Virginia Native Plant Society Annual meeting September 27-29

September 27-29, 2019, Front Royal, VA

Annual Meeting 2019 Schedule

DAY/TIME	FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 27
Friday Afternoon	Meeting Packet Pick-up and Check-In Holiday Inn Blue Ridge Shadows, 111 Hospitality Dr, Front Royal, VA 22630
Friday Afternoon 3:00-5:00 PM	VNPS State Board Quarterly Meeting Members Welcome
Friday Evening 6:30 PM	Dinner
Friday Evening	Meeting Welcome: Nancy Vehrs Opening Speaker: Dr. T'ai Roulston, State Arboretum of Virginia
DAY/TIME	SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 28
Saturday Morning 7:00-9:00 AM	Breakfast & Box Lunch Pickup - Holiday Inn
Saturday All Day	Hawksbill-Crescent Rocks Gary Fleming and John F. Townsend
Saturday All Day	Stony Man-Passamaquoddy Cathy Mayes and Sally Anderson
Saturday All Day	Wildcat Mountain Natural Area Emily Southgate
Saturday Morning	Abrams Creek Wetlands Ashley Landes
Saturday Morning	Bear Wallow Richard Stromberg
Saturday Morning	Endangered Pollinators Marie Majarov
Saturday Morning	Great Photos With Your Phone Joyce Harman
Saturday Morning	Jeremy's Run Marjorie Prochaska
Saturday Morning	Jones Nature Preserve Bruce Jones
Saturday Morning	North Marshall Peak Steve Paull
Saturday Morning	Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute Driving Tour Smithsonian Staff
Saturday Morning	The Mushroom Kingdom Ann and Rob Simpson
Saturday Morning	The Seep at Thompson Wildlife Management Area Ron Hughes
Saturday Afternoon	Clifton Institute Bert and Eleanor Harris
Saturday Afternoon	Engaging Kids & Nature Candace Lutzow-Felling
Saturday Afternoon	Gravel Springs Gap Wendy Cass
Saturday Afternoon	Plant Families Marion Lobstein
Saturday Afternoon	Seed Propagation Workshop Kim Strader
Saturday Afternoon	Sky Meadows Outdoor Learning Lab Alex Newhart
Saturday Afternoon	Skyline Drive Car Safari Phil and Ellie Daley
Saturday Afternoon	Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute Forest Monitoring Plot Tour Krista Anderson
Saturday Afternoon	Trees at Thompson Wildlife Management Area Carrie Blair
Saturday Afternoon	Virginia Working Landscapes at Oxbow Joseph Guthrie
Saturday Evening	Annual General Membership Meeting
Saturday Evening 6:00 PM	Dinner - Holiday Inn
Saturday Evening	Keynote Speaker: Dr. Woody Bousquet, Shenandoah University
DAY/TIME	SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 29
Sunday Morning 7:00-9:00 AM	Breakfast - Holiday Inn
Sunday Morning	Abrams Creek Wetlands Ashley Landes
Sunday Morning	Bull Run Mountains—A Natural History Michael Kieffer
Sunday Morning	Compton Peak Sally Anderson
Sunday Morning	Digital Journaling Richard Stromberg
Sunday Morning	Drawing Wildflowers and Nature Journaling Susan Sharpe
Sunday Morning	Forest Mushrooms Penny Firth
Sunday Morning	Jones Nature Preserve Bruce Jones
Sunday Morning	Wild Medicine: The Art & Science Geo Derick Giordano
Sunday Morning	Ogdens Cave Tyler Urgo
Sunday Morning	Skyline Drive Car Safari Marion Lobstein and Sarah Dydak
Sunday Morning	Trees at Thompson Wildlife Management Area Carrie Blair

Dating Fossils

from Smithsonian.com:

How Do Scientists Date Fossils?

