Muhlenberg Botanical Society Summer Field Trips
Update: The September Pocono Till Barrens trip date is being changed. See Below.
Muhlenberg Meadow, July 11 Saturday 12:00 noon
Started in 1991, this restoration project spearheaded by Tim Draude and the Muhlenberg
Botanical Society has expanded to five acres. Come and view the wide array of field flowers and what techniques worked and didn’t work in turning a cornfield into a dazzling native ecosystem.
From Lancaster, go south on Rte. 222/272 for about 0.5 miles past the point where the north and south lanes rejoin. Turn left onto Golf Rd. and go about 0.6 miles to the intersection with Exhibit Farm Rd The parking area is a few hundred feet past Exhibit Farm Rd. The sign for the meadow is up against the tree line and not easily visible from the road. Park on the grass in front of the sign. Leader: Joan King
Fulshaw Craeg Preserve, Montgomery County,
Sunday, July 26, meet at the North Museum at 7:30 AM
Joint field trip, Philadelphia Botanical Club and Muhlenberg Botanical Society.
A limestone meadow and woods. Including Dirca palustri(leatherwood), Lilium canadense(Canada lily), Plox maculata (wild sweet William), Solidago speciosa (showy goldenrod) & Chamaeliriumluteum (devil's bit). We will meet at the North Museum at 7:30 AM to carpool to this preserve as parking is limited. We will gather at a Gulf gas station for further consolidation.
Prepare for wet walking. There is a stream crossing using rocks. From Lancaster:
Rte. 23 East
Rte. 100 North
Rte. 73 East
Rte. 29 North
Rte. 63 East
I think the best meeting place is a Gulf station on highway 63 near where we turn off onto highway 563 (Ridge Road). The address is 2073 Sumneytown Pike in Woxall. Basically, it's 0.1 mile east (or, more precisely, southeast) of the 63/563 intersection. It's on the left if you're westbound on 63.
To continue to the preserve:
From Rte. 63 go 2 miles; turn left onto Rte. 563 North Turn left at stop sign to stay on Rte. 563 North/Ridge Rd.
Go 1.3 mile and turn left onto King Rd. Go 0.7 mi and park near red metal gate. Two
parking spaces in front of gate and 4-5 more along the side of the road.
To go directly to the preserve: type 124 King Rd. Green Lane, PA, 18054-2332 into Google maps. From Ridge Rd. turn left onto King Rd. (portions unpaved.) go 0.7 miles and park near red metal gate on the left. There are two parking spaces in front of gate and 4-5 more along the side of the road. . The address given is the closest address to the preserve. Please do not park at 124 King Rd. You will see the Preserve sign just past 124.
Trail rating: moderate; bring your own bag lunch to carry on the trail.
Leaders: Joan King Ph: 717-284-5239 jsking1@lycos.com
& Janet Novak, Philadelphia Botany Club
Michaux State Forest, Adams County, August 29 Saturday
A wetland walk, prepare for wet feet.
Walk rating: easy; bring your own bag lunch.
We will lunch at the cars
Meeting place: TBA
Meeting time: TBA
Leader: John Kunsman, botanist with the Pa. Natural Diversity Inventory
Pocono Till Barrens, September 20, 2009 This trip is bein rescheduled due to a conflict with a NASCAR Race at the Nearby Pocono Raceway!
