[Rare Plants and Primary Forests of the Sourland on Jnaury 9, 2025.]
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          I KNOW. OKAY, EVERYONE, WE'RE GOING TO GET STARTED. I HAVEN'T EVEN DONE ANYTHING YET. THANKS I APPRECIATE THAT. SO I'M DOUG VAUGHN LOCKER. I'M THE PROPERTY MANAGER FOR THE SOMERSET COUNTY PARK COMMISSION. I WANT TO THANK EVERYONE HERE IN ATTENDANCE TONIGHT. COMING OUT ON A COLD NIGHT IN JANUARY, AND EVERYONE THAT IS WATCHING FROM HOME ON THE LIVE STREAM. I AM JUST GOING TO MAKE SURE EVERYONE GETS TO THEIR SEAT. AND SAY A FEW THANK YOUS. AND THEN I'M GOING TO PASS THE MICROPHONE OFF TO OUR PRESENTER. SO THIS WAS AN IDEA THAT CAME UP ABOUT A YEAR AGO. 
          AND A GROUP OF PEOPLE HAD A CONVERSATION AND DECIDED IT WAS SOMETHING THAT WE WANTED TO MOVE FORWARD. AND IT TOOK ABOUT A YEAR TO PULL TOGETHER. AND I WANT TO JUST TAKE A MINUTE TO GIVE SOME RECOGNITION TO SOME PEOPLE THAT WERE PART OF THAT PLANNING TEAM. SO I'LL START WITH LORI CLEVELAND, WHO IS THE DIRECTOR OF THE SOUTHLAND CONSERVANCY. LORI IS AWESOME, AND HER TEAM IS AWESOME. SO LORI IS IN THE BACK OF THE ROOM, SO WE THANK THEM. MIKE WHITMAN IS A SENIOR GARDENER AND A FORESTRY COORDINATOR FOR THE SOMERSET COUNTY PARK COMMISSION. I WORK WITH MIKE ON A DAILY BASIS, SO MIKE WAS PART OF THAT PLANNING TEAM AS WELL. MIKE IS HERE. 
          NANCY TORO AND VAL CUDNEY ARE PART OF THE SOMERSET COUNTY CHAPTER OF THE NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY. THAT CHAPTER IS BEEN PART OF THE PLANNING PROCESS, AND WE ALSO HAD SOME SUPPORT FROM BOTH THE CHAPTERS IN HUNTERDON AND MERCER AS WELL. SO VAL AND NANCY ARE HERE. AND LAUREN MASLOWSKI IS THE OPEN SPACE AND STEWARDSHIP DIRECTOR FOR MONTGOMERY TOWNSHIP. SHE HELPED US TO GET THE ROOM AND HELP TO COORDINATE A LOT OF THE MOVING PARTS FOR TONIGHT. THANK YOU. THANKS TO THAT GROUP. IT WAS A GREAT PROCESS WORKING THROUGH THE PLANNING TO GET THIS EVENT PULLED TOGETHER. I ALSO WANTED TO TAKE A SECOND TO THANK ALL OF THE ORGANIZATIONS THAT WERE OUT IN THE ATRIUM THAT TABLED. THERE'S A LOT OF GREAT INFORMATION. I DON'T KNOW HOW LATE THIS WILL GO TONIGHT, BUT I'M SURE THAT MOST OF THOSE TABLES WILL STILL BE AROUND TOWARDS THE END OF THE EVENING, SO FEEL FREE TO STOP BY AND SAY HELLO TO SOME OF THOSE ORGANIZATIONS. WE APPRECIATE THEM BEING HERE. OKAY, SO TWO OTHER PEOPLE THAT I WANTED TO TAKE A MINUTE TO RECOGNIZE. DAN HAYES, WHO IS THE DIRECTOR OF THE SOMERSET COUNTY PARK COMMISSION. I'M NOT SURE IF ALL OF YOU KNOW THIS, BUT THE SOMERSET COUNTY PARK COMMISSION MANAGES AND MAINTAINS THE SOURLAND MOUNTAIN PRESERVE. BUT ALSO HUNDREDS, THOUSANDS OF ADDITIONAL ACRES THAT ARE ADJACENT TO THE PRESERVE AND SCATTERED THROUGHOUT THE REGION. 
          SO DAN IS HERE. DAN IS HERE. THANK YOU. DAN. AND ALSO FROM MONTGOMERY FOR ALL THE SUPPORT. 
          MAYOR SINGH IS HERE WITH US TONIGHT. AND SHE WOULD LIKE TO SAY A FEW WORDS TO THE AUDIENCE BEFORE WE START THE PRESENTATION WITH JARED. SO. I WANT TO AGAIN, MY NAME IS NINA SINGH. I'M THE MAYOR OF MONTGOMERY, AND I WANT TO THANK DOUG AND ALL OF YOU, ACTUALLY, TO COME OUT ON SUCH A COLD JANUARY EVENING. AND I HAVE A FEW THINGS THAT I JUST WANTED A FEW REMARKS FROM ME. I'D LIKE TO WRITE THEM DOWN BECAUSE OTHERWISE I GO TOO LONG. SO I WOULD DO, OF COURSE. THANK ALL OF YOU FOR TAKING OUT THE TIME TO ATTEND THIS PROGRAM ON OUR LOCAL ECOSYSTEM. WE ARE SO FORTUNATE TO LIVE IN A COMMUNITY SURROUNDED BY THIS BEAUTIFUL NATURAL LANDSCAPE. WHILE WE CAN SEE THE ESTHETIC BENEFITS, THERE ARE COUNTLESS WAYS A HEALTHY AND PROSPEROUS ECOSYSTEM BENEFITS THE AIR WE BREATHE AND THE WATER WE DRINK. I WOULD LIKE TO EXTEND A SPECIAL THANK YOU TO THE LAND CONSERVANCY, SOMERSET COUNTY PARK COMMISSION AND NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY OF NEW JERSEY FOR BRINGING THIS VALUABLE PROGRAM TO MONTGOMERY. MORE IMPORTANTLY, I WANT TO RECOGNIZE THESE GROUPS FOR THEIR EFFORTS PRESERVING, PROTECTING, AND STEWARDING SO MUCH OF OUR OPEN SPACE ACROSS 
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THE REGION. WE FREQUENTLY HEAR OF WORLDWIDE GOALS TO REDUCE EMISSIONS AND SLOW THE RATE OF CLIMATE CHANGE. WHEN YOU HEAR THOSE NUMBERS, IT'S EASY TO BECOME COMPLACENT AND THINK THAT THERE ISN'T ANY WAY ONE INDIVIDUAL ACTION CAN HAVE AN IMPACT. BUT THE REALITY IS QUITE DIFFERENT. TOGETHER, WE MUST THINK GLOBAL AND ACT LOCAL. OUR THREE PARTNERS ARE PREPARED TO SHARE WAYS THAT YOU CAN HAVE AN IMPACT, ONE STEP AT A TIME. WHEN WE FOLLOW THEIR ADVICE. 
          PROTECTING OUR RARE PLANT SPECIES AND HELPING THEM THRIVE, THAT CAN HAVE WIDESPREAD IMPACT. 
          THANK YOU AGAIN FOR YOUR INTEREST AND WILLINGNESS TO BE PART OF OUR LOCAL ECO MINDED PROBLEM SOLVERS. AND AGAIN, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR BEING HERE. I'M GOING TO TAKE A MINUTE TO JUST LET YOU GUYS KNOW THAT WE LET EVERYONE KNOW, FORGET THE GUYS, LET EVERYONE KNOW THAT ON JANUARY 30TH, WE HAVE BEAT THE WINTER BLUES RIGHT HERE WHERE YOU ALL ARE. IT'S A WELLNESS RUN PROGRAM BY OUR DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND WOULD LOVE FOR EVERYBODY TO ATTEND. WE'LL HAVE A LOT OF PROGRAMING. I MEAN, AS WE ALL KNOW, WINTER CAN GET LONG AND WE WOULD HAVE ACTIVITIES AND WE HAVE A FEW SPEAKERS WHO WILL TALK ABOUT WELLNESS, MEDITATION AND RESILIENCY. SO I HOPE TO SEE YOU ALL AGAIN JANUARY 30TH. AGAIN, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR COMING. THANK YOU MA'AM. OKAY, SO WE'RE GOING TO MOVE RIGHT NOW INTO THE PRESENTATION. JARED ROSENBAUM IS HERE. AND JARED IS A RENAISSANCE MAN. HE IS A ECOLOGICAL RESTORATION PRACTITIONER. HE IS A BUSINESS OWNER. HE IS A PODCASTER. HE IS AN AUTHOR. HE IS A LOT OF THINGS. ONE TERM THAT I DON'T REALLY THROW AROUND ALL THAT MUCH IS SUBJECT MATTER EXPERT. BUT JARED IS A SUBJECT MATTER EXPERT AND HAS AN IMMENSE PASSION FOR THE SOURLAND MOUNTAIN REGION AND THE PLANTS IN IT. SO YOU'RE IN FOR A GREAT PRESENTATION. AND JARED. THANKS FOR AND EVERYBODY ELSE. 200 MILLION YEARS AGO, NEW JERSEY AND WESTERN AFRICA BEGAN TO SEPARATE. OR TO BE MORE CLEAR, THE EASTERN PART OF NORTH AMERICA AND THE CONTINENT OF AFRICA BEGAN TO PULL APART. AND IN THIS CONTINENTAL MOVEMENT, THE ADJACENT CONTINENTAL LANDMASSES STARTED TO RIFT. AND AS AFRICA AND NEW JERSEY PULLED APART, THOSE RIFTS FILLED WITH MAGMA AND LAVA, LAVA FORMED THE WATCHUNG MOUNTAINS AND THE RIFTS CONTAINING MAGMA FORMED THE SOURLAND MOUNTAINS, ROCKY HILL, THE PRINCETON RIDGE, THE PALISADES, BALDPATE MOUNTAIN, BOWMAN'S HILL OVER IN PENNSYLVANIA. THE MAGMA, WHEN IT'S SOLIDIFIED, BECAME A ROCK CALLED DIABASE, AND THE DIABASE INTRUDED INTO THE SILTS AND MUDSTONES AND SILTSTONES AND MUDSTONES OF THE EXISTING FORMATION THAT HAD ALREADY BEEN IN THIS AREA. ALL THE SHALES MANY OF US ARE FAMILIAR WITH AND HARDENED SOME OF THOSE SHALES IN THEIR FORMATION, AND THEN. IN THE WATCHUNGS PROTRUDED ABOVE THE GROUND, BUT IN THE SOURLANDS REMAINED BURIED UNTIL OVER THOSE INTERVENING MILLIONS OF YEARS. 
