Extra Early Ephemerals

Today, Andrew Gibson (The Natural Treasures of Ohio) took me on another stroll through his stomping grounds of the biologically diverse Adam's County, Ohio to explore an extra early array of spring ephemeral plants. There, we found approximately 20 new early bloomers for the year!

One of the highlights for me along the trip was the Snow Trillium (Trillium nivale). Of course, as the common name implies, this species - the smallest of the 8 Ohio trilliums - emerges so early that they are often blooming through snow. However, they certainly didn't have to live up to their epithet this winter.

The white trout lilies did not disappoint either. Like T. nivale, this species tends to prefer calcareous soils, which are aplenty in Adams County with such an abundance of dolomitic limestone parent material. We were surprised to see them blooming this early; we were absolutely mind-boggled to see that many had already gone to fruit! The noble plant on the right is surely the king of the ephemeral forest.

Only one bloodroot was to be found today among a complete absence of rue anemone. Similarly, there was no spring beauty to be found, either. We were a bit curious as to why some plants were not in bloom yet when their associates were already so far along. Perhaps some species are less anxious to bloom when such early warm weather occurs; rather, they might rely more on an internal clock. In any event, dwarf larkspur surprised us by blooming much earlier than normal years.

Blooming toad shade trillium (Trillium sessile) was a major surprise to me since I found a healthy patch near peak bloom last year in Athens County on April 24th - almost a month and a half later than this year! Granted, Adams county is two-hours south of that population.

Two other "firsts" for me were the state threatened Michaux's leavenworthia (Leavenworthia uniflora) and one of Ohio's rarest plants - the endangered little whitlow grass (Draba brachycarpa).

Among virginia bluebells (Mertensia virginica) and yellow fumewort (corydalis flavula), we also came across two toothwort species, common blue violet (Viola sororia) , and many more. I'm already looking forward to visiting Adam's County again. Happy Spring!

The Ohio Fish and Wildlife Conference

This year, The University of Rio Grande was well represented at one of the largest natural resources conferences Ohio has to offer - The Ohio Fish and Wildlife Conference. As one of the three student chapters of The Ohio Chapter Wildlife Society (OCTWS), Rio was fortunate to be asked to operate and find donations for the raffle table. As the President of our chapter's TWS club, I was a bit nervous because our program is small; thus, there are a limited amount of available volunteers to help out with this project. But, I was pleasantly surprised when I showed up at the carpool meeting area in Nelsonville at 6am to find approximately 10 eager Rio students ready to volunteer! Andy Montoney, State Director of the Wildlife Services, asked us to seek out donations from any local vendors in the weeks leading up to the conference. All in all, club members were able to find donations such as personal photography, two homemade blue bird boxes, gift certificates, a walking stick, and many more items.

               

Jerry with a blue bird box that our student chapter built. Our professor, Don Althoff and his wife, Karen, were kind enough to design the box and let us use their tools. Also, some photography I donated.

              

It was very rewarding to see people choose my photography in the raffle!

Ultimately, everybody had a great time running the table, speaking to employers, and viewing presentations. I had a chance to step away from the table to view a particularly interesting topic for me presented by Roger Williams titled, "Using fire to restore forests and wildlife communities." Already looking forward to next year's conference as we've been asked to operate the raffle for th second year!

Botanical Discoveries

As a child, I always dreamed of being a pioneer. I naively questioned whether there is anything left to discover in this beautiful country. In North Dakota, one of the very first plants I found while walking the nostalgic open prairies was the Nuttall's violet (Viola nuttalli). A lance leaved violet, Nuttall's violet was discovered and named after a famous botanist and pioneer, Thomas Nuttall, who traveled throughout many of the same places I have been, such as the midwest and great plains states. For some reason, he inspired me to scrutinize new and odd plants much more closely.