Joint fieldtrip, Philadelphia Botanical Club and Muhlenberg Botanical Society
The ecology of the Pocono Till Barren's was wonderfully described to us by Dr. Roger Latham in a talk last fall. Now Dr. Latham will show us the the Pocono till barrens, together with adjoining wetlands, forests and ridgetop barrens. The area hosts 125 species on the state’s endangered, threatened and rare list, 12 of which are imperiled globally. More than 8 square miles of native heathlands scattered along 30 miles of the Pocono Plateau’s southern rim are remnants of a landscape managed for centuries by American Indians using fire. We will explore a dwarf-shrub savanna dominated by lowbush blueberry, sheep-laurel, scrub oak and rhodora, with scattered pitch pine, witherod, black chokeberry, gray birch, red spruce and four juneberry species. Among many likely plant sightings are Amianthium muscaetoxicum, Calamagrostis cinnoides, Carex polymorpha, Cornus canadensis, Dalibarda repens, Gentiana linearis, Glyceria obtusa, Lycopodium hickeyi, Piptatherum racemosum, Platanthera blephariglottis and Solidago puberula. We will examine results of barrens restoration and management by The Nature Conservancy using prescribed burning. Those who choose to accompany the trip leader on an optional 2-mile hike will also see northern hardwoods forest, conifer swamp, several types of shrub swamp, and Long Pond, an undammed glacial lake.
Meet at 10 a.m. at the Hauser Nature Center (The Nature Conservancy’s Pocono
Mountains office) in the village of Long Pond, Monroe County.
From there we will carpool 4 miles to the trailhead. Pack your lunch. Wear shoes suitable for wet walking.
Directions:
Leave I-80 at exit 284 (7 miles east of the interchange with the turnpike, I-476).
Take Pa. 115 south 3.1 miles and turn left onto Long Pond Road (at Pocono Raceway
sign).
Drive 2.7 miles to the Hauser Nature Center, on the left just past the firehouse and post
office.
If you wish to do some background reading on the Pocono glacial till barrens, the flora
and ecology of this unique ecosystem are described in several articles, including Bulletin
of the Torrey Botanical Club (1996) vol. 123, pp. 330-349, and Forest Ecology and
Management (2003) vol. 185, pp. 21-39.
also a Possible trip on the next day (Sunday September 27) to Tannersville Bog.
This unique bog ecosystem is the southernmost low elevation boreal bog in the United
States.
Trail rating: Moderate; bring your own bag lunch.
Leaders: Dr. Roger Latham & Dr. Ann Rhoads
Roger Latham (office: 610-565-3405, rel@continentalconservation.us; cell phone to call
only on the morning of the fieldtrip: 484-682-9648)
Muhlenberg Meadow, July 11 Saturday 12:00 noon
Started in 1991, this restoration project spearheaded by Tim Draude and the Muhlenberg
Botanical Society has expanded to five acres. Come and view the wide array of field flowers and what techniques worked and didn’t work in turning a cornfield into a dazzling native ecosystem.
From Lancaster, go south on Rte. 222/272 for about 0.5 miles past the point where the north and south lanes rejoin. Turn left onto Golf Rd. and go about 0.6 miles to the intersection with Exhibit Farm Rd The parking area is a few hundred feet past Exhibit Farm Rd. The sign for the meadow is up against the tree line and not easily visible from the road. Park on the grass in front of the sign. Leader: Joan King
Fulshaw Craeg Preserve, Montgomery County,
Sunday, July 26, meet at the North Museum at 7:30 AM
Joint field trip, Philadelphia Botanical Club and Muhlenberg Botanical Society.
A limestone meadow and woods. Including Dirca palustri(leatherwood), Lilium canadense(Canada lily), Plox maculata (wild sweet William), Solidago speciosa (showy goldenrod) & Chamaeliriumluteum (devil's bit). We will meet at the North Museum at 7:30 AM to carpool to this preserve as parking is limited. We will gather at a Gulf gas station for further consolidation.
Prepare for wet walking. There is a stream crossing using rocks. From Lancaster:
Rte. 23 East
Rte. 100 North
Rte. 73 East
Rte. 29 North
Rte. 63 East
I think the best meeting place is a Gulf station on highway 63 near where we turn off onto highway 563 (Ridge Road). The address is 2073 Sumneytown Pike in Woxall. Basically, it's 0.1 mile east (or, more precisely, southeast) of the 63/563 intersection. It's on the left if you're westbound on 63.
To continue to the preserve:
From Rte. 63 go 2 miles; turn left onto Rte. 563 North Turn left at stop sign to stay on Rte. 563 North/Ridge Rd.
