Seeing Plants
From Donna Deaton (via Facebook): I have never noticed so many bee balm plants as I’m seeing now. I can’t drive past the meadows on Old 112 without point them out to whoever is with me. I also have to…
Ben Geren Prairie Restoration
Jay Randolph, Ben Geren Golf Course, last Saturday, showing off a field of blazing star to Glenda James. We were just a little bit early to see the blazing star in bloom. Jay is doing outstanding work restoring prairie at…
Fragrant white waterlily
Plant of the Day–fragrant white waterlily (Nymphaea odorata), at Kerr Ranch Wildlife Refuge Comments (viaFacebook): Donna Deaton I am so much more aware of the plants around me since Saturday. I saw lots of pale purple cone flowers, some obedient…
Nuttall Field Tour, June 3
Rescheduled Nuttall field tour is coming up this coming Saturday–June 3. Our planned major stops include:1. Old Fort Smith & the confluence of the Poteau with the Arkansas2. Massard Prairie & native prairie restoration at Ben Geren3. Poteau River riparian…
Aquatic veg in Nuttall
Nuttall’s journal contains relatively little about aquatic and wetland vegetation compared to terrestrial. He does describe a couple of oxbow lakes in eastern Oklahoma however. The first is near the Kiamichi River, seen by him during his side trip to…
Nuttall’s route
On May 16, 1819, after about three weeks based at the garrison at Fort Smith, Nuttall traveled south and west with Major Smith and soldiers to the Red River. The first night they camped near Gap Creek at the foot…
Native hay meadows
Patches of unplowed prairie that persist in the Poteau River Valley do so because they have been (and are being) used as hay meadows. Repeated mowing can tend to favor grasses over forbs, and farmers prefer hay with more grasses…
New date – June 3
We have rescheduled the Nuttall excursion. It will be on Saturday June 3. All the other particulars remain the same–9a to 5p, meet at Kiamichi Technology Center in Poteau.
Field trip postponed
I am sorry to let you all know that we are going to reschedule the Nuttall expedition we had planned for tomorrow. The weather prediction is a 90% chance of 5 inches or more of rain, basically all day. We…
KUAF interview
Jacqueline Froelich at KUAF (NPR Fayetteville) interviewed me earlier this week about Thomas Nuttall and our planned field trip on Saturday. You can check it out here.