St. Anne Woods and Wetlands: Flora & Fauna's Journal

Lichens will be the topic of our second Summer 2024 REFS Talk & Walk, which is this evening (Wednesday, June 19) from 7-9 pm. Kendall McDonald, a Kentucky Nature Preserves botanist, will introduce these cool, mutualistic organisms, and then we'll venture into the Great Outdoors to see them "in person".

If you're interested in joining us, there's still time to sign up.

For the latest information and updates or to register, visit NKU's official REFS website: https://www.nku.edu/academics/artsci/about/centers/refs/register.html

Parking is available in front of the Field Station:
NKU Research and Education Field Station (NKU REFS)
99 Harrison Ct, Melbourne, KY 41059

And the fine print...
Class size: Limit of 20 people
Fee: Donating $10 to NKU REFS is encouraged
Please register via the REFS website at least 6 hours before the event.

Appropriate clothing/gear: The wetlands is an open field with chest-high vegetation in most areas, some of which is spiny. The trails are mowed or bare earth, but are often muddy. Mosquitoes, ticks, and poison ivy are all common residents of the area. The river bank also hosts stinging nettle. While we aim to keep the Talk & Walk hikes not-too-strenuous, proper clothing will allow for more flexibility and comfort while exploring the area. Wear clothing durable in the face of mud and bug spray. Long pants will provide protection from aggressive plants and can be tucked into socks to discourage ticks. Waterproof boots are suggested if you can't stand muddy socks, otherwise, a comfortable pair of sneakers with good treads and a spare pair of dry socks should do.

We have five "Talk & Walk" events planned for Summer 2024, to be held from 7-9 pm on select Wednesday evenings. (Except for the program on fireflies, which runs 7:30-9:30). These usually take the form of an educational talk on some topic and then a hike around the woodlands or wetlands to actually apply what was being discussed.

This summer's topics list is:

June 5: Lighting up the Shadows: The Secret Lives of Fireflies, Lightning Bugs, & Glow-worms
– Matthew Speights (7:30 – 9:30 pm)

June 19: Lichens of Northern Kentucky
– Kendall McDonald, Kentucky Nature Preserves

July 10: Latent connections between woody plants and amphibians at vernal pools
– Yingying Xi, NKU Biological Sciences

July 24: Exploring the world of ants
– Steve Yanoviak, U of L Biology

August 7: Algae.nku.edu: Discovering the wonderful algae at REFS
– Miriam Kannan, NKU Biological Sciences, Emeritus & Mark Nienaber

For the latest information and updates or to register, visit NKU's official REFS website: https://www.nku.edu/academics/artsci/about/centers/refs/register.html

Parking is available in front of the Field Station:
NKU Research and Education Field Station (NKU REFS)
99 Harrison Ct, Melbourne, KY 41059

And the fine print...
Class size: Limit of 20 people
Fee: Donating $10 to NKU REFS is encouraged
Please register via the REFS website at least 6 hours before the event.

Appropriate clothing/gear: The wetlands is an open field with chest-high vegetation in most areas, some of which is spiny. The trails are mowed or bare earth, but are often muddy. Mosquitoes, ticks, and poison ivy are all common residents of the area. The river bank also hosts stinging nettle. While we aim to keep the Talk & Walk hikes not-too-strenuous, proper clothing will allow for more flexibility and comfort while exploring the area. Wear clothing durable in the face of mud and bug spray. Long pants will provide protection from aggressive plants and can be tucked into socks to discourage ticks. Waterproof boots are suggested if you can't stand muddy socks, otherwise, a comfortable pair of sneakers with good treads and a spare pair of dry socks should do.

Earth Day is April 22nd! Join us to celebrate Earth Day at the NKU Research and Education Field Station (NKU REFS) on Saturday, April 20! Guided tours through the St. Anne Wetlands will be available every half hour (2:00, 2:30, 3:00, and 3:30 pm). Bring your rain/muck boots and dress for the weather!

Celebrate Earth Day by getting outside and learning about the flora and fauna that call these wetlands home. The St. Anne Natural Areas Woods and Wetlands are a conservation easement purchased with a Kentucky Heritage Land Conservation Fund grant to the Campbell County Conservation District, and are managed in collaboration with NKU REFS.

Saturday, April 20, 2024
2 pm to 4 pm
NKU Research and Education
Field Station (NKU REFS)
99 Harrison Ct, Melbourne, KY 41059

Questions? Contact NKU REFS or the Campbell County Conservation District
Phone: 859-572-6637 / 859-635-9587
Email: refs@nku.edu / cccd@campbellkyconservation.org

Want a virtual flower guide for your hike through the St. Anne Woods or Wetlands?

You can view all collections from this project sorted by species to see what's most commonly being reported.