Go 1.3 mile and turn left onto King Rd. Go 0.7 mi and park near red metal gate. Two
parking spaces in front of gate and 4-5 more along the side of the road.
To go directly to the preserve: type 124 King Rd. Green Lane, PA, 18054-2332 into Google maps. From Ridge Rd. turn left onto King Rd. (portions unpaved.) go 0.7 miles and park near red metal gate on the left. There are two parking spaces in front of gate and 4-5 more along the side of the road. . The address given is the closest address to the preserve. Please do not park at 124 King Rd. You will see the Preserve sign just past 124.
Trail rating: moderate; bring your own bag lunch to carry on the trail.
Leaders: Joan King Ph: 717-284-5239 jsking1@lycos.com
& Janet Novak, Philadelphia Botany Club
Michaux State Forest, Adams County, August 29 Saturday
A wetland walk, prepare for wet feet.
Walk rating: easy; bring your own bag lunch.
We will lunch at the cars
Meeting place: TBA
Meeting time: TBA
Leader: John Kunsman, botanist with the Pa. Natural Diversity Inventory
Pocono Till Barrens, September 20, 2009 This trip is bein rescheduled due to a conflict with a NASCAR Race at the Nearby Pocono Raceway!
Joint fieldtrip, Philadelphia Botanical Club and Muhlenberg Botanical Society
The ecology of the Pocono Till Barren's was wonderfully described to us by Dr. Roger Latham in a talk last fall. Now Dr. Latham will show us the the Pocono till barrens, together with adjoining wetlands, forests and ridgetop barrens. The area hosts 125 species on the state’s endangered, threatened and rare list, 12 of which are imperiled globally. More than 8 square miles of native heathlands scattered along 30 miles of the Pocono Plateau’s southern rim are remnants of a landscape managed for centuries by American Indians using fire. We will explore a dwarf-shrub savanna dominated by lowbush blueberry, sheep-laurel, scrub oak and rhodora, with scattered pitch pine, witherod, black chokeberry, gray birch, red spruce and four juneberry species. Among many likely plant sightings are Amianthium muscaetoxicum, Calamagrostis cinnoides, Carex polymorpha, Cornus canadensis, Dalibarda repens, Gentiana linearis, Glyceria obtusa, Lycopodium hickeyi, Piptatherum racemosum, Platanthera blephariglottis and Solidago puberula. We will examine results of barrens restoration and management by The Nature Conservancy using prescribed burning. Those who choose to accompany the trip leader on an optional 2-mile hike will also see northern hardwoods forest, conifer swamp, several types of shrub swamp, and Long Pond, an undammed glacial lake.
Meet at 10 a.m. at the Hauser Nature Center (The Nature Conservancy’s Pocono
Mountains office) in the village of Long Pond, Monroe County.
From there we will carpool 4 miles to the trailhead. Pack your lunch. Wear shoes suitable for wet walking.
Directions:
Leave I-80 at exit 284 (7 miles east of the interchange with the turnpike, I-476).
Take Pa. 115 south 3.1 miles and turn left onto Long Pond Road (at Pocono Raceway
sign).
Drive 2.7 miles to the Hauser Nature Center, on the left just past the firehouse and post
office.
If you wish to do some background reading on the Pocono glacial till barrens, the flora
and ecology of this unique ecosystem are described in several articles, including Bulletin
of the Torrey Botanical Club (1996) vol. 123, pp. 330-349, and Forest Ecology and
Management (2003) vol. 185, pp. 21-39.
also a Possible trip on the next day (Sunday September 27) to Tannersville Bog.
This unique bog ecosystem is the southernmost low elevation boreal bog in the United
States.
Trail rating: Moderate; bring your own bag lunch.
Leaders: Dr. Roger Latham & Dr. Ann Rhoads
Roger Latham (office: 610-565-3405, rel@continentalconservation.us; cell phone to call
only on the morning of the fieldtrip: 484-682-9648)
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