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…
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…
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…
The effect of frequent burning on the landscapes of eastern Oklahoma is a constant theme in Nuttall’s journal. Fire influenced not only the prairies, but also uplands and forests. On June 15, making his way back to Fort Smith through…
Nuttall’s journal, May 17, 1819: “The day was delightfully clear and warm…We were again in full view of the two picturesque mountains, the Cavaniol and Point Sucre…Our route was continued through prairies…” “These vast plains, beautiful almost as the fancied…
What could this article on the role of elephants in dispersing seeds and generating savanna ecologies have to do with a common local tree that Nuttall describes and we will see? Link Reply from Jacob Dyer: Osage-orange! The fact it…
On April 24, 1819 Nuttall continued his ascent of the Arkansas. In the morning, he passed “the hills of Lee’s creek” and at about noon arrived at the garrison at Belle Point (the first Fort Smith). “Rising, as it were,…
While the prairies of the Arkansas and the Poteau river valleys will be a major focus of our Nuttall trek, we’ll also give some love and attention to the river and its vegetation, and to natural lakes (oxbows) and wetlands.…
Lovely and very cool prairie restoration art. Check it out at
A few bits to whet your appetite from the journal, as Nuttall is traveling into present-day Oklahoma, up the Arkansas River from Fort Smith: “About breakfast time, we passed the mouth of the rivulet or brook, called by the French…
