Summer 2014 Walks

Schedule of walks for summer 2014 by the Muhlenberg Botanic Society

Muhlenberg Botanical Society walk list, summer 2014


July 12                   Muhlenberg Meadow located in the Lancaster County Central Park.
Lancaster, Pa.  Starting at 1 PM. Combined walk with the Sierra Club.
N 40.00.769 W 76.17.098
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. on the right hand side. 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.

Aug 16                  Soldier’s Delight Serpentine Barren, start time 10:00 AM, meet at the visitor’s center.
                                Soldiers Delight Natural Environment Area
5100 Deer Park Road
Owings Mills MD 21117
Soldiers Delight Natural Environment Area (NEA) is comprised of 1,900 acres of serpentine barren. The area has over 39 rare, threatened, or endangered plant species as well as rare insects, rocks and minerals. Rare grassland plant species are threatened by invasion of Virginia Pines. Currently, a five year effort of removing 1,000 acres of pines and prescribed burning are underway to return the area to natural serpentine habitat.

Sept 13                 Lock 12 Historic Area, Starting at 1 PM
                                Combined walk with Philadelphia Botany Club.
                                Lock 12 is a scour zone habitat on the lower Susquehanna River. This open, rocky area plays host to a mix of species from north, south, east and west. Coastal plain plants are here and remnant prairie species too. Southern plants find their work their way north through the wide, shallow river way.
Boltonia asteroides is here, down in the river bed with Physostegia virginiana. Lathyrus venosus and Solidago simplex ssp. Randii var. racemosa are high up on the rocks. Hypericum pyramidatum works its way down from the north and Chionanthus virginicus meets it coming up from the south. Liatris spicata is growing out on the islands and Rhododendron arborescens finds a home here too.

From Lancaster: Take Route 272 south to Buck, turn right onto Route 372. Take 372 west for about 7 miles. Cross the Norman Wood Bridge. Take the first right turn, McCalls Ferry Rd. The entrance to the parking lot is immediately on your right. Meet in the lower parking lot.


From York: Take Route 74 south. Turn left onto Route 372 and go about two miles. Turn left onto McCalls Ferry Rd. just before crossing the Susquehanna River. The entrance to the parking lot is immediately on your right. Meet in the lower parking lot.


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