For a more seasonally-focused look at what might be around, here are some links to what's been reported from the area organized by months. The searches were based on nearby properties as well as the St. Anne Woods & Wetlands, so will include things not yet reported from here, but still likely to be seen.

January to February: Good trees and perhaps a few early flowers are visible at this time.

March to April: This is peak spring ephemeral season: troutlilies, toadshades, and wild ginger abound.

May to June: The summer flowers are starting up. Composites, beebalm, and milkweeds add color to open fields in and around the wetlands.

July to September: This is a great time to see bumblebees and butterflies active on the summer and early fall flowers. Jewelweed is blooming in the woods and the swamp milkweed is blooming in the wetlands. It's also a good time to keep an eye out for caterpillars who are enjoying the foliage.

October to December: The last of the fall flowers wrap things up, but never fear: Fall and winter are a good time to check out the local trees. This is the time of year when you can see how oaks, hickories, beeches, buckeyes, persimmons, and paw-paws all do their part to contribute fruit and seeds to the forest floor (and the local critters).

10 am, Saturday, April 6:

NKU's REFS is hosting a wildflower hike for members of the Kentucky Native Plant Society as part of the statewide botany blitzes leading up to Wildflower Weekend ( see the project at https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/knps-wildflower-week-2024-botany-blitz ).

We'll meet at the field station building and then carpool over about 2 blocks to the trailhead of the public, South Wetland trail (parking is pretty limited there).

The trail makes perhaps a mile long loop out through swampy woodland with lots of beech trees. There is an astounding population of trout lily at the back of the trail, and all sorts of other interesting spring ephemerals blooming throughout the woodlands. Paw-paw and spicebush are also common along the trailsides.

The trail is flat, but a bit muddy at this time of year, so shoes good for hiking are recommended.

If you're in the area at the time, feel free to join us.

We have four "Talk & Walk" events planned for Summer 2023, to be held from 7-9 pm on select Wednesday evenings. These usually take the form of an educational talk on some topic and then a hike around the woodlands or wetlands to actually apply what was being discussed.

This summer's topics list is:

June 21: Observation, Identification, and Fun – An Introduction to Using iNaturalist – Maggie Whitson, NKU
July 5: Drawing From Nature – Amy Bogard, Freelance Artist
July 19: Building Bird-Feeders for our Feathered Friends – Richard Durtsche, NKU
August 2: What is a native bee? What is a solitary bee? Is that bee going to sting me? Explorations into the fascinating world of the bees that live among us – Jim Nedderman, NKU

For the latest information and updates or to register, visit NKU's official REFS website: https://inside.nku.edu/artsci/centers/refs/talk---walk.html

Parking is available in front of the Field Station:
NKU Research and Education Field Station (NKU REFS)
99 Harrison Ct, Melbourne, KY 41059

And the fine print...
Class size: Limit of 20 people
Fee: Donating $10 to NKU REFS is encouraged
Please register via the REFS website at least 6 hours before the event.

Appropriate clothing/gear: The wetlands is an open field with chest-high vegetation in most areas, some of which is spiny. The trails are mowed or bare earth, but are often muddy. Mosquitoes, ticks, and poison ivy are all common residents of the area. The river bank also hosts stinging nettle. While we aim to keep the Talk & Walk hikes not-too-strenuous, proper clothing will allow for more flexibility and comfort while exploring the area. Wear clothing durable in the face of mud and bug spray. Long pants will provide protection from aggressive plants and can be tucked into socks to discourage ticks. Waterproof boots are suggested if you can't stand muddy socks, otherwise, a comfortable pair of sneakers with good treads and a spare pair of dry socks should do.

Join us to celebrate Earth Day at the NKU Research and Education Field Station (NKU REFS) on Saturday, April 22, 2023.

Guided hikes through the St. Anne Wetlands (the fenced, northernmost tract of land along the Ohio River) will be available every half hour (2:00, 2:30, 3:00, and 3:30 pm). The trails are relatively flat, but will likely be muddy, so bring your rain/muck boots and dress for the weather!

Parking is available in front of the Field Station, which is also near the trailhead:

NKU Research and Education
Field Station (NKU REFS)
99 Harrison Ct, Melbourne, KY 41059

Curious? Need more information? See the REFS website for a map and further information about the Field Station and events there: https://inside.nku.edu/artsci/centers/refs.html

NKU's Research & Education Field Station (REFS) is hosting its annual Nature Adventure Day on Saturday, September 24, 2022, from 1-5 pm. If you're in the northern Kentucky area, come join us for nature hikes, scavenger hunts for the kids, turtle races, and educational displays.

REFS is at 99 Harrison Court in Melbourne Kentucky, right along the Ohio River.

If you're not a local, we've coordinated this activity with TACO (Take a Child Outside) week, which runs September 24-30, so there may be participating parks or organizations in your area offering family-friendly outdoor events.