          THE DIABASE SLOWLY BECAME REVEALED, AND AS A MORE RESISTANT ROCK THAN THE SHALE BECAME A RIDGE ABOVE THE ADJOINING SHALE LOWLANDS. DIABASE, CHEMICALLY SPEAKING, IS A REALLY INTERESTING ROCK, ESPECIALLY FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF A PLANT. BECAUSE DIABASE IS HIGH IN CALCIUM AND HIGH IN MAGNESIUM, ESSENTIAL PLANT NUTRIENTS THAT ARE FOUND IN SIGNIFICANTLY LESSER EXTENT IN MANY OF THE OTHER ROCKS AND SILICA SANDS WE FIND IN NEW JERSEY. SO THESE RIDGES, THE SOURLANDS AND ALL OF ITS SIBLINGS ARE EXCEPTIONAL IN HOSTING A GEOLOGY THAT IS QUITE UNCOMMON IN THE STATE. IF WE LOOK AT THIS MAP OF CENTRAL AND 
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NORTHERN NEW JERSEY, WHICH I HAVEN'T GOT ANYTHING TO POINT WITH, THE WATCHUNGS HAVE THIS REALLY NICE BRIGHT RED. THAT'S THE BASALT AND THEN THE PURPLE OVER HERE IN THE SOURLANDS AND A BIT UP ALONG THE PALISADES. THAT'S A DIABASE, CHEMICALLY SPEAKING. THOSE TWO ROCK TYPES ARE QUITE SIMILAR, BUT ONE AROSE OUT OF LAVA AND THE OTHER OUT OF MAGMA. THEIR CRYSTAL STRUCTURE IS A LITTLE BIT DIFFERENT. STATEWIDE, DIABASE ACCOUNTS FOR A LITTLE BIT LESS THAN 1% OF THE ENTIRE BEDROCK OF THE STATE. SO ALREADY WE'RE IN AN EXCEPTIONAL REGION. DIABASE IS IMPORTANT NOT ONLY BECAUSE OF ITS UNUSUAL CHEMICAL COMPOSITION HIGH IN CALCIUM, HIGH IN MAGNESIUM, BUT ALSO BECAUSE OF THE EFFECT THAT IT HAD ON LAND USE. HISTORY. IN RECENT AND COLONIAL ERA, THIS MAP IS PROBABLY PRETTY INSCRUTABLE. FOR THOSE OF YOU IN THE AUDIENCE AND MAYBE THOSE OF YOU AT HOME AS WELL. BUT I DO HAVE A BLOW UP ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE. ESSENTIALLY, WHAT YOU'RE SEEING IN THIS MAP IS A MAP CREATED BY THE STATE GEOLOGIST OF NEW JERSEY IN THE LATE 1800S. 
          FROM DATA THAT WAS COMPILED, GOD ONLY KNOWS HOW. THROUGH THE 1870S AND 1880S AND ESSENTIALLY WHAT THEY DID, AMONG OTHER THINGS, IN ADDITION TO CREATING A VERY EXACT TOPOGRAPHICAL REPRESENTATION OF THE STATE, IS THEY MAPPED ALL THE REMAINING FOREST AREAS BECAUSE THIS MAP MAKING ENTERPRISE WAS COMING ON THE HEELS OF THE LARGEST EPISODE OF FOREST CLEARING, WHICH HAD PEAKED IN THE EARLY TO MID 1800S, IN WHICH MOST OF THE MUCH OF THE FOREST OF NEW JERSEY WAS CLEARED AWAY, EITHER TO FUEL. IRON PRODUCTION OR FOR CONVERSION TO AGRICULTURAL LAND. 
          AND SO WHAT YOU'RE SEEING IN THESE MAPS IS THE SAUERLAND MOUNTAINS. AND THE BLOW UP OVER THERE, YOU CAN SEE IT KIND OF SPECKLED WITH TREES, AND THEN ALL THE SURROUNDING LOWLANDS, ESSENTIALLY DEVOID OF TREE COVER, ONLY REMNANT HEDGEROWS, THE OCCASIONAL SMALL WOODLOT. 
          BUT THE SAUERLAND RIDGE, LIKE THIS SORT OF BRISTLY, FIERCE WILD MOHAWK ARISING OUT OF THE AGRICULTURAL LANDS OF CENTRAL NEW JERSEY. AND SO IN THE SOURLANDS WE HAVE WHAT WE CALL PRIMARY FOREST, NOT VIRGIN FOREST OR OLD GROWTH FOREST, BUT LAND THAT HAS REMAINED FORESTED FOR MANY CENTURIES WAS NEVER TILLED OR SIGNIFICANTLY CONVERTED TO AGRICULTURE. THIS DOESN'T MEAN THAT IT WASN'T TIMBERED. IT DOESN'T MEAN THAT PEOPLE DIDN'T RUN HOGS THROUGH IT OR USE IT IN OTHER WAYS. BUT WHAT IT DOES MEAN IS THAT THE SOILS RETAINED THEIR NATIVE SOIL STRUCTURE AND BIOTA. AND SO THE REASON WHY DIABASE IS SO IMPORTANT, IN ADDITION TO ITS CHEMICAL STRUCTURE IS BECAUSE IT VERY ACTIVELY INHIBITED AGRICULTURAL CONVERSION. THOSE BIG BOULDER FIELDS, YOU CAN'T FARM THAT, RIGHT. YOU CAN'T TILL IT. AND THERE'S ALSO MASSIVE AREAS OF BEDROCK WITH POOR DRAINAGE AND SO ON. THERE'S MANY DIFFERENT REASONS WHY THE SOURLANDS WAS HOSTILE TO THE TYPE OF DEVELOPMENT THAT WAS HAPPENING ALL AROUND IT. AND SO THE SOURLANDS BECAME THIS INCREDIBLE REFUGE, A REFUGE FOR PEOPLE AND A REFUGE FOR WILD CREATURES. AMONG ALL THE OTHER BEINGS THAT WERE ABLE TO REMAIN OR FIND REFUGE IN THE SOURLANDS WHILE THEY DWINDLED ELSEWHERE, ARE MANY RARE PLANT SPECIES. THIS IS A LIST THAT I ASSEMBLED, GOSH, FIVE YEARS AGO OR SO. MAYBE MORE ABOUT, MAINLY BASED ON MY EXPERIENCE FROM 1012 YEARS AGO OR SO WHEN I LIVED IN THE SOURLANDS. AND I KNOW THAT THE SOURLAND CONSERVANCY HAS A RARE PLANT IN TURN NOW, AND A PROJECT, AND THEY'RE ACTIVELY INVESTIGATING AND ADDING TO THIS LIST. BUT I WILL SAY THAT THIS LIST IS ALREADY 37 SPECIES STRONG, GIVE OR TAKE, BECAUSE THINGS FALL ON AND OFF THE STATE LIST, BUT VERY IMPRESSIVE FOR A SMALL, SMALL PORTION OF THE STATE. AND SO WE'RE GOING TO BE TALKING A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THESE PLANTS TODAY. WHAT IS A RARITY IN THE OFFICIAL SENSE WITHIN THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY, WE HAVE THE OFFICE OF NATURAL HERITAGE WITHIN DEP. AND THEY DESIGNATE THEY CHOOSE WHICH PLANTS ARE RARITY BASED ON THEIR ABUNDANCE 
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
          WHAT AMERICAN GINSENG IS, IS A VERY PRIZED, VALUABLE MEDICINAL PLANT SPECIES. SO IN THE VERY FIRST EXPORT FROM THE UNITED STATES TO CHINA, BACK IN, I THINK, 1794, ABOARD THE EMPRESS QUEEN, THEY SHIPPED 30 TONS OF AMERICAN GINSENG. AND BY THE MID 1850S, AN ESTIMATED 64 MILLION AMERICAN GINSENG PLANTS HAD BEEN EXPORTED TO CHINA IN INTERNATIONAL TRADE. SO THIS MAY HAVE BEEN THIS WAS PROBABLY ONE OF OUR VERY EARLIEST COMMODITIES THAT THE CHINESE WERE ACTUALLY INTERESTED IN. AND SO AMERICAN GINSENG, ONCE WIDESPREAD IN MOIST, COOL, SHELTERED FORESTS, HAS BECOME MORE AND MORE RARE ACROSS ITS RANGE. AMERICAN GINSENG LIKES WHAT A LOT OF OTHER SHADE PLANTS LIKE IN THE SOURLANDS. YOU KNOW THOSE FORESTS WITH TULIP TREES AND SPICEBUSH AND REASONABLY MOIST ORGANIC SOIL, MAYBE A LITTLE BIT OF A SHELTERED SLOPE? IT'S NOT THAT PICKY, ALTHOUGH I WILL SAY THAT IN SEEING IN OTHER PARTS OF THE STATE, IT IS ONE OF THE PLANTS THAT STRIKES ME AS HANGING ON, OR PARTICULARLY THRIVING IN PLACES WITH HIGH HOG CALCIUM GEOLOGY. SO SOME OF THE OTHER ROCK TYPES, IN ADDITION TO DIABASE THAT SHARE SOME OF ITS CHARACTERISTICS, ARE LIMESTONE AND DOLOMITE, MARBLE AMPHIBOLITE. THESE ARE ALSO HIGH CALCIUM AND OR HIGH MAGNESIUM ROCKS, AND PRINCIPALLY WHERE I SEE AMERICAN GINSENG. NOT IN THE SAUERLAND IS ON THESE OTHER ROCK TYPES. SO MAYBE SORT OF MAKING THIS CONNECTION THROUGHOUT THE PROGRAM HERE BETWEEN DIABASE AND ALSO THE REALLY SPECIAL LIMESTONE LANDSCAPES THAT WE HAVE IN NORTHERN NEW JERSEY AND WARREN AND SUSSEX COUNTY IN PARTICULAR. SO AMERICAN GINSENG HAS A VERY STRONG POPULATION IN THE SOURLANDS. AND NO, I CAN'T TELL YOU WHERE IT IS, BUT IT'S BEING ACTIVELY STEWARDED AND PROTECTED AND IT'S REALLY THRIVING UNDER THAT STEWARDSHIP. 
