Thursday

For your arrival, please check in to your lodging at least an hour before the start of the evening program

5:00 pm Afternoon Indoor Welcome / Orientation at the Tremper Manor House

5:30 pm Short Indoor Presentation: Appalachian Spring Phenology & The Flora of Ohio’s Deep South A visual presentation of the early season phenology across the Arc, from the heart of winter to late spring. We will take a first look at some of the common, rare, and regionally significant species of wildflowers that we may see in the field through the weekend.
6:00 pm Evening Birding at the Historic Simon Farm & Woods. For the first field trip of the weekend, we will take a light stroll through the first section of the new Simon Woods trail under the lead of two highly experienced local birders Daniel & Bailey Smith. Simon Woods is a 600+ acre mature-old growth mixed-oak forest that connects to the largest state forest in Ohio, Shawnee State Forest. The region’s extensive, unbroken forests serve as a spectacular haven for neotropical migratory songbirds and late-spring Appalachian flora.
8:00 pm Evening - Dusk Outdoor Program: Birding at Simon Pond and Simon Woods At Dusk, we will cap off the day with an evening-dusk birding session, listening for Whip-poor-wills. We may also see the very first firefly displays of the year in the surrounding meadows - Spring Four Flashers (Photuris veriscolor var quadrifulgens)!

End of the Day.

Friday

7:00 am - 8:00 am Morning Breakfast, Coffee & Tea at Tremper Manor House. Enjoy a warm breakfast and pack your lunches for the day - we will have all the components you need. Please bring a daypack to carry your lunch in, a lunch bag, and a filled water bottle.

Depart for Ohio Hanging Rock Preserve in Eastern Scioto County

9:00 am Afternoon Guided Hike at Ohio Hanging Rock Preserve: Wildflowers & Birding. We will hike the 4-mile Lake Tight Trace Trail, guiding the group through the heart of the preserves’ 700+ acres of contiguous forest, which is renowned for its botanical diversity and its numerous rocky, narrow ravines. The beginning of this trail, in particular, winds through a richly floriferous valley filled with wildflowers and ferns. We will also explore some of the off-trail botanical highlights along Skull Creek Hollow. Lunch will take place at the preserve on the trail, so we recommend that you bring a large plastic bag or other waterproof “tarp” to sit on, so you don’t have wet pants while sitting down during our rest breaks.

2:00 pm Short Afternoon Field Trip to Wayne National Forest Wetlands. Following the Ohio Hanging Rock Hike, we will caravan a short distance to a large expanse of protected wetlands within the Wayne National Forest, where will discuss the unique natural history of the region that helps us understand the land’s capacity to harbor diverse wetland ecosystems in Appalachian Ohio.

3:00 pm Depart Wayne National Forest Wetlands

Rest/Break and Dinner on your Own. Registrants will be provided options for dinner in town around the New Boston-Portsmouth-West Portsmouth area.

7:00 pm Evening-Dusk Birding in the Lower Scioto River Floodplains. After everyone has had an opportunity to replenish with a personal break and dinner, we will meet back up at the Tremper Manor House, where we will caravan down to Tremper Mound’s 200+ acres of protected Scioto River Floodplain searching for bottomland/riparian-loving birds and American Woodcock courtship displays.

End of the Day.

Saturday

7:00 am - 8:00 am Morning Breakfast, Coffee & Tea at Tremper Manor House. Enjoy a warm breakfast and pack your lunches for the day - we will have all the components you need. Please bring a daypack to carry your lunch in, a lunch bag, and a filled water bottle.

8:30 am Guided Caravan through Shawnee State Forest: Roadside Botany and Birding. Program leaders will lead the group on a guided caravan through the many forest roads of Shawnee State Forest. We will be making frequent stops to step out of our cars as we spot things of interest. We will be sharing spotting scopes with the group for sighting birds in the canopies. Lunch will take place at one of the park’s many scenic overlooks.

1:00 pm Afternoon Field Trip at Kamama Prairie Preserve: Wildflowers & Birds of The Ohio Bluegrass Prairies We will finish off the weekend hiking 2.5 miles through one of our most botanically rich and ecologically unique preserves, Kamama Prairie. The preserve is found in the globally rare bluegrass region of southcentral Ohio. Here we will be exposed to a different guild of flora and fauna, locally specialized to dolomite glades composed of short grass prairie barrens, oak savanna and successional red-cedar groves.

4:00 pm Depart for Home.