Reddish Knob - First 2008 State Field Trip

This is the first of the Virginia Native Plant Society series of field trips for 2008 to some of the most botanically interesting preserves the state has to offer. We are making these trips yearly events to allow our members to visit some of our preserves, parks and Registry sites with expert guides.

Space is limited and registration is required at least 10 days before the hike. There is a fee of $10 per hike a limit of 20 participants. Only heavy rain will cancel trips.

May 17 (Saturday), 10:30 am to about 3:30 pm. Easy to moderate. Reddish Knob, in the George Washington National Forest is one of the highest peaks in the state at feet, with sweeping views and mountain flora. Members of the Shenandoah Chapter will lead us on a trip along FR 85 South and the side road that leads up to the peak. Both roads are veritable arboreta and are lined with ferns, heath shrubs and many mountainwildflowers such as turkeybeard, Clintonia, gaywings, painted trillium, black cohosh, dwarf crested iris, stargrass, and much more. It was at Reddish Knob that former President Clinton delivered remarks at a "Roadless Lands" event in 1999, when the Roadless Rule in the National Forests was being deliberated.

Field Trip Registration

For all hikes, wear sturdy shoes or boots and be prepared for bugs and sun. Bring water and lunch or snacks.

Directions and meeting places will be provided to registered participants. Please provide your email address for this purpose, or request directions by mail on the form.

Please mail your registration with your field trip choice(s) and check to:

VNPS FIELD TRIPS, 400 Blandy Farm Lane, Boyce VA 22620.


Name _____________________
Address ____________________
City _______________________
State/ Zip Code ______________
Telephone __________________
email ______________________
_____ please mail directions to me

Field trips ($10 each):

____ Reddish Knob
____ Blackwater Ecological Preserve
____ Cypress Bridge Forest

____ Total

2008 STATE FIELD TRIPS

The Virginia Native Plant Society announces a series of field trips for 2008 to some of the most botanically interesting preserves the state has to offer. We are making these trips yearly events to allow our members to visit some of our preserves, parks and Registry sites with expert guides.

Trips vary in level of difficulty so please read descriptions carefully. Space is limited and registration is required at least 10 days before the hike. There is a fee of $10 per hike a limit of 20 participants. Only heavy rain will cancel trips.

This year we are offering the following field trips:

May 17 (Saturday), 10:30 am to about 3:30 pm. Easy to moderate. Reddish Knob, in the George Washington National Forest is one of the highest peaks in the state at feet, with sweeping views and mountain flora. Members of the Shenandoah Chapter will lead us on a trip along FR 85 South and the side road that leads up to the peak. Both roads are veritable arboreta and are lined with ferns, heath shrubs and many mountainwildflowers such as turkeybeard, Clintonia, gaywings, painted trillium, black cohosh, dwarf crested iris, stargrass, and much more. It was at Reddish Knob that former President Clinton delivered remarks at a "Roadless Lands" event in 1999, when the Roadless Rule in the National Forests was being deliberated.

June 28 (Saturday), 10 am to about 1 pm. Easy to moderate. Blackwater Ecological Preserve in Isle of Wight County, with an area of 318 acres, is situated on dry to mesic sand ridges and has two of Virginia's rarest plant communities - longleaf pine-turkey oak flatwoods and longleaf pine savannas. These and other communities at the preserve were once more common in southeastern Virginia, but are now limited to a few precious stands. Preserve Steward Darren Loomis will lead this trip, which will also feature a stop at the Chubb Sandhill Natural Area Preserve's longleaf pine restoration site and a drive through the red cockaded woodpecker habitat at The Nature Conservancy's Piney Grove Preserve.

October 11 (Saturday, time tbd). Difficulty depends on water level. Cypress Bridge Forest is the fairly recently discovered site of many state and national champion cypress and swamp tupelo trees. In 2006, Fleming and Patterson reported in our newsletter that at least 12 individual swamp tupelos, and six individual bald cypress exceeding eight feet in diameter were measured. The largest individuals are between 10 and 12 feet in diameter. All of the large trees are hollow, which appears to be one of the principal reasons this forest has never been cut. Purchase of this land as a Natural Area Preserve is being negotiated. Byron Carmean will lead us on a trip to see these magnificent giants. We hope for low water at this time of year in order to be able to walk among these trees, but will likely need to be paddle a short distance to the site, and be prepared for wading and possibly for paddling depending upon conditions at the time. This may therefore be a more difficult trip.

For more information, contact the VNPS office at 540-837-1600 or vnpsofc@shentel.net.

Field Trip Registration

For all hikes, wear sturdy shoes or boots and be prepared for bugs and sun. Bring water and lunch or snacks.

Directions and meeting places will be provided to registered participants. Please provide your email address for this purpose, or request directions by mail on the form.

Please mail your registration with your field trip choice(s) and check to:

VNPS FIELD TRIPS, 400 Blandy Farm Lane, Boyce VA 22620.


