Events - Archive
- 2011
- Sep 10 • Dugout Gulch Botanical Area - cancelled, will re-schedule
- Sorry, this is CANCELLED. We will re-schedule!
--> Join Beth Burkhart and representatives from Bearlodge Ranger District in the Wyoming foothills of the northern Black Hills to explore this unique spot, designated by the Black Hills National Forest as a "Botanical Area".
We are likely to see the yellow lady's slipper, foxtail sedge, highbush cranberry, and many others.
Bring your hat, sunscreen, lunch and snacks, plenty of water, and full insect protection. Sorry, no dogs allowed on any of our field trips.
- Aug 20 • Flower-filled Meadows of the High Black Hills
- Visit several flower-filled meadows of the high Black Hills on Saturday, August 20, 2011.
Meet at 9 am in the parking lot of the Supervisor's Office of Black Hills National Forest, in Custer, SD (Highway 16/385 on the north edge of town). We will caravan to the Limestone Plateau northwest of Custer to visit Black Hills montane grasslands.
The wonderful wildflower shows in these meadows have been recognized since the time of Custer (1874): "Every step of our march that day was amid flowers of the most exquisite colors and perfume ... It was a strange sight to glance back at the advancing columns of cavalry, and behold the men with beautiful bouquets in their hands, while the head-gear of the horses was decorated with wreaths of flowers fit to crown a queen of May."
Black Hills montane grasslands have changed since Custer's time. Join us to discuss how, why and what might be done. We will visit several sites, with short walks at each. Expect to be in the field 4 - 6 hours. Bring food, water and sun protection (and bug protection just in case).
Field trip leaders: Hollis Marriott, a free-lance botanist surveying Black Hills montane grasslands for the State of South Dakota, and several other botanists working on the project. For additional information, contact Hollis at 307 742 9299 or hollis@stanfordalumni.org.
- Jun 25 • An Afternoon at the Great Plains Garden site
- Saturday, June 25, 2011, 1:00-4:00 pm.
Last minute info: The weather is great, event not cancelled, see you there!
If you want to come early, bring your lunch and join the picnic at noon.
During the afternoon, GPNPS botanists will lead an easy walk through a flowery part of our 350-acre grassland site. You'll also be able to tour our log-cabin visitor center, and get an idea how the site will eventually be organized.
Our afternoon will be quite informal, with various hiking groups formed so you can choose how strenuous you'd like your visit to be.
Bring: your hat, sunscreen, lunch and snacks, plenty of water, camera and full insect protection. Sorry, no dogs allowed on any of our field trips. Thank you.
- Jun 04 • Moonworts in the Southern Black Hills
- Meet a Moonwort! (Botrychium campestre – prairie moonwort, a small ephemeral fern-like plant, also called Iowa moonwort) Saturday, June 4, 2011
– Meet at 9 am in the parking lot of USDA Forest Service Fall Ranger District/Buffalo Gap National Grassland office, Hot Springs, SD (on US Hwy 18 Bypass across from the Mammoth Site). We will car caravan to Forest Service property along Cascade Rd to find and view prairie moonwort and discuss its natural history, habitat, and general place in the prairie world. We may car caravan to other nearby FS locations to search for prairie moonwort. We will finish with car caravan to Wind Cave National Park to find and view prairie and slender moonworts. We will not walk very far (perhaps 1-2 miles during about 4 hrs), but searching for moonworts often involves crawling on hands and knees!
Trip leaders: Beth Burkhart, Wind Cave NP Botanist and Matt Scott, FS Hell Canyon RD Botanist.
Bring: water, sun protection (hat, sunblock, etc.), lunch. Sorry, no dogs allowed on any of our field trips.
Wear: long pants, good walking shoes.
Black Hills Botrychium Field Guide by Dr. Daryl Mergen will be available for purchase ($4.50).
****NOTE: NO DOGS please, not even on a leash. Thank you.****
- May 01 • Easter Daisies in bloom
- Cindy Reed and Marc Lamphere will lead a short afternoon trip to see the Townsendias, many other wildflowers, and a community of very old cedar trees on the Buffalo Gap Grasslands near Edgemont, SD.
We will take a short easy walk after driving to the site, approximately 20 minutes from Edgemont, SD.
Rendezvous at the diner called "Remember When" on the west side of Main Street (2nd Street) in Edgemont at 1:00 pm. This is a good place to have lunch, and will make food to go.