          AND IT REPRESENTS ONE REASON WHY A PLANT MIGHT BE RARE, WHICH IS OVERHARVESTING, POACHING. AND I WOULDN'T SAY FORESTRY SO MUCH AS INTERNATIONAL COMMODITY TRADE. RIGHT. EXTRACTION OF A VALUABLE RESOURCE AS OPPOSED TO, SAY, WILDCRAFTING OR MEDICINAL HERB FOR PERSONAL OR COMMUNITY USE. 
          SO THOSE 64 MILLION GINSENG PLANTS THAT WERE ALREADY GONE BY 1850. HERE'S TWO S1 SPECIES. SO THESE ARE STATE ENDANGERED PLANT SPECIES. THAT MEANS THEY'RE LESS THAN 5 OR 10 POPULATIONS IN THE ENTIRE STATE. THE TWO LARGEST POPULATIONS HAPPEN TO BE IN THE SOURLANDS. THEY ARE STEWARDED BY THE FRIENDS OF HOPEWELL VALLEY OPEN SPACE THAT HAS HAD A VERY STRONG STEWARDSHIP PROGRAM FOR MANY YEARS NOW, WITH A REALLY ADMIRABLE EMPHASIS, BOTH ON ACTIVE STEWARDSHIP AND ALSO ON MONITORING. SO WE HAVE GREAT DATA OVER THE YEARS FROM FRIENDS OF HOPEWELL VALLEY OPEN SPACE ABOUT THE EFFICACY OF THEIR STEWARDSHIP WORK. TWINLEAF THIS REALLY SORT OF BEAUTIFUL LOW WILDFLOWER, HERB AND REDBUD, A PLANT THAT MANY OF US KNOW BECAUSE IT'S A POPULAR LANDSCAPING TREE AND THIS IS A PLANT THAT IS QUITE PREVALENT. IF YOU TAKE A DRIVE IN A SPRING DOWN TO THE APPALACHIANS, YOU'RE ON THE BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY OR WHATEVER, BUT IT JUST BARELY RANGES INTO NEW JERSEY. WHICH BRINGS ME TO MY NEXT REASON WHY PLANTS MIGHT BE RARE. SOME OF THEM ARE RARE BECAUSE WE ARE OUTSIDE OF THE CORE OF THEIR RANGE FOR WHATEVER GEOLOGICAL, WHATEVER REASON PERTAINING TO TIME AND HISTORY. WE ARE JUST AT THE FRINGES OF THE EXTENT OF WHERE THEY RANGE IN THE WILD. SO HERE ARE RANGE MAPS FOR REDBUD AND FOR TWINLEAF. AND AS YOU CAN 
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SEE, REDBUD IS QUITE SECURE ACROSS ITS RANGE, BUT IT JUST BARELY ENTERS INTO NEW JERSEY AND NOT MUCH AT ALL INTO STATES NORTH OF NEW JERSEY. RANGE GENER RATHER THESE EDGE OF RANGE POPULATIONS, CAN HAVE REALLY IMPORTANT GENETICS FOR THE SPECIES AS A WHOLE, BECAUSE THEY REPRESENT THE SORT OF PIONEERING OR CUTTING EDGE OF THAT SPECIES AS IT ADAPTS TO CLIMATES AND CIRCUMSTANCES THAT MAY NOT BE IDEAL FOR IT. SO PRESERVING THESE EDGE OF RANGE GENETICS CAN BE VERY IMPORTANT FOR THE SPECIES AS A WHOLE. THEY REPRESENT ADAPTATIONS THAT THE GENETICS IN THE CORE OF THE OF THE POPULATION OR RANGE MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE OR EXPRESS AS ACTIVELY AND TWINLEAF. ALSO, YOU CAN KIND OF SEE HOW DISJUNCT THESE TWINLEAF POPULATIONS ARE FROM MOST OF WHERE THIS PLANT IS FOUND. HERE ARE TWO OTHER PLANT SPECIES THAT ARE BEING STEWARDED BY FRIENDS OF HOPEWELL VALLEY OPEN SPACE. I WANT TO SHARE A COUPLE SLIDES WITH YOU ALL ABOUT THEIR STEWARDSHIP, ABOUT THEIR CARETAKING OF THESE POPULATIONS, AND ALSO JUST A LITTLE GLIMPSE INTO WHAT EACH OF THESE PLANTS IS ALL ABOUT AND WHAT THEY LIKE AND WHY THEY MIGHT BE RARE IN SOME CASES. I HAVE NO IDEA WHY SOMETHING IS RARE. I MEAN, TO BE COMPLETELY CANDID, IT SEEMS LIKE THIS PLANT OR THAT COULD GET AROUND JUST AS WELL AS SOME OTHER. GREEN VIOLET IS A PLANT THAT I'VE PRIMARILY SEEN ON CALCAREOUS OR HIGH CALCIUM GEOLOGY THROUGHOUT THE STATE. SO I KNOW IT FROM MARBLE, I KNOW IT FROM LIMESTONE, AND I KNOW IT FROM DIABASE. SO IT IS A PLANT THAT IS QUITE POSSIBLY RESTRICTED TO THE SOURLANDS BECAUSE OF THAT UNIQUE DIABASE GEOLOGY. IT MAY HAVE NEVER BEEN A WIDESPREAD PLANT SPECIES IN NEW JERSEY, BUT IT HAS FOUND SOMETHING SUITABLE ABOUT THE SOURLANDS THAT IS NOT FINDING ELSEWHERE. AND YELLOW GIANT HYSSOP IS THIS REALLY INTERESTING PLANT BECAUSE, YOU KNOW, COLLECT SOME SEEDS, GERMINATE THEM. THEY THEY GROW LIKE A WEED. AND IF ANY OF YOU HAVE GROWN ANY OF THE HYSSOP SPECIES, THIS IS A LOT LIKE THOSE IN EAST HYSSOP AND SO ON. IT'S NOT HARD TO GROW. BUT THEN AGAIN, THERE'S SOMETHING THAT IT'S RELYING ON IN ITS WILD HABITAT IN ORDER TO THRIVE THAT THE CONDITIONS FOR WHICH IT'S PERSISTENCE DON'T SEEM TO BE MET IN VERY MANY PLACES. AND I'M LEADING THE WITNESS THERE BECAUSE MY SENSE OF GIANT HYSSOP IS IT'S A VERY SHORT LIVED PERENNIAL. IT WILL GERMINATE IN RESPONSE TO DISTURBANCE, QUITE POSSIBLY TO WILDFIRE, TO CANOPY CLEARING EVENTS WITHIN FORESTS WHEN IT'S NOT RANGING IN A FOREST AT A PLACE LIKE BALDPATE, IT IS FOUND LIKE ON RAILROAD TRACKS AND OTHER PLACES WHERE THERE'S THIS SORT OF LIKE INTERFACE BETWEEN FORESTED LAND AND FORESTED SOILS AND MORE SUNNY AREAS. I'M GOING TO CONTINUE TO CALL ATTENTION TO THIS HABITAT TYPE, BECAUSE I FEEL LIKE IT'S A HABITAT THAT'S DWINDLING ACROSS THE STATE. THAT'S NOT MUCH REMARKED ON, WHICH IS NOT NECESSARILY MEADOW IN THE SENSE THAT, OH, THIS USED TO BE A FARM FIELD, AND NOW IT'S KIND OF REWILDING AND IT'S FULL OF GOLDENRODS OR SOMETHING, BUT A FOREST, BUT WITH MUCH MORE OPEN STRUCTURE THAN THE FORESTS THAT WE'RE ACCUSTOMED TO. SO I FEEL LIKE THE FORESTS, WHEN WE GO OUT INTO THE WOODS, MOST OF THE FORESTS THAT WE'RE SEEING ARE KIND OF TEENAGED FORESTS. THEY'RE VERY FULL. THEY'VE GOT A LOT OF YOUNGSTERS ALL CROWDED TOGETHER. THE TREES LOOK REALLY BIG AND MAJESTIC BECAUSE, HECK, YOU KNOW, TULIP TREES CAN GROW REALLY FAST, BUT THEY'RE NOT REALLY PARTICULARLY OLD, AND THEY MAY NOT EXHIBIT THE TYPE OF STRUCTURE THAT A MUCH OLDER FOREST WOULD HAVE. AND THERE ARE OTHER INGREDIENTS TO THIS. ALSO, LIKE