Reading the Winter Landscape Weekend: Winter Botany, Old Growth Forests & more! Febraury 17-19, 2023
Location: Chicot State Park. Details upon registration.
Cost: $275, includes instruction, hand outs, lodging and meals. Work-trade and single day options available. $75 for individual classes, see below .
Including classes on:
•Old Growth Mixed Hardwood Forests &
•Winter Botany
•Evenings programs on forest forensics, folklore and ethnobotany
Description:
The forests that early inhabitants of the South knew were vastly different from today’s dense and disorganized patchwork. But relics of antiquity can still be found if we have the trained eyes to see them. Join botanist John Michael Kelley and naturalist Matthew Herron on a treasure hunt to discover the remnants of our rich natural heritage as we hike one of Louisiana’s greatest hidden gems. Read the land for signs of the forest’s past while learning to identify plants in the winter, estimate the age of trees and stands, and determine the ecological health of a mixed hardwood forest.
We start the weekend on Friday around the dinner table, where we’ll share stories and socialize. Afterwards we unpack the naturalist toolbox and explore the many tricks for finding stories in the land, including aerial imagery, historic botanical records and more. Saturday we build on foundational naturalist skills by learning how to recognize plants in the wintertime from twigs, seed pods, bark and other growth patterns. Sunday, we investigate several forest stands to determine how growth forms and patterns tell us their age and history. Our quest: to find the old growth, hidden among the tangle of historic land-use patterns. Along the way, we see how our current landscapes reflect our varied past and the values of the people that lived here.
The course is designed with adults in mind but could also work for mature, self-motivated youth. If your thinking of bringing family along, gives us a call to make sure it’s a good fit. This course is well-suited for naturalist, land owners/managers, local history buffs and those who love a good story.
SPECIAL NOTES: the class includes up to 1 mile of hiking on Sunday, a portion of which is on steep terrain and off-trail. Participants should be in good health and prepared for an adventure.
SEPARATELY BOOKED PROGRAMS RUN 9-3PM and DO NOT INCLUDE MEALS
Itinerary:
Friday
4-5:30 PM Check-In
6:00 PM Dinner
7:00 PM Reading the landscape presentation,
Forest forensics breakout
Campfire
Saturday – Winter Botany Focus
Early Bird Activities
8:00 AM Breakfast
9:00 AM Winter Botany
Landscape/habitat cues
Trees and shrub ID clinic using twigs
Bark: ecology and identification primer
12PM LUNCH
1:00 PM Winter Botany Continued
Herbaceous plant patterns
Fruits, seeds, pods clinic
3:00 PM End of Winter Botany and BREAK
6:00 PM Dinner
7:00 PM Plants and People through Time: ethnobotanical demonstrations, storytelling and social w/ campfire afterward
Sunday - Old Growth Forests
8:00 AM Breakfast
9:00 AM Old Growth Forest Program
Big trees: measuring, aging, understanding architecture
Forest development stages
Indicators of old growth and human impact
12PM LUNCH
1:00 PM Old Growth cont.
More indicators
Stand investigation
3:00 PM End of Old Growth / SAFE TRAVELS!
