In October of 2009 the Center for Plant Conservation hosted a conference on evaluating plant reintroductions. As a result they established a Reintroduction Registry to enter and view projects that have reintroduced native plants into known or new habitats. There is an example of one New York State orchid, Prairie Fringed Orchid, Platanthera leucophaea, that was reintroduced into a restored prairie. Maybe you have an example of a plant reintroduction that you could share with others on this site.
Center for Plant Conservation Reintroduction Registry
Posted September 21, 2010 by nyfloraCategories: Field Techniques, Publications, Apps, and Websites
2010 Catskill Watershed Conference Announcement
Posted September 17, 2010 by nyfloraCategories: Happenings
Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ulster County’s Ashokan Watershed Stream Management Program, NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, US Geological Survey, Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, New York City Department of Environmental Protection, and the Catskill Institute for the Environment are sponsoring an informal research forum to be held on November 17th and 18th, at Belleayre Mountain Ski Center in Highmount, NY.
This meeting is intended mainly for researchers and resource managers working in the region, but we do not intend this meeting to be exclusive. Therefore, please forward this to others you think may be interested in attending or presenting.
The purpose of this forum is to:
- exchange information about current research, monitoring, and data collection efforts within the Catskill Mountains related to
- climate change
- stream water quality
- biodiversity
- forest health, and
- stream stability
- identify monitoring and research gaps; and
- stimulate discussion; and promote collaborative efforts that address present and future environmental issues within the region.
We request that you forward topics for discussion, titles, and abstracts (300 word maximum) for a poster or verbal presentation (15-20 min talks) to Elizabeth Higgins, of Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ulster County, at emh56@cornell.edu on or before October 15, 2010.
Some additional activities will be planned for Wednesday evening and part of Thursday afternoon will be kept open for general discussions and/or breakout meetings.
The submission form is available on the conference website
(www.ashokanstreams.org\research%20 conference.html). You can also find registration and lodging information there. A final agenda and program will be forwarded to interested parties in late October and will be available on the conference website.
For more information, contact Elizabeth Higgins at (845) 688-3047 or emh56@cornell.edu.
Dr. Don Leopold from ESF Discusses Planting Native Plants for Green Roofs
Posted September 8, 2010 by nyfloraCategories: Horticulture, Plant Uses
This is a short segment on YNN of Don talking about the merits of planting native plants for green roofs. Click Here.
New Lists Posted on NYFA Google Map of Plant Lists
Posted September 6, 2010 by nyfloraCategories: Publications, Apps, and Websites
Lists recently posted include these from St. Lawrence County by Anne Johnson and Nancy Eldblom:
Indian Creek Nature Center
Grass River Wild Forest
Wolf Lake State Forest
Yellow Lake State Forest
Click the Google map of plant lists in the links section on the right side of the page.
No More Northeastern Bulrush Found But Diverse Wetlands Encountered
Posted September 5, 2010 by nyfloraCategories: Rare Plant Surveys
Steve Young, New York Natural Heritage Program – During our last week of searching Steuben and Allegany Counties for the federally threatened Northeastern Bulrush we did not find any additional populations but we encountered good habitat dominated by other plants.
This marsh was fairly deep and dominated by Carex comosa and cattails.
Downstream the marsh turned into a pond with clumps of pickerel-weed in duckweed.
Another vernal wetland in Steuben County is dominated by grasses.
Some wetlands looked good on the aerial photos but turned out to be dug ponds. David Werier looking disappointed.
This round vernal wetland looked like it had an excellent chance of containing bulrush but was dominated by Carex gynandra.
Another excellent candidate but this time it was dominated by Carex tuckermanii. It was a new species for Steve Daniel (on the right).
In a state forest in Allegany County the dominant plant in the small wetland was Calamagrostis canadensis.
The last little wetland I searched was dominated by turtle-heads, one of the biggest populations of this plant I have seen.
Here is a closeup of the inflorescence with flowers and buds.
So we still only have one population of Northeastern Bulrush in the state but we remain optimistic that more can be found in the Southern Tier. Rob Naczi of the New York Botanical Garden searched wetlands in Eastern New York near Vermont but did not find any additional populations either. As they say in sports, “Better luck next year!”
Caroyln Summers Book Signing at Fiddlehead Creek Nursery
Posted September 4, 2010 by nyfloraCategories: Happenings, People, Publications, Apps, and Websites
Workshop On The Value and Necessity of Native Plants and Animals
Posted August 23, 2010 by nyfloraCategories: Happenings
Deer Impact Study on Vegetation Taking Place at Beaver Meadows State Forest
Posted August 23, 2010 by nyfloraCategories: Ecology, Plant Distribution
We all know how destructive deer populations have been on native plants in New York. DEC is now funding a study to quantify this effect on a state forest in Chenango County. See more details HERE. We hope more of these studies will result in better management practices that will stop the serious loss of native vegetation. – Steve Young
Northeastern Bulrush (Scirpus ancistrochaetus) Rediscovered in New York
Posted August 21, 2010 by nyfloraCategories: Plant Sightings, Rare Plant Surveys, Rare Plants
From Steve Y0ung, NY Natural Heritage Program – This federally-threatened plant is known from Virginia north to Vermont. Learn more about it at the Center for Plant Conservation website HERE. In New York, there was only one historical collection, from the Putnam Mountain area in Washington County in northeastern New York, from September 1900, and it was listed as extirpated from the state. The location for the historical record has been searched numerous times but no plants have been found again. In recent years more populations of the bulrush were found in adjacent Vermont and in northern Pennsylvania in a county adjacent to New York. It was frustrating that we couldn’t find it in New York – it was so close by.
This year I received funds from the US Fish and Wildlife Service to look for it again in the Southern Tier of New York to see if there were populations extending north from Pennsylvania. On the second day of searching small wetlands in Steuben County, south of Corning, I finally found it. It was growing in a small (40 m diameter) vernal wetland at the top of a hill that I had identified as a place to search using topographic maps and Bing birds-eye-view aerial photos on the web. One month shy of the 110th anniversary of its last collection in New York, it was back in our flora. I spent two more days searching other wetlands in the county, and I have more days to search later in the month so I hope I can discover more populations. Dr. Rob Naczi from the NY Botanical Garden will also be searching areas near Vermont. Let’s hope he will find some in that area as well. Stay tuned to this blog . . .
Below are some of the photos from the population in Steuben County.
This is what the wetland looked like as I approached through the hemlock woods.
In the middle was a small open muddy area surrounded by Northeastern bulrush.
The species has rays that arch down from the top of the culm.
The culms usually lay down and root in the mud.
The peripheral open muddy areas had different plant species but the area covered by the bulrush was almost a monoculture.
New Lists Posted on NYFA Google Map of Plant Lists
Posted August 17, 2010 by nyfloraCategories: Publications, Apps, and Websites
Maps recently posted include:
Whiteface Mountain plant list.
Plants of Long Island by Jelliffe 1899.
Click the Google map of plant lists in the links section on the right side of the page.
New York Flora Association Blog 