THE LONG STANDING HUMAN CULTURAL INVOLVEMENT IN OPEN FORESTS. BUT SUFFICE IT TO SAY, FOR NOW, THAT THERE ARE MANY SPECIES THAT RELY NOT ON A CLOSED CANOPY, COMPLETELY SHADY FOREST, BUT ON A MORE OPEN FOREST STRUCTURE THAT HAS LARGELY VANISHED ACROSS THE STATE AND REALLY ACROSS MOST OF ITS RANGE THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES, AND THAT THESE WERE FORESTS THAT MAY HAVE BEEN KEPT OPEN BY INDIGENOUS PEOPLES CULTURAL FIRE OVER MANY YEARS. AND NOW THAT THAT THOSE PRACTICES ARE ARE NOT HAPPENING AND FIRES ARE SUPPRESSED, ALL THESE MORE OPEN FORESTS IMAGINE BIG OLD TREES WITH SPREADING LIMBS HAVE HAVE TURNED INTO SORT OF YOUNGER TEENAGE FORESTS, ESPECIALLY WITH CONTINUAL, YOU KNOW, SORT OF CYCLICAL FORESTRY, SETTING THEM BACK TO BEING YOUNGER AS WELL AND JUST, YOU KNOW, INTERESTING PRIORITIES ABOUT LAND MANAGEMENT. SO. ALL THAT IS TO LEAD UP TO THIS PICTURE OVER HERE. SO HERE'S SOME GREEN VIOLET AND YELLOW GIANT HYSSOP HABITAT IN THE 
          [00:25:03]
SOURLANDS. AND WHAT WE'RE SEEING HERE IS A PLACE WHERE EXPOSED BEDROCK IS ACTUALLY PREEMPTING MOST OF TREE GROWTH. SO WHILE THERE ARE TREES IN THIS AREA, THERE'S ALSO A GOOD DEAL OF SUN ON THESE OUTCROPPINGS, SIMPLY BECAUSE THERE'S NO PLACE FOR A TREE TO GAIN PURCHASE IN THIS MASSIVE BEDROCK. OR THERE MAY BE LITTLE CRACKS FOR LIKE A LITTLE STUNTED TREE TO GROW. BUT WE'RE NOT GOING TO HAVE THE FULL SHADE, FULL CANOPY FOREST WITH, SAY, SPICEBUSH OR OTHER SHRUBS UNDERNEATH THAT WERE ACCUSTOMED TO. BUT INSTEAD THESE MUCH SUNNIER CONDITIONS WHERE A PRETTY TALL, SOMEWHAT SUN LOVING HERB LIKE GIANT HYSSOP OR GREEN VIOLET CAN THRIVE. I DID FIELD WORK OUT ON THESE OUTCROPS IN 2013 OR SO, AND THEY WERE A WEEDY DISASTER. YOU DIDN'T SEE ALL THIS BEAUTIFUL EXPOSED DIABASE AND ALL THAT GREEN VIOLET. YOU KNOW, MOST OF THE PLANTS THAT YOU'RE SEEING THERE, THOSE TUFTS, THAT'S GREEN VIOLET. THERE ARE SOME MULLEIN AND SOME STUFF IN THE FRONT TOO. BUT IT WAS IT WAS LIKE THE WEIRDEST PLACE BECAUSE THERE WERE THESE RAREST PLANT SPECIES THERE. AND THEN IT WAS IT WAS NOT EVEN LIKE INVASIVE PERENNIALS. IT WAS JUST STRAIGHT UP WEEDS, LIKE IT WAS THE STUFF YOU'D SEE ON A SIDE OF A SIDEWALK IN A CITY OR LIKE IN A, YOU KNOW, IN A GARDEN BED OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT. IT WAS JUST LIKE ANNUAL WEEDS AND IT WAS TOTALLY CRAPPED UP. IT WAS A DISASTER ZONE. BUT FRIENDS OF HOPEWELL VALLEY OPEN SPACE HAS BEEN WORKING IN THIS AREA REALLY ACTIVELY. THEY SHARED SOME OF THEIR STEWARDSHIP WITH ME HERE ON THIS SLIDE. SO THEY'VE BEEN DOING SMALL DEER EXCLOSURES FOLLOWED BY LARGER DEER EXCLOSURES A LOT OF REMOVAL OF INVASIVE AILANTHUS TREES, AS WELL AS ALL THESE OTHER INVASIVE PLANTS. THERE WAS A TON OF JAPANESE STILTGRASS THATCH ON THESE OUTCROPPINGS, BASICALLY INHIBITING NEW GERMINATION OF NATIVE PLANTS. OKAY, YEAH. SO THEY WERE HAND RAKING THE DEBRIS OFF JUST TO EXPOSE THE MINERAL SOILS AND THE ROCK THERE. AND AS A RESULT. OH, SORRY. ONE MORE SLIDE. THIS IS ALSO FROM THEM. THIS IS JUST THAT'S WHAT THE GREEN VIOLET LOOKED LIKE TOWARDS THE END OF THE SEASON, WHEN IT SHOULD HAVE LIKED THAT PRODUCE SOME SEEDS, BUT IT WOULD GROW AND FLOWER AND THEN THE DEER WOULD COME AND JUST COMPLETELY HAMMER IT. SO, YOU KNOW, A REALLY IMPORTANT ASPECT OF THEIR STEWARDSHIP OF THIS RARE PLANT, WHICH IS PUTTING FENCES AROUND IT, BECAUSE, OF COURSE, YOU KNOW, THE WILD DEER OVERABUNDANCE THROUGHOUT. WELL, REALLY THROUGHOUT THE EASTERN UNITED STATES. BUT CHECK THIS CHART OUT. SO WOW, WE HAVE IN 2018, HARDLY ANY YELLOW GIANT HAS LEFT. I THINK WHEN I DID SURVEYS IN 2013, IT'S HARD TO REMEMBER. BUT I FEEL LIKE THERE WERE LIKE 4 OR 5 PLANTS AND NOW THEIR STEM COUNT IS UP TO OVER 700 WITH A LITTLE BIT OF HUMAN INVOLVEMENT, A LITTLE BIT OF RAKING, SOME INVASIVE SPECIES REMOVAL AND PROTECTION FROM DEER. AND LOOK AT THE INCREDIBLE GROWTH IN GREEN VIOLET. ALSO. SO HATS OFF TO PHOBOS FOR THEIR STEWARDSHIP WORK. I WANT TO TALK ABOUT ORCHIDS A LITTLE BIT. I WANT TO TALK ABOUT ORCHIDS, PARTIALLY BECAUSE I HAD THIS BEAUTIFUL PICTURE OF YELLOW LADY'S SLIPPER SLIPPER ORCHID HERE FROM A ONE OF THE PRESERVES IN THE SOURLANDS. I REMEMBER FIRST MEETING THIS PLANT THERE AND JUST BEING KIND OF AWESTRUCK. BUT THIS IS, YOU KNOW, YOU'RE WALKING BENEATH TULIP TREES AND SPICEBUSH AND KIND OF LIKE YOUR USUAL SOURLAND STUFF, SOME DIABASE BOULDERS. AND THEN THERE'S JUST BIG, GLORIOUS CLUMP OF YELLOW LADY SLIPPER ORCHIDS. AND THEY'VE GOT THESE, LIKE, AS A BOTANIST, I SHOULD KNOW WHAT PART IT IS, BUT THEY HAVE THESE TWIRLY SEPALS OR SOMETHING COMING OFF THE FLOWERS. IT'S JUST ASTONISHING. SO ORCHIDS TEND TO OR ORCHIDS ARE RELIANT ON SPECIFIC SOIL FUNGI FOR PART OF THEIR GERMINATION PROCESS. AND SO THEY SHOW FIDELITY TO SPECIFIC TYPES OF NATURAL LAND WHERE WHERE THAT SOIL FUNGI IS STILL RESIDENT OR FUNGAL SPECIES. AND SO NOT ONLY DO WE HAVE YELLOW LADY SLIPPER ORCHID, WHICH IS NOT RANKED, APPARENTLY IT'S COMMON ENOUGH IN THE STATE TO NOT HAVE A RANKING. ALTHOUGH I SELDOM SEE IT. I SAW IT IN FIELDWORK THIS PAST SUMMER UP IN MORRIS COUNTY AND IT WAS A REAL TREAT. I WE ALSO HAVE A POPULATION OF PUTTY ROOT, APLECTRUM, HIMALI AND A COUPLE OTHER ORCHIDS THAT ARE HERE. WE TEND TO SEE SHOWY ORCHID A LOT. 
