MAGNOLIA CHAPTER: July-August 2015
- Petitioned DOT in Wakulla County to designate a new reduced ROW mow along a 1.5-mile portion of US 98 to protect a critically endangered population of Brickellia cordifolia (Flyr's Nemesis). The petition was approved, and the plants are (currently) protected.
-Working with a private land owner in urban Tallahassee to protect a colony of Asclepias tomentosa (Velvetleaf Milkweed) from being excessively mowed. The property owner supports the conservation, but the city was not initially convinced, as they attempted to fine the property owner for not mowing the property. Magnolia members worked with the City of Tallahassee to create a code precedence to protect these plants, with a major emphasis being placed on declining monarch butterfly populations. The developing seed pods are being supplied (through a Magnolia Chapter partnership) to the US Fish & Wildlife Service's milkweed propagation nursery, where the seeds are being cultivated for restoration on both private and public lands.
-Magnolia Chapter donated $500.00 to the Florida State University Native Plant Garden for the purchase of plants. Many plants were purchased, planted, and are attracting positive attention from passing individuals walking towards the adjacent FSU football stadium!
-Magnolia just concluded a 1-month volunteer project along the Apalachicola River, where Magnolia volunteers assisted University of Florida researchers survey steephead ravine ecosystems for undocumented populations of endangered Magnolia asheii.
-Magnolia chapter members are currently assisting federal staff at St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge every Tuesday in their support of the federal Milkweed-Monarch Conservation Initiative. These days - which have been deemed "Milkweed Tuesdays" - take volunteers deep into various ecosystems in search of various larval host species, mostly in the Asclepias Genus. Under the oversight of federal botanist Scott Davis, Magnolia volunteers are utilizing ecological survey techniques to discover and document milkweed-monarch conservation hotspots on public land, and dually (tirelessly) working in the federal milkweed nursery, where they have germinated over 10,000 milkweeds in the last 2 months.