Name _____________________
Address ____________________
City _______________________
State/ Zip Code ______________
Telephone __________________
email ______________________
_____ please mail directions to me

Field trips ($10 each):

____ Reddish Knob
____ Blackwater Ecological Preserve
____ Cypress Bridge Forest

____ Total

VNPS Tallgrass Prairie Wildflower Trip, May 31-June 7, 2008

Join us for a trip to Kansas to experience the beauty of the Tallgrass Prairie that once covered 400,000 square miles of the North American continent. Less than 4% of this prairie remains, primarily in the Flint Hills. In the spring, long before the native grasses reach their peak, native wildflowers are in full bloom. Birds and butterflies are plentiful as well.

Tours will include the National Tallgrass Prairie Preserve in Chase County Kansas, the Konza Biological Station and Tallgrass Prairie, Coblentz Prairie and more. Lodging will be in a guest house/motel near the preserves in Council Grove. Council Grove also offers many historic sites and museums and the Flint Hills Rodeo.

Participants will meet on the evening of May 31 for a reception and orientation. Those traveling by air should arrive in Kansas City, Mo. Transportation to Kansas and breakfast and dinner are the responsibility of the participants. Transportation while on tour will be by private car/carpool for those who plan to drive or rent their own car. For those who fly, we plan to arrange group transportation if needed. The cost of this transportation will be based on vehicle rental fees, gas and insurance costs, and will be determined when we know how many people will choose this option.

Cost of the trip is $500.00 and includes lodging, lunches in the field, tour fees, guide fees, and a tax deductible gift of $50 to VNPS.

Reservations and deposit of $200.00 are needed by March 15, 2008. Full payment of the remaining $300.00 is due May 1. Space is limited to 14 participants. For more information, contact Helen Hamilton at 757-564-4494, helen44@earthlink.net or Linda Wilcox, 757-468-4346, W8n2FotoF14@cox.net.

Links of interest:
National Park Site:
http://www.nps.gov/tapr/index.htm
Konza Prairie: http://www.nature.org/wherewework/northamerica/states/kansas/preserves/art65.html
Chambers of Commerce:
http://www.councilgrove.com/
http://www.chasecountychamber.org/

VNPS Workshop Full

The VNPS 2008 Workshop, scheduled for March 8 in Richmond, is FULL. We will keep a waiting list at the office and let you know if space opens up. Email vnpsofc@shentel.net or phone 540-837-1600 for more information. Thank you for your interest.

Want to Join the VNPS?

From www.vnps.org: From the list on the left, go to the Resources section of the website, click 'Related Links', and scroll to the bottom where you will see Listserves. Click 'VNPS listserv for Announcements and Events'.

Or from your browser: Go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vanativeplantsociety/.

Click 'Join this Group'. If you already have a yahoo account you can sign in. If not you need to choose 'Sign Up', fill a user ID and password - personal information including your name is optional. Once signed up, you can choose 'My Groups' and 'My E-mail Preferences' to adjust settings.

If you have a message you would like posted, please paste the details into an email message and send to rccsca@comcast.net. Events to be posted should be directly related to our mission. No need for fancy formats - they will not come through. Attachments cannot be delivered to group addresses. PDF brochures and articles, and also photos can be put on another section of the site and members can go and see them, but it is usually easier to include a link to another website for articles, brochures or registration information.

VNPS Annual Workshop March 8, 2008

Registration open!

Join us March 8 at the University of Richmond for an all day symposium on Virginia's native orchids, where our lineup of speakers will focus on orchid ecology and distribution.

Douglas Gill, professor in the Biology Department at the University of Maryland has studied a single population of pink lady slipper orchids for over 30 years, and will talk about answers to some questions about the life cycle of this orchid, and new questions that have come from his research.

Speaking about his reasearch about the fungal partners of orchids will be Dennis Whigham of the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in Edgewater, Maryland.

Nancy Van Alstine of the Virginia Natural Heritage Program will share recent survey work looking for small whorled pogonia and Bentley's coralroot.

A noted photographer and contributor to the Flora of Virginia Project on the Orchidaceae, Hal Horwitz will take us on a photographic tour of the orchids of Virginia.

Download a PDF of the workshop brochure here:

WildOrchidBrochure.pdf

2007 VNPS Annual Meeting/Conference: "Where the Water Meets the Land," Sept. 14-16

Registration Form at bottom, updated Sept. 6 with current field trip availability.
Presentations Friday and Saturday still available.

The 2007 VNPS Annual Meeting/Conference is being co-hosted by the John Clayton Chapter and the College of William and Mary's Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) and will take place at the VIMS campus in Gloucester Point.

Teta Kain will lead daily paddle trips down Dragon Run, a unique river in Eastern Virginia. Lined with massive bald cypress trees and deep swamps, it is one of the most pristine waterways to be found anywhere in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Forming the boundary lines of four counties of the Middle Peninsula, it stretches 35 to 40 miles from King & Queen and Essex counties to the Piankatank River. The entire length of the river is privately owned and only a few roads cross the river making it almost completely inaccessible to canoe and kayak enthusiasts. Friends of Dragon Run owns several parcels of property along the middle reaches of the river, and it is from this area that the kayak trips will be conducted for the purpose of showing people first-hand how unique this waterway is and why the Friends of Dragon Run organization is dedicated to preserving it in its unspoiled state. For more information about Dragon paddle trips, including what to bring, wear and expect, visit the John Clayton web site at www.claytonvnps.org and click on "2007 State Conference" and then click on "Dragon Run Info."

