Written by: Ethan Perry
On a cold, dark, damp night nine days before Halloween dead bodies were piled up at Hartley Nature Center. No one called the police. Not even detective Benoit Blanc. Instead, those souls who gathered round the bodies each claimed a few of them. Nobody seemed the least disturbed, though some seemed afraid of damaging them.
Likely that was because the bodies were plants that had been carefully pressed between sheets of newspaper, destined for the UMD herbarium. It was one of ANPE’s regular plant mounting workshops, and we treated the plants with the respect due to relatives who donate themselves to scientific advancement. They had been collected under the supervision of frequent ANPE trip leader Paul Hlina. Many of us joined him this summer on collecting trips to Hawk Ridge.
At Hartley Paul demonstrated a specimen attached to heavy herbarium paper with strips of special tape and glue. He instructed everyone to take a few specimens and mount them while he talked about his botanical survey of Hawk Ridge to provide supporting information for a nomination for designation as a Duluth Natural Area. He targeted nine parts of the area that had been identified in a 2014 map as the highest quality native plant communities. After a plant was glued down on herbarium paper, a pre-printed label was glued down in the bottom right corner with the species name, name of collector, date collected, and habitat notes. Thanks to ANPE Vice President, Sarah, for putting together the database of plants and printing and sorting so many labels!
Paul and his helpers collected 250 plant specimens of 161 different species, typically attempting to collect an example of every species present. They included 51 non-native species, for a rate of 22%. They also included 24 generalist species observed in multiple plant communities and 116 specialists found in just one or two. Paul noted that this dominance by a few common species is a typical consequence of past disturbance. He found two occurrences of a truly rare species in Minnesota, the Canada buffaloberry (Shepherdia canadensis). He also found some profound changes to some communities because of tree mortality and blowdown in the 2016 storm.
Paul discussed the research value of herbarium specimens, and by the end of the night we mounted 90 of them. Congratulations, everyone!
Missed the plant mounting fun or want to learn more about Arrowhead Native Plant Explorers’ service project with Hawk Ridge? – Here are Paul’s Hawk Ridge Presentation Slides!
ANPE’s Lending Library has found a public home! If you would like to return a book from our Lending Library, you can now do so in between events. Hartley Nature Center has offered to house our library. Stop in at their office to return a book or request access to the library. We will still bring relevant books to our events for members to check out or use during hikes.
Arrowhead Native Plant Explorers 