          SOME OF YOU MAY HAVE SEEN THAT IT'S KIND OF PURPLE AND WHITE, VERY PRETTY, NOT RANKED BY THE STATE. IT'S QUITE COMMON IN THE SOURLANDS AND ALSO SOME OF THE FRINGED ORCHIDS. RAGGED FRINGED ORCHID, WHICH DOESN'T SEEM PICKY AT ALL. SO EVEN WITHIN ORCHIDS YOU HAVE THIS LIKE HIGH FIDELITY TO SPECIFIC NATIVE HABITAT TYPES. AND THEN YOU HAVE RAGGED FRINGED ORCHID, WHICH IS COMING UP IN LIKE OLD ABANDONED FARM FIELDS. YOU KNOW, JUST LIKE TOTALLY RAGGLE TAGGLE MEADOWS THAT MAYBE HAVE A LITTLE BIT OF GRAY BIRCH COMING IN OR WHATEVER. COUPLE MORE, BECAUSE I 
          [00:30:03]
COULDN'T RESIST GOLDIE'S WOOD FERN. REMEMBER FINDING THAT IN A SWAMP NEAR WHERE I WAS LIVING IN THE HIGHLANDS? IF YOU'RE WONDERING WHAT THE HECK THAT'S A PICTURE OF, THAT'S THE CROSIERS OF GOLDIE'S WOOD FERN AS IT'S EMERGING IN THE SPRING, AND IT'S GOING TO UNFURL. AND THEY HAVE THESE BIG SORT OF LIKE DARK SCALES ON THEM, AND THEY'RE HUGE. AND I REMEMBER FIRST FINDING I'D BE LIKE, WHAT IS THIS, LIKE PREHISTORIC, YOU KNOW, SORT OF LIKE JURASSIC LOOKING FERN. AND IN FACT, THAT'S PRETTY APT FOR MANY OF THE FIRM'S FERNS BECAUSE THEIR LINEAGES GO WAY BACK, YOU KNOW, HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF YEARS. THIS IS AN S2 SPECIES. AND WHEN I'VE SEEN GOLDIE'S WOOD FERN ELSEWHERE, IT HAS PRIMARILY BEEN IN THE LIMESTONE REGIONS OF THE STATE. SO AGAIN, CONNECTING THE DOTS BETWEEN THE EXCEPTIONAL GEOLOGY AND THE SOURLANDS AND SOME OF THE OTHER AREAS IN THE STATE THAT ARE MOST SIMILAR IN TERMS OF THE CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF THE ROCK AND THE RESULTING SOILS. I GUESS SOMETHING ELSE I SHOULD SAY ABOUT THE SOIL IN THE IN THE DIABASE AREAS, AND IT'S ALSO TRUE OF THE SOIL, IS THAT WHETHER FROM THE ADJOINING SHALES IS, IT TENDS TO BE A VERY FINE KIND OF SILTY CLAY. SOIL WEATHERS INTO FAIRLY SMALL PARTICLES. AND SO WE HAVE A LOT OF CLAY. MANY OF YOU WHO HAVE GARDENED IN THIS AREA MAY BE FAMILIAR WITH STICKING A SHOVEL IN THE GROUND AND PULLING IT OUT, AND IT'S TWICE AS HEAVY BECAUSE IT'S GOT ALL THIS WET CLAY STUCK TO IT. I MEAN, THAT WAS CERTAINLY MY EXPERIENCE LIVING IN THE SOURLANDS. AND WHILE CLAYS MAY NOT BE PARTICULARLY CHERISHED BY GARDENERS, ONE OF THE THINGS THAT THEY'RE REALLY GOOD AT IS RETAINING WATER SO THEY CAN BE MORE MOIST. AND THEY ALSO ARE GOOD AT RETAINING NUTRIENTS. SO LIKE VERY SANDY SOILS WILL LEACH NUTRIENTS VERY READILY, WHEREAS CLAY SOILS, CLAY PARTICLES WILL ACTUALLY ELECTRICALLY BIND TO DIFFERENT NUTRIENTS. AND SO CLAY SOILS CAN BE VERY RICH IN TERMS OF THEIR PLANT NUTRIENTS AND IN TERMS OF WATER AVAILABILITY. AND SO SOME OF THESE PLANTS, LIKE OUR GOLDIE'S WOODFERN, MAY BE RESPONDING TO THINGS CHEMICALLY WITHIN THE SOILS, THE AVAILABILITY OF CERTAIN PLANT NUTRIENTS, BUT THEY MAY ALSO BE RESPONDING TO THINGS STRUCTURALLY ABOUT OUR SOILS. YOU KNOW, OUR CLAYS, THOSE PERCHED WETLANDS WITH POORLY DRAINED, MASSIVE DIABASE ROCK UNDERNEATH THEM, THINGS LIKE THAT, AND THEN LONG SPURRED VIOLET. THIS JUST GREW A LOT NEAR WHERE I USED TO LIVE IN THE SOURLANDS. AND YOU KNOW, AS I WAS LOOKING THROUGH MY PHOTOS FROM THE SOUNDS LIKE, YOU KNOW, I HAVEN'T REALLY SEEN THIS PLANT SINCE I LIVED IN THIS AREA OVER A DECADE AGO. SO I'M GOING TO THINK OF IT AS A LITTLE SOURLAND SPECIAL. I DON'T KNOW WHERE ELSE IT GROWS. IT'S IN S3, SO IT'S A SPECIES OF CONCERN RATHER THAN THREATENED OR ENDANGERED, WHICH MEANS THAT THERE'S SIGNIFICANTLY MORE POPULATIONS OF IT THROUGHOUT THE STATE. BUT I DON'T KNOW WHERE THOSE ARE. AND I'D BE CURIOUS. I'D BE CURIOUS IF THERE'S A GEOLOGICAL AFFINITY OR THERE'S SOME OTHER MECHANISM WITH WHERE THEY ARE, BUT VERY CUTE. AND THEY'RE CALLED LONGSPUR BECAUSE YOU CAN KIND OF SEE THAT LONG SPUR COMING OUT OF THE BACK OF IT. THAT WAS DESCRIPTIVE, RIGHT? IT WAS THE BEST I COULD DO. STILL MISSING. 
          I ALWAYS OBSESS ABOUT THE STILL MISSING PLANTS, SO I KIND OF HELP MYSELF BUT SHARE SOME OF THEM WITH YOU. ONE IS FRINGED GENTIAN. FRINGED GENTIAN. I KNOW SOME ACTIVE POPULATIONS. ONE OF THEM IS ON MARBLE. SO AGAIN, WITH THE HIGH CALCIUM THEME AND KIND OF ALSO ON THE WEATHERING INTO CLAYS THEME AND FRINGE. GENTIAN HAD REPORTS IN THE SOURLANDS UP UNTIL PRETTY RECENTLY BEFORE MY TIME. BUT MAYBE AT THIS POINT 20, 30 YEARS AGO. I DON'T KNOW IF ANYBODY'S SEEN ANY MORE RECENTLY, BUT THIS IS A BEAUTIFUL BIENNIAL GENTIAN SPECIES. IT'S A SPECIES THAT IS RELIANT ON LONG TERM, PERSISTENT, TREELESS HABITATS IN ORDER TO REMAIN IT AS A BIENNIAL. IT COMPLETES ITS LIFE CYCLE AFTER JUST TWO YEARS. THE FIRST YEAR, IT'S JUST A BASAL ROSETTE OF LEAVES, AND THE SECOND YEAR IN REALLY OCTOBER INTO EVEN NOVEMBER. IT FLOWERS WITH THESE ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS GENTIAN BLUE PURPLE FLOWERS WITH FRINGES ALONG THE EDGE, AND THEN PRODUCES A FAIR AMOUNT OF SEED, BUT NOWHERE NEAR THE AMOUNT OF SEED THAT I WOULD ASSOCIATE WITH MOST WEEDY BIENNIAL SPECIES. SO IT HAS A LIFE, A LIFE CYCLE THAT IS SHARED BY MANY VERY WEEDY SPECIES. AND WHAT A LOT OF TIMES WHAT WEEDY SPECIES WILL DO IS THEY'LL ESTABLISH RAPIDLY, THEY'LL PRODUCE A TON OF SEED, THEY'LL DISPERSE EFFECTIVELY ALL THAT SEED, AND THEY'LL MOVE ON TO THE NEXT SMALL DISTURBED PATCH. SO THEY'RE VERY GOOD AT FINDING THE EDGE OF YOUR LAWN OR YOUR DRIVEWAY, OR THAT BIT OF THE GARDEN THAT YOU ABANDONED, OR THE AREA WHERE THE BULLDOZER, YOU KNOW, KICKED UP SOME DIRT AS IT WAS MOVING ALONG THROUGH A CONSTRUCTION PROJECT OR WHAT HAVE YOU. BUT FRENCH GENTIAN NEEDS SOMETHING ELSE. IT'S NOT A PROLIFIC SEED PRODUCER, AND IT'S NOT A SEED BANKER EITHER. SO SOMETIMES PLANTS HAVE TAKE ADVANTAGE OF DISTURBANCE. THEY 
          [00:35:07]
HAVE SEEDS THAT CAN PERSIST IN THE SOIL SEED BANK FOR MANY, MANY DECADES, IF NOT CENTURIES. 
