Ashland Clean-Up Day: Protecting Running Buffalo Clover

Ashland, The Henry Clay Estate in Lexington is having a clean-up day on Saturday, November 2nd from 9:00am-12:00pm. Join Heidi Braunreiter with Kentucky Nature Preserves to help pull winter-creeper from populations of running buffalo clover populations on the estate. Ashland will be providing coffee and krispy kreme donuts in the morning and Donato’s pizza at noon. Bring gloves, water, knee pads, and pruners if you have them.

Federally-endangered plant running buffalo clover

Running buffalo clover (Trifolium stoloniferum) is a federally-endangered plant that requires periodic disturbance and a partially shaded canopy. Historically, it occurred along bison trails but today it is most commonly found along forested stream terraces, trails, and lawns of old homesteads. Running buffalo clover was found at Ashland in 1989 as part of Kentucky Nature Preserves effort to survey lawns of historical homes to locate more populations. The Ashland staff have utilized mowing as a tool to create disturbance and benefit the growth of their running buffalo clover. However, an invasive vine called winter-creeper has become established in many of the running buffalo clover patches at the estate. Winter-creeper (Euonymus fortunei) is an aggresive weed that can out-compete native flora. We will be pulling winter-creeper around the patches of running buffalo clover in an effort to keep it from taking over.

Franklin Co. Volunteer Work Days

KNPS is organizing several work days at state nature preserves and natural areas in Franklin County on November 8 and 15, and December 6. Volunteer activities involve manually removing invasive shrubs, such as bush honeysuckle and privet. Assisting in invasive species management at these sites will have a direct impact on rare plant recovery as the sites are designated as critical habitat for federally listed plants.

Once you are registered, you will receive instructions via email a week prior to the workday(s) you signed up for with directions to the site. Workdays are from 10:00am – 3:00pm and volunteers should bring lunch, water, steady boots, gloves, and loppers if you have them. Also, please arrive on time to sites as we may be hiking in to where the field work will be conducted. If you have any questions about the workdays, email jessica.slade@ky.gov.

Please join us by registering and help us restore these rare plants and communities, and build up the local botanical community along the way!

Click here to REGISTER

Mantle Rock Floristic Inventory

Date of Project: Sat. July 13, 2019
Time: 10AM to 4PM Central Time
Location: Mantle Rock Preserve, Livingston Co.
Difficulty: Difficult

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 July 13, the Kentucky Native Plant Society will be conducting a detailed floristic inventory of the sandstone glades, barrens, woodlands and mesic forests at this botanically fascinating site. Join with several of the region’s preeminent botanists as we attempt to locate, identify, and document as many plant species as we can. The data collected will be used by The Nature Conservancy as they develop long range  management plans for this site.

If you would like to help with this project, we would love to have you join us. This will be a physically demanding, long, hot day, off trail for the most part, on rugged, rocky terrain. A good understanding and knowledge of the plants of Kentucky is essential. Although this will be a difficult day physically, it will also be immensely rewarding, with all of us learning from each other as we document an important ecoregion of Kentucky.

Bring a GPS or smartphone, hand lens (if you have one), and field notebook . A new way to document and assist in monitoring plants that KNPS has started using, is iNaturalist, if you have a smartphone, download the iNaturalist app and bring it along.

There are no services at the site so bring plenty of water.

Directions: We will meet at the main parking area of the Mantle Rock Preserve, just off of Lola Rd (Hwy 133)
Map

Registration: This project will be limited to 10 participants. You can
register by clicking on this link: Mantle Rock Inventory