The Midwest Native Plant Society, whose raison d'etre is to organize and run the Midwest Native Plant Conference (already sold out this year), also hosts one or two spur conferences annually. And this fall's event will be a doozy. It's been dubbed the Shawnee Nature Safari and will take place the weekend of September 10-12. Base camp is the wonderful Shawnee State Park Lodge nestled in the center of the state forest.
A major focus of this event, as is the case with all of our events, is to get people out in the field. We'll be doing that with the help of some of Ohio's most knowledgeable natural history experts. September in Shawnee is a great time for learning about fall flora, but all of those plants - some 1,000 native species in the forest! - drives animal life. Plenty of southbound migrant birds will be passing through, and butterflies should still be plentiful and diverse. But not as much as moths, the (mostly) nocturnal butterflies. We will make special efforts to lure them in at night, and will also engage in nighttime safaris looking for caterpillars.
There will be speakers each evening. I'll be talking about native flora, the caterpillars that eat them, and their role in the bigger picture of conservation on Friday night. On Saturday evening, conservation biologist Jack Stenger will give a program on promoting plants for biodiverse landscapes. And for those so inclined, I will lead an outdoors photography workshop (limited number of participants) on Sunday morning.
The event is already filling rapidly, but there is still space and we'd love to have you join us. For all of the details and registration information, just GO HERE.