Geologists Erin DiMaggio and Alka Tripathy-Lang explain techniques for targeting the age of a fossil find

Using a geologist’s magnifying glass, Erin DiMaggio carefully scans a piece of volcanic ash in search of tiny minerals that hold the key to determining the age of nearby fossils. (Ramón Arrowsmith, Arizona State University)

By Erin DiMaggio, Alka Tripathy-Lang

smithsonian.com
June 12, 2019

This is the fourth in a five-part series written by experts featured in the Smithsonian's new Hall of Fossils—Deep Time exhibition, now on view at the National Museum of Natural History. The full series can be found by visiting our Deep Time Special Report

“No fossil is buried with its birth certificate,” wrote the renowned science editor Henry Gee in his 2000 treatise, In Search of Deep Time. While true, fossils are buried with plenty of clues that allow us to reconstruct their history. An array of absolute dating techniques has made it possible to establish the timescale of Earth’s history, including the age and origin of life, the timing of mass extinctions and the record of human evolution.

In 2013, in Ethiopia's Afar region, our research team discovered a rare fossil jawbone belonging to our genus, Homo. To solve the mystery of when this human ancestor lived on Earth, we looked to nearby volcanic ash layers for answers. Using a geologist’s magnifying glass, we can carefully scan the ash in search of tiny minerals that are smaller than a single sprinkle on a sugar cookie and that hold the key to determining the age of a fossil.

Working in this part of Ethiopia is quite the adventure. It is a region where 90 degrees Fahrenheit seems cool, dust is a given, water is not, and a normal daily commute includes racing ostriches and braking for camels as we forge paths through the desert. But, this barren and hostile landscape is one of the most important locations in the world for studying when and how early humans began walking upright, using tools and adapting to their changing environments.

image: https://thumbs-prod.si-cdn.com/JNR276vAfNW2poEDUe08C6CX6MM=/1024x596/https://public-media.si-cdn.com/filer/bc/83/bc839a3d-868c-4397-b2b7-0b5a315cb847/dscn9667a.jpg

The Afar region has layered sedimentary rocks, containing thin white volcanic ash that we could use to date the fossil jawbone. (Erin DiMaggio, Penn State University)

Early on, before we had more precise means to date fossils, geologists and paleontologists relied on relative dating methods. They looked at the position of sedimentary rocks to determine order.

Imagine your laundry basket—the dirty clothes you wore last weekend sit at the bottom, but today's rest on top of the pile. The concept for sedimentary rocks is the same. Older rocks are on the bottom, younger ones are on top. Researchers also used biostratigraphy, which is the study of how fossils appear, proliferate and disappear throughout the rock record, to establish relative ages. We still use these relative dating methods today as a first approach for dating fossils prior to assigning a numerical, or absolute, age.

Opportunity in the Eastern Panhandle

Lawns and the Environment

from  VNPS Communications

Best Management Practices for Lawn Care

Important decisions about how to maintain a lawn area have received a lot of press as ideas  change about the ways we use, and treat, this part of the landscape. Rod Simmons spoke on the subject recently, and has kindly agreed to share answers to some of the follow-up questions from his presentation at the symposium;  *“Habitat Conservation Forum: Practices that Sustain Virginia’s Wildlife and Native Plant Communities.” People will be at different  places along the spectrum for a variety of reasons, but this post contains valuable insights for all.”

Conservation starts at home, says Rod, first and foremost with:

1. the importance of not using fertilizers and pesticides
2.  the many benefits of keeping some areas natural and not planting and mulching every square inch of ground

The “Freedom Lawn” I referred to stems in part from Redesigning the American Lawn, by three biologists from Yale University; Herbert Bormann, Diana Balmori, and Gordon Geballe.

I say “in part” because the “lawns” and savannah-like glades I briefly presented at the symposium require very little maintenance as opposed to fertilized and chemically treated traditional lawns, but in contrast are refugia for specialized, mostly native vegetation, including mosses and lichens, and wildlife that require such conditions (see photos below).  In short, they are high quality, semi-natural areas vs. the mostly artificial, weedy lawns featured in Redesigning the American Lawn (reducing or eliminating fossil fuel usage notwithstanding).  Moreover, the native “lawns” offer the appropriate native species and habitat for pollinators.