Bring your hat, sunscreen, snacks, plenty of water, and full insect protection. Sorry, no dogs allowed on any of our field trips.
- Apr 23 • Easter Daisies in Bloom
- Cindy Reed and Marc Lamphere will lead a short afternoon trip to see the Townsendias, many other wildflowers, and a community of very old cedar trees on the Buffalo Gap Grasslands near Edgemont, SD.
This trip is a short easy walk after driving to the site, approximately 20 minutes from Edgemont, SD.
Rendezvous at the diner called "Remember When" on the west side of Main Street (2nd Street) in Edgemont at 1:00 pm. This is a good place to have lunch, and will make food to go.
Bring your hat, sunscreen, snacks, plenty of water, and full insect protection. Sorry, no dogs allowed on any of our field trips.
- 2009
- Aug 15 • Englewood Springs and Black Fox area in the Black Hills
- Englewood Springs Botanical Area (south of Lead-Deadwood) and Black Fox Botanical Area (west of Rochford) - visit with District Rangers from Spearfish and Rapid City.
FIELD TRIP: BLACK HILLS BOTANICAL AREA SAMPLER
Great Plains Native Plant Society is hosting a field trip to Englewood Springs Botanical Area and Black Fox Botanical Area in the Black Hills National Forest. Members of Great Plains Native Plant Society, Norbeck Society, Sierra Club, and guests are invited!
When: Saturday, August 15, 2009 at 9:00 am
Meeting place: Englewood Trailhead for Mickelson Trail (From Deer Mountain turnoff on Hwy 85, go approximately ¾ mile south and turn onto paved road to Rochford (FS Rd 17). Turn left/east about ½ mile on FS Rd 227 and go a little less than a mile to Englewood Trailhead.
Field trip leader: Beth Burkhart, Botanist
We will meet at 9:00 am and proceed to nearby Englewood Springs Botanical Area, the heart of which is composed of artesian spring waters flowing down a steep hillside that become the headwaters of Whitewood Creek. The cool, moist habitat was discovered by botanist Myrtle Kravig in the 1960s to support rare and uncommon orchids and other plant species. We will explore the botanical area in a “leave no trace” manner, identifying and appreciating the unique ecosystem and its plant components.
Bring a picnic lunch to eat at Englewood Springs Botanical Area. We will drive to Black Fox Botanical Area (about 20 miles) and begin the second part of the field trip at 1:00 pm at Black Fox Campground (on FS Rd 233 just south of intersection of FS Roads 233 and 231). Black Fox valley contains an iron fen and riparian area surrounded by northern white spruce forest and was first surveyed in 1892 by Per Axel Rydberg. He documented northern sweet coltsfoot (Petasites sagittatus), a plant of boreal environments that is present today. We will investigate the wetland areas and spruce forest for rare and uncommon plant species, again in a “leave no trace” manner.
A highlight of this field trip is participation by Black Hills NF District Rangers Rhonda O’Byrne (Northern Hills District) and Bob Thompson (Mystic District). Eight Botanical Areas were designated by Black Hills National Forest in 1997 for management emphasis on conserving and enhancing areas of botanical interest. One desired future condition for Botanical Areas from the Forest Plan is: “Vegetation, habitat, soil productivity, and water quality are usually unaffected by humans.” The District Rangers will discuss and answer questions about past, present, and future management of Englewood Springs and Black Fox Botanical Areas.
- Be prepared for any weather, with sunhat, windbreaker, raincoat, etc.
- Bring a lunch and water.
- NO DOGS PLEASE, not even on a leash.
- Jun 21 • postponed until next year (2010) - Barr's Milkvetch at Railroad Buttes
- Railroad Buttes, Buffalo Gap National Grassland (home of Barr's milkvetch [Astragalus barrii] and proposed concentrated OHV site)
- May 16 • Bloodroot in the Black Hils - registration required
- View Sanguinaria canadensis (Bloodroot) in the Black Hills.
Trip leader: Beth Burkhart.
Minimum group size (or event will be cancelled): 5
Meet at noon in Deadwood in the grocery store parking lot at 124 Sherman Street (near the Courthouse).
We'll drive to the site together from there and spend 3-4 hrs exploring a large occurrence of Bloodroot. We will identify the native species associated with bloodroot in the Quercus macrocarpa (Bur Oak) & Ostrya virginiana (Ironwood) Forest.
