Friday, April 17, 2026

9:30 am – 6:30 pm – OPTIONAL CHECK-IN AT THE APPALACHIAN FOREST MUSEUM.

Stop by, say hello, and pick up your name tag and any destination directions you are missing. If you have time, come earlier in the day and enjoy some quiet hiking on the Sanctuary’s 16 miles of floral-laden trails, many of which are worthy floral destinations but are not included among the Pilgrimage field trip offerings —OR— choose from one of the options below.

TWO FRIDAY PROGRAM OFFERINGS TO CHOOSE FROM:

NEW TO THE PILGRIMAGE? We highly recommend the indoor programs listed below.

3:00 pm – Making the most of iNaturalist this weekend. Meet at the Museum.

iNaturalist is a powerful tool that helps you improve your nature identification skills, builds a community for nature lovers, and provides valuable data to help us track species across our preserves. The Arc will be setting up an iNaturalist Project for the pilgrimage, where you can share photos that you take during the weekend and see everyone else’s observations. If you are new to iNaturalist and need help getting started, we will be dividing people up into groups of ten or fewer and getting hands-on demonstrations on how to use the program on your own phone. Just be sure to download iNaturalist and Seek by iNaturalist on your phone ahead of time. Click here for detailed step-by-step instructions to get started.

4:00 pm – Presentation: ”Why southern Ohio is quite arguably one of the best floral destinations in the world” – Meet at the Museum.

Now, is that claim mere theatrical exaggeration or is it actually a true statement? We will be finding out! You will learn the magic of karst landscapes and why they are so often epicenters of floral showcases. You will also learn the unique combination of the geological, physiological, and anthropological factors that converged in this corner of the world to make this region so floristically special.

BEEN HERE BEFORE? We have several field trips to some of the Arc’s most amazing beaver-impacted landscapes that you can choose from.

2:00 pm - Field Trip

#1 Red Stone Farm Wagon Tour with Drausin Wulsin: Red Stone Farm’s visionary, Drausin Wulsin, will relay the story of how 450 acres of Red Stone Farm transitioned from a lowland farm to a thriving 450-acre and growing wetlands. Short spur walks to features of interest, including a beaver colony.

#2 Red Stone Farm Walking Tour with Jacob Bartley: For attendees with a stronger botanical bent, Jacob, a master wetlands biologist, will also share Red Stone’s extraordinary restoration story while pointing out the amazing native wildflowers, sedges, beaver activity, and amphibian life that flourish in this historic wetland.

#3 Cliff Run Walk with Tim Pohlar, Sanctuary Land Manager: Tim will lead attendees around to the “back side” of Cliff Run Preserve - revealing the seldom-seen extensive land alterations taking place there, thanks to a very industrious beaver colony. You have the option of stopping at the floral-rich quarter-mile Harmony Woods Trail on the way back.

#4 Tours of TWO Beaver Colonies & Short Walks with Brent Charette, Arc Director Land Stewardship: Brent will lead you to impressive beaver “land improvement” developments taking place along the Kamelands Trail, a short distance from the trailhead parking lot, and the “beaver works” along the Cave Road at Taloden Woods, also a short walk from the trailhead.

7:15 pm - 9:00 pm Presentation at the Paxton Theatre

Ohio's Wetlands - Going, Going, Gone

Nancy Stranahan, Arc of Appalachia Director, will share how most of us in modern-day Ohio - even some of our region's most knowledgeable naturalists and biologists - suffer from "wetlands amnesia." Ohio, once considered a wetlands state, has been so thoroughly drained, and drained so long ago, that most of us cannot comprehend the immensity of what we have lost. In this short presentation, you will learn about our region's most invisible natural community and what we can do to bring wetlands back to both our consciousness and our landscapes.

Beaver 101 - I 2025 the Indomitable Beaver delivered the Arc a Clear Message: "You are not in charge!"

Ethan King, Land Stewardship Manager at the Arc's new Regional Hub stationed in Hocking County, will tell the story of how Arc staff members have recently (and involuntarily) come under the instruction of a master engineer, the Beaver. You will learn how effectively beavers are transforming the biodiversity of the natural communities in our Arc preserves, and how inevitable it is that emancipated beavers run up against the resistance of neighboring landowners. Ethan has a bushel of stories to share - some of woe, some humorous, but all of them demonstrations of beavers’ remarkable restoration skills. Here at the Arc of Appalachia, we are pronouncing 2025 as the inception year of our beaver-driven curriculum, while 2026 is hereby announced as the "Year of the Beaver," a year in which we pass on our education to others. As you will see by the program's end, beavers' greatest gift to humanity can be boiled down to simply two things - the cultivation of humanity's humility and an invitation for us to become contributing community members - two very un-American traits, may we say!!