Most of these native “lawns” occur in oak (and oak-hickory) overstory savannahs and glades – places where the forest understory was removed long ago and maintained as such but were not farmed; hence the native soils, soil micro-organisms, and seedbank for diminutive native grasses and wildflowers are retained.  This is a common feature throughout Maryland, D.C., and Virginia.

Old-age Acidic Oak-Hickory Forest grove on south-facing, gravelly colluvial slope at Barcroft Apartments, Arlington County, VA. Pignut Hickory (Carya glabra), Sweet Pignut Hickory (Carya ovalis), and Mockernut Hickory (Carya tomentosa) are all co-dominant canopy trees of the grove. Poverty Oatgrass (Danthonia spicata), woodland carices (Carex spp.), and a host of diminutive wildflowers comprise the “no-mow,” low maintenance, chemical-free turf. Photo by R.H. Simmons.

Negative effects of traditional lawn establishment and maintenance:

Fertilizers, lime, and pesticides destroy most native grasses, wildflowers, and wildlife, including eventually, the canopy oaks.  Apart from golf courses and athletic fields, they are not necessary and should never be used.  This also includes leaf compost and manure – both of which are only appropriate for agriculture, gardens, and traditional lawns, and will disrupt and eventually destroy the balanced, acidic soils, soil micro-organisms, and flora of woodlands, as well as foster the growth of non-native invasive plants.  Nutrient-loading feeds pathogens that destroy trees and native biodiversity!

• Natural woodland glades and “lawns” should never be over-seeded by commercial grass seed mixes or wildflower seed mixes.
  
• No tilling or soil amendments are recommended – soil disturbance is the main cause of non-native invasive species.

Some ideas for establishing or supplementing native lawns:

• Shade (even moderate shade) from canopy trees greatly limits the growth of most turf grass species, most of which are light-demanding.  The many species and varieties of Red Fescue (Festuca rubra) are an exception and will grow and persist in shade.  However, all commercially available species and strains of Red Fescue are not native.
  
• If removing existing turf grass in shade is the goal, consider hand-pulling or shallowly digging out robust clumps or sections of grass and periodically and carefully applying iron sulfate (never aluminum sulfate) or elemental sulfur (Garden Sulfur) evenly over the grass according to the manufacturer’s recommendations.  This will gently acidify the soil and further restrict the growth of turf grass, while favoring mosses and other woodland plants.
  
• Don’t remove the oak leaves and organic matter (twigs, bark, etc.) in fall, but shred them up with the lawn mower and leave in place.  (This will require a few passes with the mower to get the leaves to a small enough size.)
  
• Many of the species native to grassy areas listed below are not readily available as seed from nurseries.  An alternate source for many of them is responsibly collecting seed material from clean meadowy areas locally, and supplemented by pots or plugs from specialized native plant nurseries or rescued material.
  
• Carefully pull or dig non-native weeds.

When one finds open, grassy areas dominated by the species below, it typically indicates a healthy, diverse, and sustainable community.  Species diversity is typically greater on mafic soils of the Triassic Basin in the Piedmont vs. acidic, sandy-gravelly soils of the Fall Zone and Coastal Plain.

Some characteristic native species of oak overstory savannahs and glades are:

Grasses:

Poverty Oatgrass (Danthonia spicata) – dominant and widespread; forms a continuous turf with lots of room for other plants.

Autumn Bentgrass (Agrostis perennans)

Panic Grass (Dichanthelium acuminatum vars.); also Dichanthelium depauperatum, D. dichotomum var. dichotomu D. dichotomum m, and other low Dichanthelia –
not Deer-Tongue Grass (Dichanthelium clandestinum).

Three-awn Grass (Aristida spp.) – mainly in sunny, open areas on mineral soil.
Poverty Grass (Sporobolus vaginiflorus var. vaginiflorus) – mainly in sunny, open areas on mineral soil.

Sedges:

Parasol Sedge (Carex umbellata), Black-edged Sedge (Carex nigromarginata), Reflexed Sedge (Carex retroflexa var. retroflexa), Shaved Sedge (Carex tonsa), and many other low, woodland carices.

