Kitty Todd Preserve, Swanton, Ohio 08/23/02 (photos below text) Participants: Gary Haase, Todd Crail Photographs and text by Todd Crail Background: I had the opportunity to go out to the preserve and do a little volunteering this afternoon. Gary said "Bring your camera" but I had no idea the gravity of what he wanted me to photograph. In any discussion though, the objects were certainly unique and the canvas of nature they laid against was proof that a little effort can revive years of human land use back to it's former glory. We began our whistlestop tour of the preserve showing another volunteer where to collect new jersey tea seeds. This took us out to the eastern end of the preserve where a unique and globally rare species, the karner blue butterfly, was reintroduced due to that section's strong stands of lupine and nectar sources. It was very interesting to note the difference between that area which had not seen any prescribed burning for a few years to harbor the karner larvae, and the area immediately adjacent to it which was burned last fall. I've neither the words or an expressable sentiment that will do justice to the topic, so I'll try and describe. To the right was prairie and sand barrens at their finest. Some of the photos below you will see dense stands of flowering plants (purple gerardia, rough blazing star). These were all pictures from burned areas. These displays of color have not been unique all year either. The densities of standard prairie plants has been amazing east of the fire break each season this year. To the left and west (the unburned karner introduction area), the habitat has become choked out with bluegrass and bracken fern and it's pretty much a monotonous sea of green. Thankfully, the karner's have made enough of a migration to the burned area from last year that we can end this succession of invasive plants :) Lesson 1: Prairie NEEDS fire. There was so much that I didn't photograph because we were in a hurry to get our shots of the real show waiting for us at the other end of the preserve where a wetland restoration was put in progress last fall. There was plenty of showy goldenrod, grass-leaved goldenrod and great lakes goldenrod to be seen, in addition to giant sunflower, coreopsis, prairie grasses, and my personal favorite, tall ironweed. Then we arrived at *the* site... Tip toeing thru piles of state endangered cross-leaved milkwort and stepping across patches of sedges, rushes, and all sorts of purple gerardia, we came to a peculiar white flower that that looked much like it's purple cousins all around it, yet was very different. We're proud to say that this is a confirmed revitalized population of skinner's false foxglove, which is a globablly rare prairie plant. The area that it was found is an area that had been a hog farm for years. A year ago, the organics and some railroad ties were scraped away to bear sand for the wetlands restoration. And guess who popped up out of the seed bank from the disturbance? :) Lesson 2: Don't just give up on an area because it looks like it's covered in @#$%. To end our whirlwind tour we walked by another patch of what appeared to be purple gerardia. However, Gary had taken particular notice of these plants earlier in the week. It appears that he'd also discovered patches of what was assumed to be extirpated from Ohio, and that a subtle difference indicated he'd found gattinger's foxglove. He'd also confirmed this plant with a Botanist, so I'm glad I grabbed a shot. Pretty exciting stuff huh? Lesson 3: Slow down. What you're looking for might be right under your nose. So without much more to say... Here's the eye candy! I've added the State and Global rankings of the plants. E = Endangered, X = Extirpated, and G2 pretty much means you're looking at one or a few of the last of its kind. I hope you enjoy these photos and I surely enjoyed taking them :)
Tall Coreopsis & Purple Gerardia (Coreopsis tripteris) (Agalinis purpurea)	Cross-Leaved Milkwort (Polygala cruciata) (S-E)	Prairie Fern-Leaved False Foxglove (Aureolaria pedicularia) (S-E)	Prairie Fern-Leaved False Foxglove Patch (Aureolaria pedicularia) (S-E)
Gattinger's Foxglove (Agalinis gattingerii) (S-X? :)	Hognosed Snake (Heterodon Platirhinos)	Indian Grass (Sorghastrum nutans)	Open Savanna
Purple Gerardia (Agalinis purpurea)	Rough Blazing Stars (Liatris aspera)	Rough Blazing Star White Morph (Liatris aspera)	Skinner's False Foxglove (Agalinis skinneriana (S-E, G-2)
Skinner's False Foxglove Lateral (Agalinis skinneriana) (S-E, G-2)	Skinner's / Purple Gerardia Comparison (Agalinis skinneriana) (Agalinis purpurea)	Wooly Bugger