braun’s rock cress (Arabis perstellata) is found. At the end of the day some members took a hike to view this species led by Heather Housman of the Woods and Waters Land Trust.
Student Research Grants
Since 2012 the Kentucky Native Plant Society has been awarding annual grants to undergraduate and graduate students that are researching native plants and plant communities in Kentucky. Since 2012 we have awarded over $6,000 in grants. In 2019, the Society awarded three, $500 grants. The recipients and their projects were:
Bailey King Canopy gaps and light availability in running buffalo clover (Trifolium stoloniferum) patches
Jonathan Kubesch Forage approaches to native clover conservation
Jordan Winkenbach Restoration of native woodland flora in response to mastication and prescribed burning in an upland hardwood forest
Join us for this year’s Wildflower Weekend, April 3 & 4 in partnership with Natural Bridge State Resort Park. This event offers wildflower hikes Friday and Saturday, led by some of the best botanists in the state. These hikes will explore the region’s rich natural history and resources in the state park and the Red River Gorge. Hikes topics include wildflowers, ferns, woody plants, bryophytes, fire ecology, plant identification 101, and more.
Friday evening, there will be a social to meet your fellow native plant enthusiasts. Saturday morning, we will have a book signing for a recently published children’s book, Wake Up, Woods, with author Mike Homoya present for signing. Directly after the booking signing will be a kid’s creek walk. We are also offering an outdoor yoga class Saturday afternoon and Saturday evening, talks will be given in the Woodland Center. Click on the link below to see the full schedule.
Our keynote speaker Saturday evening is Mike Homoya. Mike is a recently retired botanist and plant ecologist who worked for the Indiana Department of Natural Resources Natural Heritage Program since 1982. He discovered, inventoried, and assessed natural communities and surveyed for rare species. He shared his knowledge, experience, and enthusiasm about plants by authoring several books, teaching at the collegiate level, and serving as president of professional science associations.
His most recent publication is a children’s book titled Wake Up, Woods. Mike will give a presentation Saturday evening on the rare plants and natural communities along the Ohio River, from Cincinnati to the Mississippi River. You will also hear from three of our student grant recipients who will present on their graduate research projects.
This event is open to the public and kid-friendly. Registration is on-site at the Hemlock Lodge in the lobby. Admission is $10.00 for adults, $3.00 for ages 12-17, free for ages 12 & under. Discounted KNPS memberships will be available.
Betty Beshoar and Mark Roberts always wanted
to live in the country and moved to their land on Elkhorn Creek in the
Frankfort area over 30 years ago. They love walking through the woods watching and
hearing frogs leaping into the pond as they go by and enjoying spectacular
views. Recently, they partnered with Woods and Waters Land Trust to ensure that
over 57 acres of their land will be wildlands forever. Land trusts have sprung
up all over the nation (there are more than a thousand) to help people
interested in conserving land.
The forest on the slopes of the stream on the conserved land are covered with wildflowers in the spring. One of those wildflowers is Braun’s rockcress (Arabis perstellata), an endangered plant.
Arabis perstellata
Roughly 90% of populations of this plant worldwide are in Franklin County, Kentucky. Because of the unique geologic similarity (and historical links) to the Nashville area, a few populations of Braun’s rockcress also occur in that area. The limited range of this plant and the threats to forest health, like invasive plants and animals, make every population of this rare plant important to its long-term persistence in the Bluegrass forests. And this hill conserved in the Peaks Mill area helps.
There are 10 federally listed endangered or threatened plants in Kentucky. In addition to the rockcress, globe bladderpod is also limited to forests in the Bluegrass and has a disjunct distribution in the Nashville area. It occurs in drier more rocky forests, often on upper slopes.