Be prepared for any weather - from sunhat to windbreaker to raincoat! Bring water and sunscreen, but please leave dogs at home. If you have questions, contact Beth Burkhart at (605) 673-3159 (home) or (605)673-9343 (work).
This Bloodroot occurs in moist forests from Nova Scotia south to Florida and west to Manitoba and Kansas. In the Black Hills, it is at the westernmost edge of its range and disjunct from the main portion of its range. It occupies floodplains, forested terraces, drainage bottoms, and north-facing slopes in open, rich hardwood plant communities. The currently known range in the Black Hills is limited to the northeast portion of the Black Hills between 3,940 to 5,000 ft.
Sanguinaria canadensis (Bloodroot) blooms in late March through May, with the flowers appearing before the leaves are fully grown. Flowering also occurs before the tree and shrub overstory are leafed out. The species is speculated to be declining globally. It is probably stable in parts of its range, though it is likely declining locally through much of its range due to the combination of habitat conversion and collection from wild populations (in the eastern U.S.).
Sanguinaria canadensis is widely cultivated as a medicinal herb both within and outside of its normal range. Native American peoples of eastern North America used bloodroot to treat a variety of ailments, but the species was consistently used as a cough medicine and to treat dermatological and gastrointestinal problems. Its colored latex also served as an orange-red dye. No traditional uses of bloodroot are known for the Lakota peoples of the Black Hills region.
- 2008
- May 18 • Bloodroot in the Black Hills - rescheduled
- Re-scheduled for Spring, 2009.
- 2007
- Sep 08-09 • Signal Hill Research Natural Area
- In the Sand Hills near Halsey and Thedford, Nebraska, Chuck Butterfield and Grace Kostel will lead us in a fall survey of the Signal Hill Research Natural Area - Nebraska NF. There has been no domestic grazing, bison, or fire in this area since well before it was established in 1952, and it is becoming overrun with woody species. Reference plots installed when it was being evaluated have not been read since the 1950's. These plots need to be re-read to evaluate the current vegetative species composition. This is an opportunity to help complete a needed inventory, and experience the unique plant communities of the Sand Hills. The route to Signal Hill runs through 'hand planted' forests of ponderosa, eastern red cedar, and jack pine, including an area of the forest and grasslands which burned in a wildfire in January of 2006.
The idea for this trip came to Mary Lata when she tried to obtain identification of a gentian she saw on the Bessey Ranger District near Halsey last September which, apparently, had yet to be documented in that part of Nebraska. Among plains botanists, the Sand Hills are known to be populated by unique communities of plant species, with tallgrass species, such as Big Bluestem side by side with hairy grama or buffalograss.
This is a two day trip; you may join for any part of, or all of it. Available lodging/sleeping includes two campgrounds on the forest, and three motels within 15 minutes.
- Jul 14 • Buffalo Gap National Grassland
- Grace Kostel will lead us to a site on the Buffalo Gap National Grassland near Edgemont, SD. We will look at the existing vegetation to see land management in action, uses of the vegetation, and how the vegetation responds to grazing and drought. Kostel will lead a discussion about native grassland and climate change.
Meet at Edgemont, SD at Nelson’s Conoco (south side of US Hwy 18) north parking lot at 8:30 a.m. Caravan to site on the Buffalo Gap National Grassland. We will spend our morning botanizing on mesas and finish by hiking through a canyon - easy to moderate effort, maybe 1.5-3 miles. You can always skip part of the hike if it seems too far. Breathing the invigorating, pungent scent of sage (released by the unrelenting sun), we will search for plants, hunt for short-horned lizards, and watch for ferruginous hawk nests built on mesa walls. We will be on the lookout for clues that will help us understand the impact of global warming on the northern Great Plains. Field trip chief Grace Kostel will botanize and discuss what effects climate change may bring and what these will mean to the prairie. As we leave, there will be a brief stop where Grace will have a book prize for the individual with the most correct answers to some questions about plant communities!
Please RSVP with number in your party.
Minimum 5 participants, & cancelled in case of rain.
Be prepared: IT IS LIKELY TO BE VERY HOT and there are frequently rattlesnakes.
Bring: water, lunch, sun protection (hat, sunblock, etc.) and good walking shoes.