Rushes:

Path Rush (Juncus tenuis)

Common Bluets (Houstonia caerulea), Poverty Oatgrass (Danthonia spicata), mosses, and woodland litter and duff in open “lawn” along the Mount Ida escarpment in the City of Alexandria, VA. Photo by R.H. Simmons.

Wildflowers:

Eastern Yellow Stargrass (Hypoxis hirsuta)

Trailing Bush-clover (Lespedeza procumbens); also Creeping Bush-clover (Lespedeza repens) – both prefer some sun.

Pussytoes (Antennaria spp.) – need some sun to bloom well, otherwise it’ll remain non-flowering.

Dwarf-dandelion (Krigia virginica) – in sunny, open areas on mineral soil.

Pinweeds (Lechea spp.) – need some sun to bloom well.

Nailworts (Paronychia canadensis and P. fastigiata)

Pineweed (Hypericum gentianoides) – in sunny, open areas on mineral soil.

St. Andrew’s Cross (Hypericum hypericoides ssp.) – Spp. hypericoides is rare in the greater D.C. area.

Wild Basil (Clinopodium vulgare)

American Pennyroyal (Hedeoma pulegioides)

Lyre-leaf Sage (Salvia lyrata)

Hyssop Skullcap (Scutellaria integrifolia)

Southern Yellow Wood-sorrel (Oxalis dillenii)

Blue Toadflax (Nuttallanthus canadensis) – needs some sun to bloom well, otherwise it’ll remain non-flowering.

Virginia Plantain (Plantago virginica)

Dwarf Cinquefoil (Potentilla canadensis) – dominant and spreading.

Common Buttonweed (Diodia teres) – in sunny, open areas on mineral soil.

Common Bluets (Houstonia caerulea)

Field Pansy (Viola bicolor) – in sunny, open areas; also other Viola spp.

Healthy, low maintenance glade of upland oaks and Poverty Oatgrass (Danthonia spicata), woodland sedges (Carex spp.), and diminutive wildflowers on the flat, gravel terrace at Arlington Forest Park, Arlington County, VA. Photo by R.H. Simmons.

Rod also passed along, in conjunction:
“A few essential aspects of White Oak biology” (as well as other upland oaks)
Richard Murray, Arborist and Tree Biology Notebook author

White Oak trees don’t readily display problems.  By the time they are visible these problems are often too far along to correct.  The state of the oaks reflects our changing global patterns.  Multiple factors are involved, none of which are coincidental.

1. They are obligatory species for mycorrhizae (composite organ of nonwoody roots).  The fungal component and the organ itself are sensitive and easily disturbed.

2. The non-woody roots of White Oaks are concentrated in the upper soil horizon and tend to spread laterally and form thick mats.

3. The tree depends on the degradation of annual leaf layers and the diversity of other organic soil components (living, dying, and dead).  Soil damage from events such as logging or urban construction (including gardening) can trigger serious problems for White Oaks and other obligatory species.  This is one reason that White Oak, Hickory, Beech, and other obligatory species don’t fare well as street trees.

4. Forest trees tend to be tall and less wide than open grown trees.  In urban areas many trees were cleared leaving remnant forest White Oaks, allowing them to grow large and broad.  Larger trees have a larger energy budget for metabolic processes, including defense.  When stressed by disturbances, energy reserves are diminished.

5. White Oaks tolerate drought, but not constant wetness.  The cultural practices of removing leaves, planting grass, and using fertilizer salts and irrigation reduce mycorrhizae and the biological diversity of soil.  Larger trees with a now smaller root system and a compromised energy budget set the stage for root rot.  These trees, in turn, become more prone to uprooting. 
 
Preserving and increasing the size of natural areas will aid trees and the organisms they support.  Planting trees in clusters or allowing nature to reclaim open spaces with pioneer species will help retain the diversity of species and of aging stages.  Street trees can be planted in rotation cycles.

Rod Simmons

*Symposium partners: Habitat Partners© Program of the VA Department of Game and Inland Fisheries and the Coastal Zone Management Program, based at the VA Department of Environmental Quality