          AND THEN THERE'S A FOREST FIRE OR A HURRICANE OR LOGGING OR, YOU KNOW, A BULLDOZER OR WHATEVER COMES IN. AND LIKE YOUR POKEWEED, YOU KNOW, IF YOU CAME IN AND YOU SAID, ALL RIGHT, MR. HOTSHOT BOTANIST, I FOUND SOME POKEWEED. HERE IT IS. TELL ME WHERE I FOUND IT. WELL, YOU KNOW, IF YOU SHOWED ME ONE OF THOSE NATIVE ORCHID SPECIES OR GINSENG OR SOMETHING, I COULD SAY, LIKE, I KNOW WHAT KIND OF HABITAT THAT COMES FROM. I CAN TELL YOU WHERE YOU FOUND THAT. 
          MAYBE NOT WHAT PARK YOU FOUND IT IN, BUT WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN AROUND IT, WHAT THE FOREST LOOKED LIKE. BUT IF YOU BRING ME POKEWEED EVERYBODY KNOW POKEWEED. IT'S THIS BIG, GIANT, ALMOST BAMBOO LOOKING WEEDY THING WITH THESE REALLY BEAUTIFUL, SHOWY PURPLE FRUITS. 
          IF YOU DON'T KNOW IT, IF YOU LOOK IT UP, YOU'LL BE LIKE, OH YEAH, THAT THING. SO THAT'S A NATIVE WEED. AND IF YOU SHOW ME SOME POKEWEED, I'LL BE LIKE, WELL, THAT COULD HAVE COME UP ON THE SIDE OF YOUR COMMUNITY GARDEN PATCH. BUT IT ALSO COULD HAVE COME UP IN THE STUMP OF AN OAK TREE THAT GOT WIND THROWN, YOU KNOW, LIKE IN THE LAST HURRICANE OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT, BECAUSE IT WILL SIT IN THE SOIL AND IT WILL WAIT UNTIL IT'S TRIGGERED BY A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF SUN AVAILABILITY OR HOWEVER THE HECK SEEDS PERCEIVE THAT SUDDENLY THEY'RE ON TOP AND THEY'RE IN A GOOD SPOT TO GERMINATE. BUT FRENCH GENTIAN DOESN'T DO THAT. IT INSTEAD RELIES ON A HABITAT THAT IS SUNNY BUT STABLE, SO NOT A STABLE OLD FOREST WHERE TREES THAT ARE THERE FOR 100 YEARS, BUT AN OPEN MEADOW LIKE SITUATION, OR A FOREST GLADE THAT STAYS OPEN LONG ENOUGH FOR FROM A JUNCTION TO FIND IT, SET UP A POPULATION, PRODUCE SEEDS ON A BIENNIAL CYCLE THAT DON'T SEED BANK AND KEEP COMING BACK WITHOUT THAT MUCH COMPETITION FROM SHRUBS OR TREES. SO WHERE DO WE FIND HABITATS LIKE THIS? WE DON'T REALLY. WE FIND HABITATS LIKE THESE NOW WHERE PEOPLE STEWARD THEM, WHERE PEOPLE MAINTAIN OPEN MEADOWS BY MOWING AND BRUSH HOGGING THEM EVERY YEAR OR TWO. AND THOSE ARE GOOD CANDIDATES FOR FRINGE GENTIAN HABITAT. BUT WHEN THOSE GROW UP INTO INVASIVE OR NATIVE SHRUBS, INTO YOUNG TREES OR SAPLINGS, THIS SUN LOVING SMALL BIENNIAL WILDFLOWER DISAPPEARS. AND SO IT POINTS TO THE FORMER EXISTENCE OF A HABITAT TYPE IN THIS AREA THAT WE HAVEN'T BEEN VERY GOOD STEWARDS OF. THE DISAPPEARANCE OF FRINGE GENTIAN POINTS TO A HABITAT TYPE THAT MAYBE DOESN'T EXIST IN THE PLENTITUDE THAT IT DID WHEN FROM GENTIAN WAS MORE PREVALENT. NOW YOU'LL SEE THAT STATE NOT RANKED. THIS USED TO BE AN S3 SPECIES APPARENTLY OFFERS SOME NATURAL HERITAGE, HAS FOUND SOME MORE AND THEY'VE TAKEN IT OFF THE LIST. I'D BE CURIOUS TO HEAR MORE ABOUT THAT, BUT I SEE THIS PLANT EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE. A PLANT THAT I DON'T SEE IS INDIAN PAINTBRUSH. INDIAN PAINTBRUSH IS RANKED S1, BUT NOBODY SEEMS TO KNOW OF ANY POPULATIONS LEFT IN THE STATE OR. THERE'S VERY FEW. 
          INDIAN PAINTBRUSH IS ONE OF THOSE, YOU KNOW, THOSE GLORIOUS LIKE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CALENDARS THAT SHOW YOU ALASKA OR THE ROCKIES OR WHATEVER. IT'S ALWAYS GOING TO BE LUPINES AND AN INDIAN PAINTBRUSH OR FIREWEED, BECAUSE THEY'RE SO INCREDIBLE LOOKING. THEY'RE SO VIBRANT AND INDIAN PAINTBRUSH. I MEAN, THEY KIND OF WON MY HEART BEFORE I EVEN EVER SAW IT IN THE WILD, BECAUSE IT'S SO GLORIOUS, JUST THIS INCREDIBLE CRIMSON COLOR. THIS IS ANOTHER SHORT LIVED, I WANT TO SAY BIENNIAL. AND THERE ARE RECORDS OF IT FROM HOPEWELL FROM LIKE THE EARLY 1900S, BUT LONG GONE. MAYBE IF WE REINTRODUCE FIRE INTO THE LANDSCAPE, IT'LL COME BACK. BUT MY IMPRESSION IS THAT IT'S NOT A SEED BANKER. SO WHERE WILL IT COME FROM? SEE WHAT'S NEXT. YES. 
          THEN. YES. SO THANKS FOR LETTING ME KNOW. OKAY. YEAH, I'M REALLY BAD AT IT. THIS SEEMS SO LOUD TO ME. IS THIS NOT REALLY LOUD? OKAY, I WANT TO TALK REALLY QUIET, BUT. OKAY. THANKS FOR LETTING ME KNOW. IT'S VERY FRUSTRATING TO BE IN A PRESENTATION WHERE YOU CAN'T HEAR AND YOU JUST SEE SOMEBODY WILDLY GESTICULATING UP IN FRONT, BUT YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY'RE TALKING ABOUT. I DON'T THINK I'M GOING TO TRY TO SUMMARIZE THE LAST HALF HOUR FOR YOU. SO HOPEFULLY YOU CAUGHT SOME SNIPPETS. THANKS. SO I TALKED A LITTLE BIT OF LACK OF CULTURAL FIRE, I THINK AS I'M TALKING ABOUT RARE PLANT SPECIES AND WHY THEY MIGHT BE RARE. ONE OF THE THINGS THAT I WANT TO COME BACK TO IS THAT WE ARE PART OF THIS PICTURE ALSO, THAT WE ARE PART OF THIS PICTURE, NOT JUST AS DESTRUCTIVE AGENTS THAT DESTROY HABITATS AND MAKE PLANTS 
          [00:40:03]
BECOME RARE BY POACHING THEM OR SENDING THEM TO CHINA OR WHATEVER, BUT ALSO IN THE TYPE OF CHOICES WE MAKE ABOUT HOW WE MANAGE LANDSCAPES, WHAT AGRICULTURE LOOKS LIKE, WHAT OUR HOME GARDENS LOOK LIKE AND OUR YARDS LOOK LIKE, WHAT OUR PUBLIC RIGHTS OF WAY AND OUR PIPELINES LOOK LIKE, WHAT OUR ROADSIDES LOOK LIKE. ALL OF THESE ARE FACTORS IN PLANT DISPERSAL AND THE MAINTENANCE OF UNIQUE PLANT HABITATS. AND ONE OF THE REALLY IMPORTANT ASPECTS OF OUR CULTURAL RELATIONSHIP TO PLANTS IS THROUGH OUR USE OF FIRE AS A TOOL TO MANAGE AND MAINTAIN LANDSCAPES. I'M GOING TO TOUCH ON THIS FAIRLY BRIEFLY, BUT ALTHOUGH THE MODERN IDEAS OR CONTEMPORARY IDEAS ABOUT LAND STEWARDSHIP AND ECOLOGICAL RESTORATION ARE QUITE YOUNG, ECOLOGICAL LAND MANAGEMENT ON THIS CONTINENT IS AN ANCIENT PRACTICE. THIS IS SOMETHING THAT INDIGENOUS PEOPLES HAVE BEEN PRACTICING FOR MANY, MANY THOUSANDS OF YEARS. THERE ARE RECORDS OF CULTURAL FIRE IN THE NORTHEAST GOING BACK 10,000 YEARS. SO THE MAINTENANCE OF SOME OF THESE EXCEPTIONAL HABITAT TYPES, TREELESS GLADES, PERSISTENT MEADOWS, OPEN STRUCTURED FORESTS, SAVANNAS