NOTE: NO DOGS please. Not even on leash. Thank you
- Jun 09 • Flying Heart Ranch
- Beth Burkhart will guide our visit to the Flying Heart Ranch near Hay Springs, Nebraska. This is an easy walk through a mixture of hardwood draws, upland grasslands, & riparian areas within the Pine Ridge Escarpment of northern Nebraska. Many of the early species should still be flowering.
- May 19 • Dark Canyon
- The Norbeck Society invites us to join Dave Ode, SD State Botanist, on a short field trip from 1pm-3pm into the Dark Canyon area west of Rapid City, SD with hopes of spotting numerous early spring flowering beauties. You are urged to attend his presentation that morning from 10:00 am - noon at the Faculty Lounge on the second floor of the Classroom Building of the SDSM&T Campus, 501 E. St. Joseph Street, Rapid City, SD. [map link] Dave will be showing some of his photos and doing readings from his recent book. We break for lunch, then the field trip is from 1pm-3pm. Meet at the parking lot in front of Surbeck Center on the SDSM&T campus. Carpooling is recommended, as the destination site has limited parking.
- 2005
- Sep 17 • Slim Buttes - CANCELLED
- Slim Buttes, in northwestern South Dakota. Joint field trip leaders will be Burkhart and Elaine Ebbert, TNC botanist.
- Jul 23 • Black Fox Botanical Area
- Destination changed to the Black Fox Botanical Area on the Black Hills National Forest (west of Rochford). It's an iron fen with lots of interesting vegetation and issues.
- Jun 04-05 • Thunder Basin NG in Wyoming
- Join our car caravan in Gillette on Saturday morning, June 4, at 8:30am in the parking lot of the Best Western Tower Lodge, 109 N. Hwy 14-16, Gillette, WY. We'll be heading north to the Spring Creek Unit of TBNG. You are welcome to bring camping gear and camp out on TBNG Saturday night. There are no designated campgrounds on TBNG, so it will be primitive camping with no open fires.
We'll pick a meeting location for Sunday morning so if some people want to return to Gillette for dinner and overnight, we can all rendezvous for continued plant exploration on Sunday.
Gillette lodging:
Best Western Tower Lodge
109 N. Hwy 14-16
(307) 686-2210
Super 8 (.3 mi from the Tower Lodge)
208 Decker Ct.
(307) 682-8078)
- May 21 • Oglala National Grassland
- Oglala National Grassland, northwestern Nebraska including Toadstool Park area and possibly Hudson-Meng Bison Bonebed. Meet in Hot Springs, SD at the Holiday Inn Express parking lot (by the convention center) at 8:30 am. We'll head down Hwy 71 into Nebraska. You can also meet us at Toadstool Park (northwest of Crawford, NE, check your Nebraska highway map) at about 10:00am. Bring a lunch, water, plant books, binoculars, sunscreen, etc. Barb Beasley, Paleontologist from Nebraska National Forest, will attend. Grace Kostel will be joint field trip leader with Beth Burkhart.
- 2004
- Sep 25 • Chalk Hills
- A trip Beth made with Grace Kostel (seasonal botanist for the last three years on Fall River Ranger District) gave them a fabulous viewing of fall prairie wildflowers, and they want to share the experience with us. The location, east of Fairburn, SD on the Buffalo Gap National Grassland, has large lenses of sandy soil intermingled with the more common clay soils. Artemisia filifolia (sand sagebrush) and other sand-loving species abound. Within hiking distance are badlands-type and other interesting geological features. Grace will join Beth as trip leader for this excursion.
Meet at Maverick Junction (5 miles south of Hot Springs) at 9:00am or at the intersection of Hwy 79 and Custer County 719 (E. French Creek Rd) at 9:30am. We'll caravan to the Chalk Hills area on the Buffalo Gap National Grassland (Fall River Ranger District), about 13 miles east of Fairburn and then ca 2 miles south. Bring water, field guides, hand lens, binoculars (fall is good time for raptor-watching on the prairie), a lunch - and appropriate clothing for the weather of the day!
We'll spend about 2 hours leisurely exploring tributary areas to French Creek, which flows into the Cheyenne River. At this location, lenses of sandy soil are interspersed with areas of more typical clay/shale soil, making for an interesting mosaic of vegetation. Some of the sand-loving species we'll see are Artemisia filifolia (sand sagebrush), Andropogon hallii (sand bluestem), Sporobolus cryptandrus (sand dropseed), and Bouteloua hirsuta (hairy grama). Brilliant colors on the landscape are provided by Ericameria species (Chrysothamnus spp. - rabbitbrush species), Symphyotrichum ericoides (white prairie aster), Liatris punctata (dotted gayfeather), Symphyotrichum oblongifolium (aromatic aster), Solidago species (goldenrod species), and Grindelia squarrosa (curlycup gumweed). After lunch, participants can stay and explore/hike as long as they wish!
