Signs of Success

I use several indicators to assess my progress in enhancing conditions for the survival of rare and unusual plant or animal species found at Blue Jay Barrens.  One that is easy to see at this time of year is the presence of uncommon plant species growing in locations from which they had previously been absent.  Getting a plant species to increase its numbers in an established population is easy compared to the task of having a species successfully compete for space in a new location.  Bluehearts, Buchnera americana, a species listed as Threatened in Ohio, has managed to establish growing colonies in a couple of new places.

This is the site of about 20 Bluehearts plants growing in the center of what I call the Far Field.  This site differs from the other Bluehearts sites by being low pH soil formed over shale, rather than high pH soil formed over limestone.

The other incursion of Bluehearts has occurred in the largest of the old cropland fields.  This population is currently contained within an area of about ¼ acre, but it is on the move and has the potential to eventually cover most of the field.

I am particularly impressed by the plant density in this area.  It is normally difficult to see individual plants in broad field shots like this.  In this case, there are so many plants crowded together that they are easily seen.

Closer shots bring a veritable bouquet into frame.

Pollinators, like this Hummingbird Clearwing moth, that are typically attracted to large concentrations of flowering plants, have even found the patch worth their attention.

Scaly Blazing Star, Liatris squarrosa, listed as Potentially Threatened in Ohio, has also managed to expand its range. 

Scaly Blazing Star was originally confined to a small collection of plants within about 25 feet of the cedar stump.  During the past 30 years, additional plants have about doubled the size of the patch.

Now there are new plants occurring out in the open field.  These are about 150 feet from the original site.  This increase in plant populations is not the result of seedling transplants or distribution of collected seed.  The plants have expanded their range because nearby sites have been made suitable for the growth of these species.  I take that as an indication that some of my management techniques are providing positive results.

Small Nook by the Road

Ice and snow storms have made it difficult to work on any large projects this winter, so I’ve been using the intermittent periods of decent weather to finish some small jobs that have been cluttering up my to do list.  This is one of those odd areas that I’ve been meaning to get to for the past couple of years.  Bluehearts, Buchnera americana, one of the rarer plants in this area, have developed an expanding population in the shallow soil that formed over shale bedrock at this site.  This is the only Blue Jay Barrens population of Bluehearts growing on low pH soil.

The work area was a tenth of an acre in size and required about an hour and a half to clear out the young Eastern Red Cedars and Virginia Pines that were invading.  I keep records of my management activities by identifying the work areas on an aerial photo and noting date, type of work, time spent and interesting observations.  This particular site sits between the township road on the right and a four acre field that I mowed back in November.  The green spot in the center of the work boundary is a mature Virginia Pine, the seed source for the little guys I cleared out.

While cedar seeds are typically spread by birds, pine seeds are more likely to be moved by wind.  Prevailing wind direction is predominately from the south-west.  Few pines are found on the south-west side of the tree.

On the other side of the tree, the down-wind side, pines far outnumber the cedars.

Virginia Pines are fast growing and can easily outperform the cedars.  They are also highly attractive to deer and suffer a lot of damage from the actions of territorial bucks.

The surrounding area is composed primarily of mixed oaks.  When I originally cleared the large cedars from this area 15 years ago, I thought of letting it all grow up in oaks.  The appearance of the Bluehearts a few years later caused me to change my mind in favor of the rarer plant.

This piece of ground was historically plowed and cropped.  The ground inclines steeply to the right at a point that marks an earlier field edge.  At some point, probably when the plow began bringing up the underlying shale, the farmer moved the field edge farther down the hill.  The mowed area seen in the left middle of the photo indicates the field as last cropped.

Weather conditions have been rough on the cedars.  Most of the small individuals have lost their green coloration and are brown enough to effectively hide in the long grass.

The completed job.

After the sun tracks farther north, these openings between the trees will be fully illuminated for most of the day.  The Bluehearts have been slowly making their way downhill and are just beginning to show up in the most recently cropped areas.

The township road can just be seen crossing the center of the photo.  An unexpected hazard for these plants is a vehicle failing to negotiate the 90 degree turn in the road and tearing down through the field.  Fortunately, the most likely place for someone to lose control runs them right into a large tree.  The tree bears many scars, old and new, and has a collection of headlight glass at its base.  So far, the only person to miss the tree failed to break through my fence.  The fence was a mess, but the field suffered no damage.  The mishaps have yet to inflict any damage to the vehicle passengers.

The most labor intensive part of the job was carrying all of the cut material 250 feet across the adjoining field to the brush pile.  With each trip to the brush pile, I thought about how nice the weather was and how relaxing it was to be out working.  With each trip back, I thought about the winter storm predicted for Sunday and Monday and the arctic air moving in for the rest of the week.  I wonder how long it’ll be before I have another day like this.

The old brush pile had almost rotted down to nothing.  An infusion of new cuttings is evidence that I’m still around and working.

Bluehearts

This plant is Bluehearts, Buchnera Americana, an Ohio rarity. Bluehearts grow just fine in dry, rocky locations, but I never find them anywhere that does not receive full sunlight. Just so you know, the next few paragraphs are a little story, but I put a Blueheart photo between each paragraph, because I don’t think you can have too many pictures of Bluehearts.

We bought our property in May of 1985, but it was July before I had a few free minutes to explore. I grabbed my Peterson’s Wildflower Guide, that being the entirety of my botanical library, and went up the hill behind the house. I tried to ID a couple of obscure plants with no luck, and then I came to a 30 inch spike ending in brilliant blue blossoms. Knowing that a flower as showy as this just had to be in my book, I thumbed through the blue flower section, then went through again more slowly. Nothing. Since a lot of what I thought of as blue showed up in Peterson’s pink section, I looked there. Still nothing. At this point, I ran out of time and came off the hill feeling totally discouraged.

My work often brought me into contact with plant experts, so when I met someone who seemed fairly knowledgeable on the subject of plant ID, I’d say “Hey. I’ve got some strange plants growing out in my field. Ya wanna come help me figure out what they are?” and they’d usually reply “G’way Kid. Ya bother me.” So it went until a year later when I met Pete Whan, now of The Nature Conservancy, who replied, “Sure. Where’s your property?”

Pete walked right up to my mystery plant and said, “Well, Guy. That’s Bluehearts. It’s not in your book because it’s so rare.” Then he pointed out a couple more rarities nearby. That’s when I realized I hadn’t bought your typical old run down farm. Where I had originally been happy just to have a place to study and enjoy nature, the idea started to grow that this area was something really special and needed help to achieve its full potential. Blue Jay Barrens was born that day. Thanks Pete.

These structures remind me of tiny Grecian urns. In the Fall, they become filled with tiny seeds. As the plant stalk is snapped back and forth by the wind, seeds are thrown out in all directions. It often takes a couple of months before all of the seed is sown.

Numbers of plants vary from year to year. In one area there is a small population of plants with flowers that begin white, then develop blue streaks as they age. So far this year, I’ve only found one plant with white flowers, but there may be more coming on later.

I sometimes wonder what this property would look like if someone other than Pete had set my compass. There were many management options I could have chosen, and most would not have favored the native flora. Instead of a slope full of Bluehearts, the photo above could very well have been a dense thicket of cedars.