WELCOME TO OKLAHOMA NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY

In Memory

ONPS has lost two members of note recently. Jim Norman for many years led many field trips, especially the orchid trips in southeast Oklahoma, until his health was a problem. Lou Duck was an active member of the Central Chapter and an inveterate proponent of native plants. We miss them both dearly.

Plant Inventories

ONPS has a new project which is to inventory state parks so that the naturalists will know what plants are in their respective parks. This has expanded to include a color pamphlet of conspicuous native wildflowers of the parks. Gloria Caddell has provided the inventory for Alabaster Caverns State Park and a spring and summer photo pamphlet. Actually, the state prints these pamphlets from the photos and descriptions that Gloria gave to them. The NE Chapter, under Sue Amstutz's guidance has done the same for Tenkiller State Park. Only a single season pamphlet is available for that park. ONPS will continue this service to other state parks in the future. In addition to these inventories of state parks, ONPS is inventories other areas as well.

The Oklahoma Native Plant Society has begun a survey of wildflowers , grasses and other plants at the Oklahoma Centennial Botanical Garden, which is being developed seven miles northwest of downtown Tulsa. The Botanical Garden site is 240 acres in southeastern Osage County just seven miles northwest of downtown Tulsa. Sixty of the acres will be developed into gardens and buildings and the remaining 180 acres of forest and prairie will remain a conservation and research area.

Although turnout September 13 was lower than expected because of a rain forecast, Dale and Sue Amstutz, Lynn Michael, Mary Korthase and guest Richard Johnson were excited about their discoveries. They identified 62 wildflowers, grasses, and trees during the expedition to the Oklahoma Centennial Botanical Garden site near Tulsa in September. Additional surveys will be conducted next year. With information from ONPS, the Garden will create a brochure about the main native plants on the site. A complete list will be on the Garden website, www.ocbg.org.

The Central Chapter of ONPS has signed on to help the development of Lake Stanley Draper back to its natural state. How did ONPS become involved? Last fall Oklahoma City Councilman Pete White contacted Marilyn Stewart, acting Chair of our Central Chapter, about the city’s plans for the development of Lake Stanley Draper. A long-time resident of SE OKC, he was concerned about the environmental decline of the lake area and wanted to improve the lake and its resources, and to improve the image of the far southeastern corner of the city where it is located. Along with the Oklahoma City Parks Department and the Water Resources Board, he had initiated a plan to develop the lake and surrounding area in a way that the residents could take pride and use the resources in an environmentally sound way. He found that the residents shared his concern and wanted, more than anything else, to develop and maintain the lake in as close to its natural state as possible. As it turns out, that type of development is as good for a water resource as it is for the environment, and for us. A win-win-win situation! After learning that the Parks Department needed ONPS to help with identifying plants Marilyn contacted several of us to meet at Draper with Councilman White and Parks Department officials.

After 3 field trips, volunteers have identified, with Dr. Bruce Smith making most of the final decisions on species, over 200 species, including both native and nonnative. At each monthly field trip to the lake this summer, the Central Chapter is planning to have special workshops designed to help volunteers identify common species; collect voucher specimens for those they don’t know for later identification; and prepare data and plants for preservation and inclusion in herbaria. Botanists from the Oklahoma Biological Survey will identify specimens we collect and make additional voucher collections based on our lists, as well as advise us in our methods and techniques at the workshops. If you would like to volunteer to help in the Draper Nature Area Inventory contact me and we’ll make sure you know when and where our next        New Gateway on Douglas below Interstate 240         inventory will be scheduled. Dr. Sheila A. Strawn, DNA Project                                                                                                      Leader (405)733-0864/sastrawn@hotmail.com.

Wildflower Workshop and Annual Meeting

This year the Wildflower Workshop, was held in Idabel, McCurtain County for the first time this year, and in the fall for the first time, too. There were not so many attending as in the past, and the wildflowers were not so plentiful as they had been just a week before, but the Idabel and Broken Bow folks did a great job of planning, with speakers all day Friday and an outing by way of a huge Broken Bow school bus on Saturday. We got to see lots of swamp sunflowers. Those are unusual in any other part of Oklahoma, and in the TIAK forest we saw sweet everlasting and Hercules’ Club trees. The black gums were beginning to turn their beautiful deep red.

We were happy to see Joanne Orr, still with us after her retirement, who presented the Sara Snodgrass award to her former right-hand-lady, Laurie Stillings.

The Annual Meeting was added to the workshop but the combination appears to be too busy. For 2009, ONPS will return to a spring Wildflower Workshop and an autumn Annual Meeting.

