Upcoming Field Trips

NEBS Day Field Trips and Collecting Trips in 2022

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DAY FIELD TRIPS

Day field trips are informal, small-group outings to explore interesting places and to see (not collect) interesting plants, facilitated by knowledgeable and enthusiastic leaders. Bring your lunch, water, insect repellent, field guides, hand lens, and curiosity. Be prepared for the terrain and level of difficulty indicated for each trip. Please register at least 1 week in advance to get meeting time, location, and directions. Trips may be cancelled if enrollment is low or if inclement weather. Trips will be limited to 14 participants.

Saturday, June 18 – Introduction to Invasive Species, Natick MA

• This short field trip to the Natick MA Hunnewell Town Forest will provide an introduction to many of the invasive plant species of eastern Massachusetts. The 200-acre complex of forest, meadow, and wetland contains 26 invasive species, including the emerging invasives Japanese angelica, sapphire berry, and wineberry. We will walk the easy trails and occasionally venture off-trail to find these target species, learn identification characters, and discuss control strategies.
• Leader: Lisa Standley, NEBS Curator of Vascular Plants, Natick Trails and Forest Stewardship Committee
• Register here so Lisa may be in touch with you about this trip

Saturday, July 9 – West Rock Ridge, West Rock Ridge State Park, Hamden and New Haven, CT Joint field trip with the Connecticut Botanical Society

• West Rock is a distinctive feature on the greater New Haven landscape; the sheer, rusty-red cliff face is visible from much of New Haven and Rt. 15 tunnels through the middle! The ridge is the southwestern end of the Metacomet Range, a series of traprock (basaltic igneous rock) ridges that run through Connecticut's Central Valley and up into northwestern Massachusetts. From the shores of Lake Wintergreen to the rich talus slopes and dry oak-hickory glades along the ridge top, West Rock is home to a varied and distinctive plant community. Beginning botanists and all plant-curious people are very welcome! Together, we will get to know some of the plants - both common and unusual - that call southern CT home. There will also be plenty to see for more experienced botanists as we all learn together. Terrain in West Rock includes steep slopes and rocky trails. We will move slowly as a group, but the footing is uneven in places. Total distance covered will depend on our pace, but will not be more than 3 miles
• Leader: Laura Green, NEBS Councilor, Forester & Botanist
• Register here so Laura may be in touch with you about this trip.

Saturday, July 16 – Botany of Berry and Dexter Ponds, Winthrop and Wayne, ME

• This kayak and canoe field trip will explore the aquatic, emergent, and pond-shore plants of Berry and Dexter Ponds in Winthrop and Wayne, ME. It will provide an introduction and guided keying of the aquatic, wetland, and pond-side plants of south-central Maine. These small shallow ponds offer excellent plant diversity, and participants can gain experience identifying plant groups that are often perceived as difficult, such as grasses, sedges, rushes, and willows. During our paddle, we will learn identification characters and key plants out together. A canoe or kayak is required.
• Leader: Eric Doucette, NEBS Councilor, Programs and Herbarium Committee Member, Associate Professor of Biology, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts
• Register here so Eric may be in touch with you about this trip.

Saturday, September 3 – Plants of the Bike Path: Minuteman Commuter Bikeway, Arlington, MA

• As you shift into gear along the Minuteman Commuter Bikeway, have you ever wondered which plant species were living there? During this brief field trip, we will seek to answer that important question. As we walk, peddle, or roll our way from the Alewife Brook Reservation to Spy Pond in Arlington, we will take the opportunity to learn and identify many of the plant species often passed by at high speeds. Get to know your green neighbors with this easy, informal stroll along 1.5 miles of the Minuteman Commuter Bikeway. Approximately 1.5 miles at consistent elevation along bike path; ~3 miles round trip.
• Leader: Michael Piantedosi, NEBS Councilor, Director of Conservation, Native Plant Trust
• Register here so Michael may be in touch with you about this trip.

Saturday, September 24 – Remnant Sandplains and Lakeshore Sedges, Burlington, VT

• Join us on a field walk through an interesting pair of sandy natural communities in Burlington, VT. We will begin in a remnant Pine-Oak-Heath Sandplain Forest for a discussion of how underlying geologic processes drive plant distribution and a look at a few rare disturbance-loving species. We will then walk up the bike path to a Lake Sand Beach for a look at some charismatic drawdown species, including late-season sedges, with views of the Adirondacks. Terrain will be flat, and we expect to walk 1-2 miles in all.
• Leaders: Brett Engstrom, Consulting Botanist/Ecologist, and Grace Glynn, Consulting Ecologist and NEBS Programs Committee Member
• Register here so Grace may be in touch with you about this trip.

NEBS COLLECTING TRIPS

NEBS is reviving the tradition of Society collecting trips! The goal is to better represent the modern distribution of plants in New England as a resource for research. We are sponsoring two collecting forays in 2022, both in areas of New England that are under-represented in the historical and modern collection. These forays promise to be fun and will provide participants with the opportunity to visit new botanically interesting areas, learn new plants, and learn how to collect. We will also develop a species list for each locality as a resource for the local land managers. All specimens will be mounted, databased, and deposited in the NEBS Herbarium (NEBC), which currently holds over 260,000 New England specimens of vascular plants.

Saturday, August 6 – Wantastiquet Mountain, Winchester, Chesterfield and Hinsdale, NH

• Join in on this day-long collection trip to Wantastiquet Mountain Natural Area to document the site's flora. Wantastiquet Mountain Natural Area is a 520-acre State Forest located in Hinsdale, NH (Cheshire County). The site's steep slopes are certain to provide interesting botanical exploration! The majority of our visit will occur off-trail on steep terrain (moderately difficult to difficult).
• Leader: Matt Charpentier, NEBS President, Field Botanist, Oxbow Associates, Inc.
• Register here so Matt may be in touch with you about this trip.

Saturday, August 27 – Mount Hope Farm and the Haile Farm Preserve, Bristol and Warren, RI

• Bristol County is one of the most under-collected areas in Rhode Island, so this day-long collection trip will be particularly valuable. We will visit two private protected areas in Bristol County – the historic Mount Hope Farm and the Haile Farm Preserve (Warren Land Conservation Trust). The terrain is relatively flat, and we will largely be on trails in varied upland and wetland habitats.
• Leader: Lisa Standley, NEBS Curator of Vascular Plants
• Register here so Lisa may be in touch with you about this trip

REMINDER: Each trip can accommodate a limited number of people, so please register at least 1 week in advance. This will ensure that you have a slot and will let the trip leader contact you if there are any changes. Trips may be cancelled if enrollment is low or if inclement weather. The trip leaders will send meeting time, location, and directions to those who register for their trip. Please remember to bring all your personal gear (lunch, water, insect repellent, field guides, hand lens), courtesy, and curiosity.