AND WOODLANDS WITH WIDE, SPREADING OLDER TREES, BUT NOT THE TYPE OF DENSITY THAT WE ASSOCIATE WITH CONTEMPORARY FORESTS. ALL OF THESE CAN BE THE END PRODUCT OF CULTURAL FIRE, AND BEFORE OR ARGUABLY BEFORE INDIGENOUS PEOPLES PRESENCE. WE HAD ICE AGE MEGAFAUNA IN THIS AREA. SO, YOU KNOW, KICK US BACK A LITTLE BIT FURTHER THAN THAT 10,000 YEARS, WHICH IS OUR EARLIEST EVIDENCE OF CULTURAL FIRE. AND YOU'VE GOT WOOLY MAMMOTH AND MASTODON AND GIANT GROUND SLOTHS AND ALL KINDS OF FUNKY, GIANT, TERRIFYING BEARS. AND, YOU KNOW, PECCARIES AND GIANT BEAVERS AND ALL THESE OTHER OUTLANDISH CREATURES WHICH LIKED TO EAT BABY TREES LIKE BROCCOLI, YOU KNOW, AND ALSO MAY HAVE FOSTERED A MORE OPEN FOREST STRUCTURE IN THE PAST. SO EARLIER ON, I TALKED A LITTLE BIT ABOUT LAND USE HISTORY, AND I MENTIONED HOW THE DIABASE, BY ITS STRUCTURE, ALL THESE CRAZY BOULDER FIELDS, THE IMPERMEABILITY OF THE WETLANDS AND ON MASSIVE DIABASE BEDROCK HAD ALL KIND OF PREEMPTED CONVENTIONAL AGRICULTURE UP ON THE SOURLAND RIDGE. THAT, MEANWHILE, WAS THRIVING IN THE HOPEWELL VALLEY AND THE AMMAN VALLEY AND SO ON, IN WAYS THAT YOU CAN STILL SEE REFLECTED IN THE CONTEMPORARY LANDSCAPE. RIGHT? YOU CAN SEE ALL THE EITHER FARMLAND OR FORMER FARMLAND THAT HAS BECOME HOUSING DEVELOPMENTS. AND THEN ON THE SOURLAND, ALL OF A SUDDEN YOU'RE UP INTO THE FORESTS. AND SO I WANT TO TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THESE HISTORICAL LAND USES AND ABOUT THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF FORESTS THAT WE MIGHT ENCOUNTER AND WHAT RELATIONSHIP THEY MAY HAVE TO RARE PLANTS AND RARE PLANT HABITATS. SO OF COURSE, IN THE COLONIAL ERA, AS IT WERE, WE HAD A LOT OF EXPLOITATION OF LAND IN NEW AND NOVEL WAYS, INCLUDING MASSIVE TIMBER HARVEST, THE GRAZING OF EURASIAN LIVESTOCK SPECIES AND CROP AGRICULTURE. AND AS SOME OF THOSE LAND USES, WIDESPREAD FARMING, PASTURING AND SO ON WERE ABANDONED AS THE 20TH CENTURY BEGAN AND INTO THE 1950S. WE HAVE MANY AREAS THAT ARE NOW FOREST. BUT WEREN'T FOREST 100 YEARS AGO, AND THESE ARE FORESTS THAT WE CALL POST-AGRICULTURAL FORESTS, AND THEY ARE CATEGORICALLY DIFFERENT FROM THOSE PRIMARY FORESTS THAT I REFERENCED EARLIER THAT HAD RETAINED THEIR NATIVE SOILS AND SOME OF THEIR NATIVE SPECIES. IN MANY OF THESE POST-AGRICULTURAL FORESTS, THE TREES ARE QUITE YOUNG, AND SO WE HAVE DENSE SHADE FROM SAPLINGS. I'D SAY THAT NOT AS A RULE, BUT QUITE COMMON TO FIND MANY WIND DISPERSED SPECIES THERE, ESPECIALLY TREE SPECIES. YOU'LL FIND YOUR RED MAPLES. YOU WOULD HAVE FOUND WHITE ASH. MANY OF THE UNDERSTORY HERBS. IF THEY'VE MADE IT, THERE MIGHT BE SOMETHING LIKE A WHITE WOOD ASTER OR WREATH GOLDENROD OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT THAT CAN BLOW IN ON THE WIND, AS OPPOSED TO SOME OF THE OTHER DISPERSAL MECHANISMS THAT I'LL MENTION WHEN WE TALK ABOUT PRIMARY FORESTS. AND OF COURSE, THE OTHER THING IS MANY, MANY INVASIVE SPECIES, NON-NATIVE PLANT SPECIES THAT WERE ALREADY PREVALENT IN ADJOINING LANDSCAPING AND HEDGEROWS WHEN THESE FORESTS WERE ABANDONED 
          [00:45:03]
FROM AGRICULTURE AND BEGAN REWILDING AND BECOMING SORT OF YOUNG FERAL FORESTS. SO WHEN WE WALK INTO A FOREST AND IT LOOKS LIKE THIS AND IT'S ALL WINGED EUONYMUS OR JAPANESE HONEYSUCKLE AND MULTIFLORA ROSE, AND TO A CERTAIN EXTENT, JAPANESE BARBERRY OR SHRUB HONEYSUCKLE, WE CAN OFTEN INTUIT THAT A PLACE AS A POST-AGRICULTURAL FOREST, BECAUSE THE BALANCE OF NATIVE AND EXOTIC SPECIES IS VERY DIFFERENT FROM IN PRIMARY FORESTS. SO THERE'S THIS GREAT PAPER FROM DOCTOR JAY KELLY AND JESSICA RAY. FROM RARITAN. RARITAN VALLEY COMMUNITY COLLEGE THAT CAME OUT A YEAR OR TWO AGO. AND THEY TALK ABOUT SOME OF THE ATTRIBUTES OF POST-AGRICULTURAL FORESTS. AND CHECK THIS 50% REDUCTION IN SOIL CARBON IN POST FORESTS COMPARED TO PRIMARY FORESTS. SO IF WE'RE THINKING ABOUT IF WE'RE CONCERNED WITH THINGS LIKE SOIL CARBON SEQUESTRATION IN FORESTS, THERE'S MUCH LESS CARBON IN THE SOIL. AND THAT ALSO MEANS THAT PLANTS THAT ARE RELIANT ON HIGH CARBON, HIGH ORGANIC MATTER SOILS ARE NOT FINDING IT SUITABLE. THERE NECESSARILY POST AGRICULTURAL FORESTS ACROSS THEIR STUDY AREA, WHICH WAS EITHER ALL OF CENTRAL AND NORTHERN NEW JERSEY OR A VERY SIGNIFICANT PORTION OF IT. THE NORTHERN NEW JERSEY AVERAGED 70% INVASIVE SHRUB COVER. SO, YOU KNOW, I KNOW FROM EXPERIENCE, MANY OF US ARE DOING LAND STEWARDSHIP, AND WE'RE DOING LAND STEWARDSHIP IN AREAS THAT HAVE, AMONG OTHER THINGS, MAY HAVE POST-AGRICULTURAL FORESTS. AND IT CAN BE VERY DISCOURAGING BECAUSE WE SEE ACRES AND ACRES OF INVASIVE SHRUBS AND WE FEEL LIKE, OH, IT'S OUR RESPONSIBILITY TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS. AND I THINK IT MAY BE OUR RESPONSIBILITY TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS, BUT IT'S ALSO OUR RESPONSIBILITY TO UNDERSTAND WHY ONE PARCEL OF FOREST MAY BE THOROUGHLY INVADED AND ANOTHER MIGHT NOT, AND HELP THAT TO BE STRATEGIC ABOUT WHERE WE INTERVENE AND BE STRATEGIC AND REALISTIC ABOUT THE POTENTIAL ECOLOGICAL UPLIFT OF OUR STEWARDSHIP WORK IN A YOUNG POST-AGRICULTURAL FOREST VERSUS LIKE A HIGH QUALITY OLDER FOLDERS FOREST OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT. PRIMARY FORESTS. AS YOU CAN SEE IN THIS PICTURE, SOMEWHAT IDEALIZED REPRESENTATION, BUT IT'S A REAL PLACE FULL OF NATIVE HERBACEOUS SPECIES. SO WILDFLOWERS AND FERNS ON THE FOREST FLOOR, SOME GOOD SHRUB AND NATIVE UNDERSTORY TREE COVER. AND ALSO, OF COURSE, THOSE CANOPY TREE GIANTS THAT WE ALL LOVE, YOUR OAKS AND HICKORIES AND TULIP TREES AND SO ON AND SO FORTH. PRIMARY FORESTS TEND TO BE WELL DEVELOPED AT THOSE DIFFERENT STRATA, OR AT LEAST FEATURE AN APPROPRIATE CONTINGENT OF GRASSES AND SEDGES, WILDFLOWERS AND SO ON. SHRUBS, TREES. SOME OTHER ATTRIBUTES OF OLD FOREST. 
