Midlands Chapter Field Trip to Stevens Creek Heritage Preserve

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Dan Whitten will lead a small group of us through Stevens Creek Heritage Preserve, a place Patrick McMillan has called, “beyond a doubt the premier site to visit and photograph spring ephemerals in the Midstate. The preserve has a combination of extraordinary color and rare species which can be seen nowhere else in the state.”

Photo by Dan Whitten

Note that this is not the Rocky Shoals Spider Lily preserve at Parks Mill. That’s upstream. Are you getting a sense this is a special area?

The soil at Stevens Creek Heritage Preserve provides for rare relict species that have likely grown here since the last ice age. Among them are several Trillium species, False Rue Anemone, Shooting Star, Dutchhman’s Breeches (maybe the only place in South Carolina to see it wild), and the federally threatened Lake Miccosukee Gooseberry, South Carolina’s only native Gooseberry. It is known from just two areas worldwide, in this preserve and by Lake Miccosukee in Florida.

Space is limited to 15! Sign up at the form here.
You’ll receive a followup email with info on carpooling and more.

Questions? Email midlandsfieldtrips@scnps.org

Read more about the preserve at Name That Plant, the official SCDNR page, and photos collected on iNaturalist.

 

Autumn Seed Collection Field Trip

Join Dr. Bill Stringer and friends for this years fall seed collection trip.  This trip will increase your knowledge about native plants and wild seed collection, while re-stocking our Upstate Native Nursery with native genotype seeds for the future.  To join, just meet at the Holly Springs store on SC Hwy 11 in Pickens county at 9:am.  From there the group will car pool to various sites until 2:pm.  Bring small paper bags, a sharpie marker, good shoes, drinking water and snacks or a portable lunch.

When:  Saturday Oct 15th from 9am – 2pm

Where:  Meet at Holly Springs Store, 6491 SC-11, Pickens, SC 29671 at 9am   Park in gravel lot above the store, not in store parking spaces.

Contact:  Bill Stringer- Catboyz@nctv.com or 864-979-3169 or Dan Whitten at sdwhit10@aol.com.

Field Trip to Station Cove Falls

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Saturday, March 23  8am to 2pm     Leaders:  Rick Huffman and Dan Whitten

Join Rick and Dan on this 3/4 mile easy trek into Sumpter National Forest.  Station Cove Falls is the premier cove forest habitat in the Upstate to see Spring ephemerals. such at Trilliums, Mayapples, and much more.  A grand reward at the trail’s end is Station Cove Falls!

Rick Huffman says,

“Station Cove Falls (also called Oconee Station Falls) is an ancient, timeless place where geology and plate tectonics have shaped and formed this land into what we see today.  Each year the pilgrimage begins early in February and March to see the promise of a rich bounty of botanical treasures.

Few realize how botanically old this place is or understand the role of amphibolite (Mineral) plays in making this a botanical wonderland. Some have said it’s the best Cove Forest habitat on the Eastern Seaboard, some in authority have claimed this place to be the most ancient place for plants on the planet.  From Blood Root, Trilliums, Mayapple, Violets, Rue Anemone, Hepatica and wood betony, we find ourselves in reverence of this place. We find salvation from our urban hectic lives and we feel at home. I have called this place ‘The Church’. It’s where I go to find that peace, that serenity, the sense of promise and renewal.  The SCNPS has long held this place sacred and we go there on March 23rd to experience the wonders of creation and of time and place. Joins us as we make the journey back in time to find our peace today.”

You don’t want to miss this trip!!  The outing will also include a excursion along the Estatoe at Nine Times Nature Preserve to view many more spring wildflowers.

Meet at 8am at Holly Springs Store, 6491 SC-11, Pickens, SC 29671, at the intersection of Hwy. 11 and SC 178.   Bring water, lunch/snacks and dress in field clothing and hiking or sturdy walking shoes.  A hiking stick is optional.

To sign up contact Rick Huffman at : <rick_huffman@earthde-signsc.com>or call (864) 901-7583.  Please include a cell phone number for last minute information.  Please include the number in your party, whether or not you are willing to be a driver for carpooling, and how many riders you could accommodate.