Weeks later, I volunteered to do an annual lady's slipper orchid survey throughout some of Arrowwood National Wildlife Refuge's most rich and untouched lands. One site yielded thousands of lady's slippers including three species - Cypripedium candidum, Cypripedium parviflorum var. makasin, and a brand new species to that county - Cypripedium x andrewsii, which I found. Refer to my previous post on this topic here. Nuttall traveled many of the same areas that Lewis and Clark had; though, they lost many of their specimens. Like Nuttall, it feels exciting to find species that my predecessors overlooked and to be a pioneer in a sense.

On August 31st, my good friend Andrew Gibson The Natural Treasures of Ohio and I set out to do some botanizing around his neck of the woods - Clark and Madison counties, Ohio. He has been excited to show me some of Ohio's fens and remnant prairies for a while now and I was more than excited for the opportunity to tag along - so excited that I only got three hours of sleep the night before! Some areas that we tackled include Prairie Road fen, Gallagher Fen, Pearl King Oak Savannah, and Davey Old-Growth Woods. I knew I'd be hiking around in two counties with well-preserved natural areas but what I didn't know was that I'd be leaving having been a part of history in both counties. Every trip has a goal and our goal was to get me one common Spiranthes spp. under my belt. In addition, I left having been a part of the discovery of two new county records - Spiranthes ovalis in Clark county and Spiranthes lacera var. gracilis in Madison county. On top of that, I was the very first to snap pictures of these beauties. Such an amazing experience that I will never forget!

Though I never set out to find a rare plant or discovery, it is exhilarating to be part of such unique experiences. They have opened my eyes to botany and have certainly inspired me to take a closer look at  the forest floor, prairies, and fens I hike through.

Intensive Grazing Study

The further I've gone west (from Massachusetts), the opportunity and level of experience has greatly increased. As a Biological Science Technician with the USFWS, I had the opportunity to volunteer for many events and projects that interested me. In preperation to lead the Native Prairie Adaptive Management project on Arrowwood National Wildlife Refuge, I was required to travel down to the small town of Streeter ND to participate in a vegetation identification workshop guided by Bob Patterson of the North Dakota State University Research Extension Center. On our way out into the field, Bob was kind enough to catch me up on his grazing study that has been going on for some 20 years. Weeks later, I was able to be contracted in to help gather data.

The study involves using two separate half-meter sq. plots - one "in" plot and two "out" plots per unit. The in plot was placed in an exclosure that keeps cattle from grazing it whereas the out plots were randomely placed in the grazed portion.

The protocol was designed to measure biomass of shrubs, forbs, and grasses.

This was my plot after picking the shrub layer and placing the contents into an individual paper bag. All species were identified and written on each bag for species richness data.

After all layers were picked and separated, this is what a plot looks like (left). All plants were harvested from the root collar up. An "in" plot has a barrier to deter cattle from grazing it (right).

Over all, the study was very interesting. I've seen deer exclosures throughout the Vinton Furnace State Experimental Forest and the large contrast between foraged and unforaged woodlots. This study had a very similar result throughout ND range. My passion is vegetation but I always like to study flora and fauna together. Studies like these really help to manage for both.

Native Prairie Adaptive Management

As cool and warm season grasses become identifiable in the next week, I'll be setting out to lead the project that I've trained weeks for - Native Prairie Adaptive Management (NPAM). This study utilizes the use of belt transects throughout various areas of the wildlife refuge. Each unit has been managed using grassland management practices: burn, rest, chemical application, native plantings, grazing etc. The objective of NPAM is to collect data, which will be entered into software that suggests further management practices based on the present floristic composition. The idea is to revert back to native prairie habitat in the future based on the suggested management practices.

Unfortunately, it will take years of data and management for this project to work as the advance of smooth brome and Kentucky bluegrass has become so severe. Luckily, these two invasives prefer mesic - wet conditions and are limited on rocky, unplowed hilltops. It's interesting to see the color, structure, and height change of vegetation as you drive by these hill tops. Even the slightest hills are dotted with rocks, bright summer wildflowers, and dried little bluestem from the previous year, giving off a snow capped look.