To help celebrate the 400th Anniversary of Jamestown, a trip to Jamestown Island has been scheduled on Friday afternoon. Botanist Donna Ware will lead a walk to Black Point, where unusual oak species, as well as swamp plants and coastal grasses will be identified, including cherrybark oak (Quercus pagoda), will be identified. A Jamestown interpreter will also tell about the use of native plants by the colonists.

Friday afternoon will also feature three presentations given by speakers from VIMS: “Living Shorelines,” “Current Phragmites Research,” and “Wetlands Research at VIMS.” In addition, Wesley Greene, Colonial Interpreter and Garden Historian with the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, will give a talk titled “John Custis and the Transatlantic Plant Trade.” At 7:30 pm on Friday evening Keynote Speaker Dr. Jim Perry will present “Using Native Plants of the Mid-Atlantic States for Shoreline Planting and Stabilization.”

Saturday morning will begin with walking tours of VIMS Teaching Marsh, Coastal Forest Walkway, and Shoreline Management Structures. The Teaching Marsh is a small freshwater and tidal saltmarsh demonstration wetland constructed for water quality and educational purposes. The Coastal Forest Walkway is a short boardwalk through the plant community surrounding a small freshwater pond. The tour will also include a look at a living shoreline treatment of the boat basin entrance canal.

Rebecca Wilson, the Chesapeake Bay Region Steward for the Department of Conservation and Recreation, will lead a trip to the Grafton Ponds Natural Area Preserve on Saturday morning. Grafton Ponds represents Virginia’s best remaining example of a coastal plain pond complex. The many ponds here were formed by dissolution of the underlying calcareous marine deposits of the Yorktown Formation. This wetland complex supports several rare plants and animals for Virginia including Harper's fimbristylis, pond spice, Cuthbert turtlehead, Mabee's salamander and barking treefrog. The site is owned by the City of Newport News.

Also on Saturday, a tour and chance to buy plants at Sassafras Farm native plant nursery and trips to Mary Berg’s properties in Gloucester County will be offered. Mary’s morning tour on her homestead “Summerfield” will feature many native plants; this conservation habitat is an upland mixed hardwood forest with sandy soil. The afternoon trip to “Tripetala” features a mountain disjunct species, Magnolia tripetala. The 14-acre site is a ridge leading more than 30 feet in elevation down a calcareous ravine to a seep area with a slow moving stream. Fossil shells from the Yorktown Formation are exposed in this ravine. Expect to see a wide variety of native plants, including shadow witch orchid (Pontheiva racemosa), which is expected to be in bloom.

Saturday afternoon will include a trip to both the water-wise garden at the Human Services Building and to the Ellipse Garden, a demonstration garden of the Williamsburg Botanical Garden, both in James City County. A canoe trip to the Catlett Islands Reserve will be led by marine science field educators from the Chesapeake Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve in Virginia. The Catlett Islands encompass 690 acres of salt marshes, shrub wetlands, forested high ground, tidal creeks, and beaches on north side of York River in Gloucester County. In Donna Ware’s words, "the trip is a great opportunity to see a hard-to-get-to place!"

Informative talks will be presented on Saturday, concurrently with fieldtrips and tours. These include the following topics: “Coastal Plain Wildflowers” featuring slides by Hal Horwitz (Pat Baldwin), “Promoting Native Plants through Conservation Landscaping” (Carol Heiser, Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, and Susan Voigt, VA Cooperative Extension Master Gardener), “Distribution of Mountain Plants in the Coastal Plain” (Donna Ware), “The Archaeological Quest For John Clayton” (Bob and Lisa Harper), “Native Ornamental Grasses in the Home Landscape” (Helen Hamilton), “Native Trees for the Landscape” (Linda Johnson).

A party on Saturday evening will celebrate the 25th anniversary of the VNPS at the Freight Shed, on the York River waterfront. The evening will begin with a self-guided plant walk along the Riverwalk and a self-guided tour of historic Yorktown, and continue with a buffet dinner, the VNPS annual meeting, and a silent auction of native plant related items.

The conference will close on Sunday with the VNPS board meeting in the morning, and more great fieldtrips, including a native plant and bird walk at Beaverdam Park in Gloucester County with another chance to see shadow witch orchid, another trip down the Dragon, a native tree and shrub walk at Colonial Williamsburg and another tour of Sassafras Farm.

For a Detailed Schedule of the Conference visit http://www.claytonvnps.org/ and click on "2007 State Conference" and then click on "Detailed Schedule."

For questions about conference contact Jan Newton at jnewton110@cox.net or (757)566-3646 or Helen Hamilton at helen44@earthlink.net (757)564-4494. For registration questions call Karen York at VNPS at vnpsofc@shentel.net or (540)837-1600.

Registration Form (Registration opens to General Public on September 1.):


UpdatedRegistForm.pdf