NOTE: Canceled in case of rain; also NO DOGS please. While visitors to the national grassland are welcome to bring dogs for personal hikes, this field trip activity involving many people and lots of stopping and close-up viewing is generally not compatible with dogs, even those on leashes.
- Jul 24 • McIntosh Fen
- To avoid the heat of the summer season, we'll visit a rare, calcareous fen meadow complex on the Black Hills National Forest northwest of Deerfield Reservoir. The fen and its surrounding uplands were designated a Botanical Area in 1997. This is one of only two known occurrences on BHNF for Salix serissima (autumn willow) and the only known occurrence on BHNF for Salix candida (sage willow). Reed Crook, botanist for BHNF, has been leading the forest monitoring effort on these and other sensitive plant species for the last several years. He will join Burkhart as trip leader.
Meet in Hill City at 9 a.m. - at the public parking lot across the street from the 1880 train. We'll drive up to the fen, which is northwest of Deerfield Lake, and spend 4 or 5 hours investigating the fen and surrounding vegetation. NOTE: this field trip won't require a lot of walking to get to and around the fen and will be tailored to the interest and abilities of trip participants.
Please join me and Reed Crook, BHNF botanist, to explore this unique geological and botanical area! Wear sturdy clothing (long pants and sleeves) and shoes you don't mind getting a little wet. Bring sunscreen, plenty of drinking water, and your lunch.
McIntosh fen information: McIntosh Fen is a unique vegetational complex that has developed in a broad portion of the Castle Creek Valley. Fens are a very distinctive wetland type having an organic substrate (peat), a saturated water regime, and an influx of groundwater high in carbonate and sulfate salts of calcium, potassium, magnesium and other cations (calcium carbonate is the predominant salt of this fen). The fen was once much larger than it is today. It's been reduced in size over the last 50 years by the elimination of beavers, destruction of their dams, and attempts at ditching for farming purposes. Two rare willow species (Salix candida - sage or hoary willow; and Salix serissima - autumn willow) occur in McIntosh Fen. Two plant species that are very rare in South Dakota [Menyanthes trifoliata (bog buckbean) and Carex viridula (greenish sedge)] were reported by Arthur McIntosh in the 1930's but may no longer exist at the site. The Black Hills National Forest acquired McIntosh Fen from private ownership in 1980. The Forest Service has been working to restore the fen to natural condition by filling old drainage ditches with noxious weed-free straw to mimic the high organic matter of the fen, followed by planting native willow stock in the straw.
- May 22 • Cuny Table
- We hope this repeat offering will not be rained out this year! Quite a bit of interest was expressed in this trip, so we're going to try again. We will visit Cuny Table in the South Unit of Badlands National Park to enjoy spring wildflowers on the plains and learn about the cultural history of the area. Mary Lata, Fire Ecologist from the Forest Service in Chadron, NE will join Burkhart as trip leader.
Details: (Cancelled if raining)
Everybody should bring water, sun protection, good walking shoes, and food.
Plant books and binoculars would be good to have, too.
The Cuny Table Cafe will be open, and they need to know ahead of time how many people might be interested in eating a meal there. Mary says it's a good place to eat and has unique atmosphere! If participants want to eat there, let us know so we can make arrangements. Being so isolated, they don't usually get large groups stopping by, and will need to prepare for extra customers. E-mail us if you think you might like to order off their menu.
You may join our carpool at your choice of the following:
- Meet Mary at Nebraska National Forest office in Chadron at 8 am on May 22 to caravan/carpool to the Badlands National Park South Unit White River Visitor Center (which is near the intersection of Hwy 2 and Hwy 27) by 10 am,
OR
- meet Beth at Maverick Junction, south of Hot Springs at 8 am on May 22 to caravan/carpool to Badlands National Park South Unit White River Visitor Center (which is near the intersection of Hwy 2 and Hwy 27) by 10 am,
OR
- meet at Badlands National Park South Unit White River Visitor Center (which is near the intersection of Hwy 2 and Hwy 27) at 10 am.
show future dates only show future dates + past year
