CANCELLED DUE TO TROPICAL STORM

Join us in exploring the largest contiguous natural area between Washington DC and Baltimore.  We will visit plant communities not open to the general public.

The Patuxent Research Refuge is home to a wide variety of rare and common plant communities.  These include New Jersey Pine Barrens, upland mesic woods, wetlands, and various types of acidic seepage bogs.  The Refuge is home to over 1,200 species of vascular plants, at last count.

Sponsoring Organization: Maryland Native Plant Society

Registration through September 15 for MNPS members only

Leaders: Helen Lowe Metzman and Robert Ferraro

ONLINE REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED. Limited to 15 people.

FREE

Bring: Binoculars, water, snack, field guides, insect repellant.

Cancellation Policy: Walk will proceed in drizzle, but will be cancelled in case of storms

Contact: (for additional information; not to register) - Helen Lowe Metzman helometz@hotmail.com

Directions: included in registration confirmation.

COVID POLICY

The Maryland Native Plant Society has developed policies and procedures for public program operations based on state and CDC guidelines.

Please consider the safety, health, and well-being of all participants in our programs and stay home if the participant is ill. Full refunds will be given for cancellations due to health concerns.

During registration we will ask each individual, or if under 18 a parent, to complete an agreement to the policies

Please read our full policy statement.

Speaker: Andrew Baldwin

YOU MUST REGISTER IN ORDER TO RECEIVE THE ZOOM LINK

The forest canopies of many tidal freshwater forested wetlands in the mid-Atlantic region are (or were) dominated by ash trees, which have been decimated by emerald ash borer. In this talk, Dr. Baldwin will present research on the dramatic changes in vegetation in ash-dominated tidal wetlands resulting from emerald ash borer damage.

Dr. Andrew Baldwin is a Professor of Wetland Ecology in the Department of Environmental Science and Technology at University of Maryland. He is a plant and ecosystem ecologist and directs a research program on two broad topics: responses of coastal wetlands to global change variables (including invasive species) and wetland restoration. Dr. Baldwin mentors graduate students, teaches courses on wetland ecology and restoration, and is active in professional societies. He is the past President of the Society of Wetland Scientists.

We can accommodate the first 300 people who enter the Zoom meeting at the meeting time. After you register, you will receive a registration confirmation email with a link to the Zoom meeting. Registering does not guarantee a space in the Zoom meeting. 

Zoom opens at 7:00PM for pre-program board update and member Q&A. Presentations begin at 7:30PM and generally run until 8:45PM. 

The program is free and open to the public.

This will be recorded and available on our Webinars page.

If you enjoy MNPS programs please consider clicking here to make a donation. And don't forget to renew your membership!

Note that if you donate through the event registration, and subsequently cancel, the donation will temporarily appear as a credit.  It will take time for the donation to be reinstituted to your account.  Donations and membership dues are non-refundable.

The emerald ash borer was first detected in North America in Michigan in 2002. It’s thought to have arrived in wooden packing material used to ship consumer goods from Asia. After Michigan, the D.C. area was one of the next places to be hit, when an infected shipment of trees arrived from the Midwest.

Nearly all of the ash forests west of the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland, Virginia, and D.C. have already been decimated. You can find dead green ashes in wetlands along the Anacostia River, Rock Creek, and the Potomac River. In the mountains, you’ll find groves of dead white ash — the trees make up roughly 5% of the forests in Shenandoah National Park, for example.

But there are still intact ash wetlands on the Eastern Shore. Over the past few years, Popkin and Brice have witnessed the progression of the emerald ash borer, as it inevitably, inexorably, conquers the Delmarva peninsula. here are 16 different species of ash tree in North America, adapted to a wide variety of ecosystems.. “There’s kind of an ash tree for every environment,” Popkin says. He was surprised to learn that large, mostly intact ash forests existed in the region.

Read the full story: https://dcist.com/story/23/05/08/dc-area-ash-forests-dying/

Leaders: Clara Thiel, Lecturer of Biology, FSU & Liz McDowell, MNPS

Explore the arboretum and practice tree identification skills. The FSU Arboretum provides a growing, sustainable, and safe resource for campus and regional communities to engage in education, research, observation, and contemplation while maintaining the natural setting of the mountains of Appalachia.

This is an easy walk which will last ~ 1.5 hours. This activity will be cancelled in the event of rain. We suggest bringing, a hand lens, binoculars, hat, sunscreen, & tick spray.

ONLINE REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED AND IS LIMITED TO 15. 

Join us in exploring the largest contiguous natural area between Washington DC and Baltimore.  We will visit plant communities not open to the general public.

The Patuxent Research Refuge is home to a wide variety of rare and common plant communities.  These include New Jersey Pine Barrens, upland mesic woods, wetlands, and various types of acidic seepage bogs.  The Refuge is home to over 1,200 species of vascular plants, at last count.

Sponsoring Organization: Maryland Native Plant Society

Registration through September 15 for MNPS members only

Leaders: Helen Lowe Metzman and Robert Ferraro

ONLINE REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED. Limited to 15 people.

FREE

Bring: Binoculars, water, snack, field guides, insect repellant.

Cancellation Policy: Walk will proceed in drizzle, but will be cancelled in case of storms

Contact: (for additional information; not to register) - Helen Lowe Metzman helometz@hotmail.com

Directions: included in registration confirmation.

COVID POLICY

The Maryland Native Plant Society has developed policies and procedures for public program operations based on state and CDC guidelines.

Please consider the safety, health, and well-being of all participants in our programs and stay home if the participant is ill. Full refunds will be given for cancellations due to health concerns.

During registration we will ask each individual, or if under 18 a parent, to complete an agreement to the policies

Please read our full policy statement.