Upcoming Field Trips
NEBS Day Field Trips and Collecting Trips in 2024
Revised July 2024. Save updated PDF for all details and registration links.
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. Please note each trip has a capacity limit.
Saturday, June 29 (9 AM – 11 AM) – Highstead, Redding, Connecticut
- Leader: Ed Faison, Senior Ecologist and Geordie Elkins, Executive Director
- Explore the ecology of Highstead's 192-acre preserve and see the natural and semi-natural plant habitats of southwestern Connecticut including an oak forest, mesic forest, grassland meadow, forested wetland, and pollinator meadow that are home to plant, bird, and mammal species of special concern. In addition, see some of Highstead's native plant collections, field research sites, and naturally designed landscapes and learn about the work with ecotype seeds.
- Terrain: Moderately difficult (elevation change 250 feet)
- Capacity 15 participants
- Register here so Geordie may be in touch with you about this trip.
Saturday, August 10 (9 AM – 2PM) – Maidstone Bends, Northumberland, New Hampshire
- Leader: Scott Bailey, US Forest Service, Retired
- Visit and explore the floodplain forests, oxbow wetlands, and a floodplain forest restoration project in the Maidstone Bends region at the junction of the Upper Ammonoosuc and Connecticut Rivers.
- Terrain: Moderately difficult
- Capacity 10 participants
- Register here so Scott may be in touch with you about this trip.
Saturday, August 17 (9 AM – 1 PM) – Stacy Mountain Preserve, Gill, Massachusetts
- Leader: Peter Grima, Co-Author, Flora of Franklin County, MA
- The Nature Conservancy's Stacy Mountain is a botanical hotspot that continues to
turn up new records of rare and interesting plants. In a relatively short distance, we will explore rich vernal pools, cliffs of sedimentary bedrock, and a dry powerline riddled with legumes and interesting grasses. Hickory-hop hornbeam woodlands and a rich, cold swamp are also nearby.
- Terrain: Difficult
- Capacity 12 participants
- Register here so Peter may be in touch with you about this trip.
Saturday, August 24 (Rescheduled from June 1) (9 AM – 2 PM) – Sheepscot Headwaters Preserve, Montville, Maine
- Leader: Christian Schorn, Forest Ecologist, Maine Natural Areas Program
- The Northern Headwaters Preserve of Midcoast Conservancy contains nearly 1,000 acres of relatively late-successional forest protecting the headwaters of the Sheepscot River, one of the most biodiverse and healthy rivers in Midcoast Maine. Highlighted as an area of interest for survey by state agencies, this rural landscape is likely under-botanized. Walk a loop trail through the preserve, exploring ridgelines, pockets of local enrichment, and riparian plant communities; all information will inform the management plan for this growing preserve, which was recently recognized as one of the only blocks of protected "Wildlands" south of the Appalachian Trail in Maine.
- Terrain: Moderately difficult (3.5-5 miles)
- Trip Capacity: 15
- Register here so Chris may be in touch with you about this trip.
Saturday, September 7 (9 AM – 2 PM) – Dead River and Androscoggin Lake Flora, Wayne, Maine
- Leader: Eric Doucette, State Botanist, Maine Natural Areas Program
- A botanical exploration by kayak of the Dead River delta and western shores of Androscoggin Lake. We will botanize emergent plants as well as go ashore in various places to see Carex typhina, Fimbristylis autumnalis, and Lipocarpha micrantha (syn. Cyperus subsquarrosus).
- Capacity 12 participants
- Please bring your own kayak and lunch
- Register here so Eric may be in touch with you about this trip.
NEBS COLLECTING TRIPS
NEBS is continuing 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. Our collecting 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 Vascular and Cryptogam Herbaria (NEBC). The 2024 collecting foray is in an area of New England that is under-represented in the historical and modern collection.
Saturday, September 21 (Rescheduled from June 23) – Bennington County, Vermont, in Manchester area
- Leaders: Lisa Standley, NEBS Curator of Vascular Plants, Elizabeth Kneiper, NEBS Curator of Cryptogams
- Join the NEBS Herbarium Curators Bennington County, Vermont, to collect specimens of the modern vascular and cryptogam flora (and lichens too!) for the herbarium. We'll be collecting both native and non-native species to provide a modern record of the diversity, distribution, and phenology of plants in a relatively under-collected area. This will be a great opportunity to learn about the flora, as well as techniques for plant collecting! Be prepared for a day in the field.
- Please re-register at this new link 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 due to weather or access. Trips may be cancelled if enrollment is low. The trip leaders will send meeting time, location, and directions to those who register for their trip. Please remember to bring all your collecting equipment, personal gear (lunch, water, insect repellent, field guides, hand lens), courtesy, and curiosity.