Indoor Outing

February 9th the Indoor Outing was held at the O.U. Botany Building. Kim Shannon spoke on methods of plant dispersal and how plants use the elements and other living things, including us, to disperse their seeds. Fred Schneider spoke on Oklahoma Native American Ethnobotany. He gave us insight into how native peoples used local plants and how their culture gives them their own unique attitudes towards plants. Mary Gard, graduate student at OSU, spoke to us about her research concerning the toxicity of Tephrosia virginiana in Oklahoma populations. She tied in with Fred Schneider’s presentation by giving an example of how the Creek Indians used this plant to aid in the catching of fish. Mark Bays gave his stirring account of his involvement with the Survivor tree and the tremendous effort that has been made to save the tree and protect it during and after construction of the Memorial. Marilyn Stewart gave us an update on the progress of House Bill 2990 that was filed by Representative Jeannie McDaniel of Tulsa with the help of Representative Ryan Kiesel of Seminole to help protect wildflowers plantings and reduce mowing along our highways. Ron Tyrl supplied tree rings for us to count. A prize was given to Will Lowry of Stillwater for the correct answer. About a dozen microscopes were set up for attendees to view during the breaks. Our thanks to Pat Folley and Wayne Elisens who put so much effort into this fine exhibit. Tina Julich manned the Color Oklahoma table and the Bebb Herbarium was also available for tours during this time. Wayne and Susan Chambers did another fine job of "vending" ONPS materials. Lunch was provided on site and Sheila Strawn gave us an overview of the Lake Stanley Draper project. A number of attendees took the opportunity to tour the Sam Noble Natural History Museum. We’d like to extend a special thanks to Wayne Elisens for arranging for the facility and his help in making this outing possible.

2007 Annual Meeting

The 2007 Annual Meeting of the Oklahoma Native Plant Society was headquartered at the Sand Springs Community Center on October 5th to 7th. This year we had 44 people who attended our meeting and field trips. Many people came from the Norman area and others came from Mustang, Noble, Pink, McLoud, Midwest City, Weatherford, Stillwater, Sapulpa, Claremore, Sand Springs and Tulsa.
Friday - Activities began around 6pm with registration and the addition of donated items to our auction tables. At 8pm, Carrie Henderson from the Oklahoma Centennial Botanical Garden gave a presentation regarding the Garden’s progress in fundraising and upcoming construction. We learned that the Garden received funds from the Centennial Project to begin development of the site with a lake and a visitor’s center. The garden will be a diverse botanical garden with 15 major gardens that will encompass 60 smaller gardens and special features and structures. The majority of the garden site will be preserved for its ecological significance as a cross timbers site. Natural areas will surround the formal gardens. Carrie’s presentation was a prelude to our field trip to the Oklahoma Centennial Botanical Garden scheduled for the next morning. The group dispersed near 9:00pm.
Saturday - After a quick continental breakfast at the community center, the group carpooled and caravanned to the Botanical Gardens site. At the site we met Dr. Jay Walker, our field trip leader for the morning. Jay has been volunteering his time and energy at the botanical garden in order to start and maintain the nature trail system. Jay and Dr. Ron Tyrl collaborated on the plant identification guide to the most common plants that occur along the trail system. Jay brought many copies of the plant ID guide titled, ‘A Walk in the Woods’. During our walk we traveled through typical cross timbers; the site was dotted with old post oaks, gnarled blackjack oaks and many hickories. The most impressive tree we saw along the trail was the ‘witness tree’ nominee. In honor of the Oklahoma centennial, this large post oak has been nominated to be a witness tree as it was most likely present at the site 100 years ago as Oklahoma became a state. This post oak has a 77" trunk in circumference and may have not only witnessed the beginning of Oklahoma, but the birth of the United States more than 200 years ago.
After a lunch break, the group met again at the Sand Springs community center. Our next field trip site was the Keystone Ancient Forest. Once again we caravanned to the site where we were met by a group of newly trained docents. Two groups went separate ways for either a short hike or a longer one. Once again we were treated to old post oak, blackjack oak, eastern red cedar and hickories. We even found ladies tresses’ orchids in bloom.

We finished Saturday with a group dinner at the community center, a membership business meeting with the election of new officers, presentation of the Service Award and the silent auction. There were few changes to the current board roster except for the addition of Drs. Bruce Smith and Connie Murray as new directors-at-large. Our third annual silent auction raised approximately $460.00 for the general funds of the Oklahoma Native Plant Society. The ONPS board met Sunday morning to discuss current issues ranging from conservation to Color Oklahoma. All in all, the 2007 Annual Meeting was an enjoyable weekend spent with new and longtime friends, both of the human and botanical persuasion. Many thanks to all who attended!

The winner of the 2007 Service Award is Tina Julich, who currently is the Chair of Color Oklahoma, Photo Contest manager and maintains ONPS Membership . Sue Amstutz, chair of the Service Award Committee presented Tina with the award during the Annual Meeting.