Thursday

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

6:00 pm Weekend Welcome & Introduction at the Appalachian Forest Museum
9:30 pm Evening Indoor Presentation: Ohio Valley Old Growth & Lost Treasures: Extirpated Flora & Fauna of Old Growth After the weekend/welcome & introduction, we look back at the evolution of Ohio Valley old growth and the old growth-dependent flora and fauna that have been lost to two centuries of forest clearing.

Friday

9:30 am Indoor Presentation: Fort Hill, Roosevelt & The CCC’s / Legacy of Lucy Braun. Many of our remaining old-growth forests’ protection can be attributed to the sweeping environmental/conservation movement of the early 20th century, when many of our most iconic natural areas were protected in perpetuity. The story of Fort Hill’s protection is rich with major conservation figures who dedicated much of their lives to protecting what has been left behind in the wake of destructive 19th-century industries and practices.

11:00 am Fort Hill Day Hike along the Gorge Trail & Fort Trail. Fort Hill has possibly the most outstanding example of old-growth forest in all of Southern Ohio. This day hike will be the first opportunity of the weekend to better understand and identify elements that give old-growth stands their unique complexity and high biodiversity. We will look at and discuss the numerous ecological services provided by natural disturbances in old-growth, such as deadfalls, snags, tree cavities, canopy openings, successional diversity, and more! We will be eating lunch on the trail. Registrants will be provided with a packed lunch.

5:00 pm Rest/Break and Dinner on Your Own. Local options for dinner in the Bainbridge/Hillsboro area will be provided to registrants in advance.

8:30-9:30 pm Evening/Night Outdoor Program & Guided Hike - Old Growth Bioluminescence: Fireflies, Phengodes & Fungi Registrants will have the opportunity to learn about bioluminescence in the dark understories of old growth, with an outdoor program at the Fort Hill Shelter House followed by a guided night hike through protected old-growth stands along Bakers Fork Gorge of Fort Hill, a refuge from the hot, illuminating sun where sensitive bioluminescent fauna and fungi still remain

Saturday

8:00 am Depart from Highland Nature Sanctuary to the Tremper Mound Manor House

9:00 am Traditional 19th-century Appalachian Breakfast at the Manor House. Registrants will be served breakfast staples of 19th-century Appalachia, including bacon & eggs, biscuits, gravy, and Simon Sorghum!

10:00 am White Oak Antiquities: A Day Hike in Simon Woods at the historic Simon Farm. The Simon Woods is a newly protected Arc preserve composed of incredible mature to old-growth mixed White Oak forests and Xeric Oak-Pine-Heath uplands. Registrants will learn about forest growth patterns across different slope faces and elevations. We will also look at indicators of soil health through microtopography and the inspection of herbaceous and fungal communities. We will be eating lunch on the trail. Registrants will be provided with a packed lunch.

5:00 pm Rest/Break and Dinner on Your Own. Local options for dinner in Portsmouth and West Portsmouth will be provided to registrants in advance.

8:00 pm Evening Outdoor Presentation at Simon Pond: The Legacy of John Roger Simon and Appalachian Music History

9:30 pm Optional Dusk/Night Program: Whip Poor Wills and Fireflies at Simon Pond. Several of our native fauna are dependent on young, successional scrub/edge habitat created by natural disturbances within mature and old-growth forests. Whip Poor Wills and Fireflies are excellent examples of wildlife utilizing these early successional niches within mature to old-growth forests, and Simon Pond offers spectacular shows of this light and song courtship duet.

Sunday

9:00 am Traditional 19th-century Appalachian Breakfast at the Manor House. Registrants will be served breakfast staples of 19th-century Appalachia, including bacon & eggs, biscuits, gravy, and Simon Sorghum!

9:00 am Morning Program in W-Hollow, Greenup, Kentucky. For the final day of the weekend, we will be giving an indoor presentation on the late Jesse Stuart, a world-famous writer and Kentucky Poet Laureate who drew much of his creative inspiration from the hills of W-Hollow as a boy in early 20th-century Appalachia.

10:30 am Late Morning Day Hike at the Jesse Stuart State Nature Preserve: Registrants will be guided through the 700+ acre Jesse Stuart Preserve to cap off the weekend, where we will look at old-growth mixed White Oak forests and learn how to estimate forest age through a variety of methods, including DBH (Diameter at Breast Height), Crown Height, Tree form/shape, and dendrochronology (counting rings!). We will finish the weekend with a short-story reading of a W-Hollow story by Jesse Stuart. We will be eating lunch on the trail. Registrants will be provided with a packed lunch.

2:00 pm Depart for home.