It brings me great satisfaction that at least a small part of the prairie has been retained for me to see. It gives me a sense of optimism and a goal to obtain. The hilltop above is a great example of healthy prairie. If you look close enough, there are prairie lilies, blanket flower, echinacea, white milkwort, indian breadroot, porcupine grass, needle-and-thread, hooker's oaks, little bluestem, prairie junegrass, western wheatgrass, black-eyed susans, yellow coneflower, ball cacti, among others. I believe the two invasives we are fighting the most in our prairies are well-determined, but controllable through intensive management. Kentucky Bluegrass is the most difficult to control as it is a graze increaser and produces it's own microclimate by dropping an abundance of duff, creating shade for itself. Shade is obviously undesirable for prairie plants.

The needle-and-thread forms lush blankets with a beautiful mix of native forbs. Many sages grow here in the mixed grass prairie among other native forbs and grasses. Harriers fly low to the ground and badger holes are everywhere. Franklin's ground squirrels and thirteen-lined ground squirrels are abundant. Swainson's, Krider's redtail, and ferruginous hawks soar above the landscape as bald eagles often greet me on the way into work in the morning. With such a mesmerizing goal ahead, it seems that any obstacle is worth the effort.

Prairie Fireworks

With summertime comes a whole new cast of showy plants to emerge among the culms of cold season grasses. The bright yellows and reds dot the endless horizon as far as the eye can see, giving off a grand finale of color right in time for the Fourth. 

Scarlet globe mallow (Sphaeralcea coccinea) and candle anemone (Anemone cylindrica)

Silver scurf pea (Psoralea esculenta) and wood lily (Lilium philadelphicum)

Western snowberry (Symphoricarpos occidentalis) and scarlet gaura (Gaura coccinea)

Buffalo ground plum (Astragalus crassicarpus) and blanket flower (Gaillardia aristata)

Lilac penstemon (Penstemon gracilis) and harebell (Campanula rotundifolia)

North Dakota Plants

A perfect balance of sun and breeze found its way into my room this morning to wake me up. The bright warm rays were the kind that promised a perfect day, and it was. On a normal day, there seems to be less plant diversity. But when the sun finally shows itself, the prairies open up and fill with life. Even so, though, it takes a well-trained eye to pick out the gems within the dense grasses. 

 Goat's beard (Tragopogon dubius) and red baneberry (Actaea rubra) beginning to fruit. Goat's beard is a common aster that turns its head towards the sun. The flower opens only when the sun is out and closes by mid day. 

 A brand new violet for me, western Canada violet (Viola canadensis var. rugulosa). This species differs from its Canada violet (Viola canadensis) by having much larger leaves that come to a pinched point. The larger leaves creep below the soil and emerge inches from the plant, which is different than V. canadensis.

 Roundleaf serviceberry (Amelanchier sanguina). Serviceberries are known to be challenging to separate, though, this one stuck out to me like a sore thumb. The leaves have a dull serrate look to them and the tips are obtuse, giving the leaf an overall round look. 

 Bellflower (Campanula rotundifolia) and yellow sundrops (Calylophus serrulatus). In Ohio, the harebell is endangered, though, I was lucky enough to see patches along the Ohio islands when I worked at Middle Bass Island State Park. Yellow sundrops are not found in Ohio.

 Green sage or terragon (Artemisia dracunculus) and fringed sage (Artemisia frigida). Sages are an important community in the west but have spred dramatically through overgrazing. The epithet of fringed sage, frigida, refers to it occupying cold regions.

White penstemon (Penstemon albidus) and indian breadroot (Pediomelum esculentum). Penstemons are often a signal of prairie habitat. This species runs right down the center of the prairie belt, thus, does not exist in Ohio. Indian breadroot has a similar distribution with an interesting population in New York. Plains Indians valued this genus above all other wild edibles for the hardy tubers they produced. In late summer, the leaves and stalks fall off and blow away.

 An expired marsh marigold (Caltha palustris) and a dwarf leadplant (Amorpha nana). Like Indian breadroot, dwarf leadplant is a legume. Legumes contain a symbiotic relationship with rhizomatic bacteria that fixes nitrogen into a useable food source for plants. Thus, an abundance of legumes are an indicator of rich prairies and lush plant communities.