          SOMETIMES YOU'LL FIND WHAT'S CALLED PIT AND MOUND TOPOGRAPHY. AND THIS IS. WHERE OLD TREES HAVE FALLEN. AND YOU SEE THEIR ROOT BALL COME UP AND THE ROOT BALL IS COVERED IN SOILS AND ROCKS. AND THEN YOU'LL ACTUALLY SEE, SORT OF LIKE A PIT WHERE THEY FELL OUT. AND IMAGINE THIS PROCESS COMPOUNDED OVER MANY, MANY DECADES. YOU NO LONGER HAVE A FLATTENED POST-AGRICULTURAL SOIL. SO ANOTHER ATTRIBUTE OF LAND THAT WAS FORMERLY AGRICULTURE IS OFTENTIMES IT'S BEEN GRADED, IT'S BEEN PLOWED, LARGER ROCKS HAVE BEEN REMOVED. THE HETEROGENEITY, THE SORT OF MICRO TOPOGRAPHY OF THE LANDSCAPE HAS BEEN ERASED THROUGH THE PLOWING PROCESS AND THROUGH OTHER LAND FORMING. AND YOU NO LONGER HAVE THE KIND OF MICRO TOPOGRAPHY THAT LEADS TO ENHANCED DIVERSITY, BECAUSE SOMETIMES IN AN OLDER FOREST, WHAT GROWS UP ON THAT LITTLE MOUND, A LITTLE ROCKY MOUND WHERE THE TREE ROOT BALL WAS MIGHT BE TREES, MIGHT BE HERBS OR MOSSES THAT ARE REALLY THRIVE IN RELATIVELY WELL-DRAINED, DRY CONDITIONS. AND DOWN THERE IN THE PIT, YOU MIGHT HAVE GROUNDWATER, IN THE SPRING YOU MIGHT HAVE FROGS BREEDING IN THERE, YOU MIGHT HAVE PLANTS GROWING IN THERE OVER TIME THAT HAVE MORE OF AN AFFINITY FOR A WET SOIL. AND SO BY BEING IN A HABITAT THAT HASN'T HAD ITS TOPOGRAPHY SORT OF ERASED OR FLATTENED, AS IT WERE, YOU HAVE A LOT MORE POTENTIAL FOR DIVERSITY, BECAUSE AT A SMALL SCALE, THERE'S A LOT MORE VARIABILITY. ALSO, YOU KNOW, I TALKED ABOUT HOW SOME OF THESE YOUNGER FORESTS, A LOT OF THE PLANTS IN THERE ARE GOING TO BE WIND DISPERSED OR BIRD DISPERSED. THEY'RE GOING TO BE SEEDS THAT ARE RELATIVELY MOBILE. SO THEY CAN MOVE FROM ONE FOREST PATCH ACROSS A DEVELOPMENT AND A GOLF COURSE AND ROUTE 95 AND BLOW INTO THIS OTHER SPOT THAT JUST GOT ABANDONED AND RECRUIT THERE A LOT OF THE SPECIES, THE PLANT SPECIES, THE HERBS, THE SHRUBS THAT YOU'LL FIND IN AN OLDER FOREST MAY HAVE A DIVERSITY OF 
          [00:50:07]
OTHER DISPERSAL MECHANISMS, SO THEY MIGHT BE DISPERSED BY TURTLES, BY ANTS. SOME OF THEM ARE GRAVITY DISPERSED, WHICH ISN'T QUITE AS HOT AS IT SOUNDS. IT'S KIND OF LIKE, HI, I'M A SEED. I FELL DOWN ON THE GROUND. MAYBE I'LL GERMINATE, YOU KNOW, MAYBE SOMEBODY WILL KICK ME A COUPLE FEET AND THEN I'LL MOVE A LITTLE BIT AWAY FROM THE MOTHER PLANT. SO THESE SLOWER DISPERSAL MECHANISMS, PLANTS THAT RELY ON THEM, HAVE BEEN FOUND TO BE VERY SLOW IN COLONIZING POST-AGRICULTURAL FORESTS. SO YOU'RE NOT NECESSARILY GOING TO FIND ALL OF YOUR ANT DISPERSED SPRING WILDFLOWERS IN A PLACE THAT WASN'T FOREST 50 YEARS AGO. YOUR BLOOD ROOTS AND TROUT LILIES AND, YOU KNOW, STUFF LIKE TRILLIUM OR DUTCHMAN'S BREECHES OR HEPATICA OR, YOU KNOW, ALL THESE SORT OF LIKE REALLY GLORIOUS OLDER FOREST WILDFLOWERS, SOME OTHER CLUES THAT YOU MIGHT BE IN AN OLD FOREST. YOU WILL SOMETIMES HAVE A DIVERSE CONTINGENT OF UNDERSTORY SHRUBS AND TREES. SO WHETHER YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT LIKE MAPLE LEAF, VIBURNUM OR THE AFOREMENTIONED SPICEBUSH OR MAYBE HORNBEAM AND HOPHORNBEAM OR FLOWERING DOGWOOD, ALL THESE TREES THAT HAVE, IN ONE WAY OR ANOTHER, ADAPTED TO LIFE UNDERNEATH THE CANOPY, UNDERNEATH THE SHADE OF TREES TALLER THAN THEM. ALSO SHADE TOLERANT CANOPY TREES. SO TREE TREES THAT COME UP IN A FOREST AFTER THEY'RE ALREADY IS A GENERATION OF EXISTING FOREST COVER. SO YOU MIGHT HAVE YOUR TREES THAT COME IN RIGHT AWAY, YOUR WIND DISPERSED SPECIES, OR EVEN YOUR OAKS AND HICKORIES OVER TIME. AND THEN YOU HAVE SPECIES LIKE BEECH AND HEMLOCK AND SUGAR MAPLE THAT ARE QUITE TOLERANT OF SHADE. AND IF THEY ARE IN THE CANOPY, YOU CAN PRESUME THAT THERE MAY HAVE BEEN SEVERAL GENERATIONS OF TREES PRECEDING THEM BEFORE THEY EVEN CAME IN. SO JUST CLUES, RIGHT? AND CHINA GIVES YOU SOME CLUES SO THAT IF YOU'RE OUT WALKING AND YOU CROSS AN OLD STONE WALL AND YOU SAY, WAIT A MINUTE ON THIS SIDE OF THE STONE WALL, YOU KNOW, THE BEAUTIFUL SPRING FLORA. IT'S FULL OF ANEMONE AND BLOODROOT AND BLOOM. AND THERE'S ALL THAT COOL FERNS THAT I DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY WERE. AND THEN I CROSS THE STONE WALL, AND ALL OF A SUDDEN IT'S LIKE JAPANESE STILTGRASS MULTIFLORA ROSE AND SOME RED MAPLES AND SOME DEAD ASH TREES. LIKE WHAT HAPPENED? WELL, WHAT HAPPENED IS YOU CROSSED AN OLD LAND USE HISTORY DIVIDER. YOU CROSSED HISTORICALLY FROM ONE TYPE OF FOREST TO ANOTHER, FROM AN OLDER ONE INTO A YOUNGER ONE. SO FROM THIS SAME REPORT BY DOCTOR KELLY AND JESSICA RAY. SORRY, I DON'T KNOW IF IT'S DOCTOR RAY OR NOT. SO YES, YOU ARE YOU OKAY? OKAY. NOT YET SIR. SORRY, I SHOULD KNOW. SO THIS IS INTERESTING. SO THE PEAK OF DEFORESTATION IN NEW JERSEY WAS AROUND 1850. YOU KNOW, GIVE OR TAKE A COUPLE DECADES. BUT WE'VE HAD A 26% DECLINE OF PRIMARY FORESTS IN NEW JERSEY AFTER THE PEAK OF DEFORESTATION. SO IT'S NOT JUST THAT THESE FORESTS WERE ALL CUT AND CONVERTED INTO AGRICULTURE, BUT WE HAVE AN ONGOING PROCESS OF THE LOSS OF PRIMARY FORESTS. 
          AND SO ONE OF THE THINGS THAT I WOULD LIKE TO BUNDLE INTO THE TAKEAWAY FROM THIS PRESENTATION IS HOW IMPORTANT THESE PRIMARY FORESTS ARE AS RESERVOIRS OF BIODIVERSITY, AS PLACES WHERE NATIVE SOILS STILL PERSIST, AS PLACES WHERE NATIVE SEED BANKS MAY STILL PERSIST. AND SO IT'S TRAGIC TO HEAR THAT WE'VE LOST AN ADDITIONAL QUARTER OF OUR PRIMARY FORESTS AFTER THE MAJORITY OF SORT OF ALL THAT RECKLESS TIMBERING AND LUMBERING AND SO ON IN NEW JERSEY HAD ALREADY PASSED. SO IN THE PIEDMONT IN PARTICULAR, LESS THAN 10% OF THE TOTAL LAND AREA IS PRIMARY FOREST. AND IN MOST PARTS OF THE NEW JERSEY PIEDMONT, I'D SAY IT'S A GREAT DEAL LESS THAN 10%. BUT ONE OF THE AREAS WHERE WE HAVE LARGE REMNANT PRIMARY FORESTS ARE, AS POINTED OUT IN THIS REPORT, SORRY, THESE ARE QUOTES FROM THE REPORT. I SHOULD HAVE BEEN MORE CLEAR ABOUT THAT. ARE ON THE BASALT AND DIABASE RIDGES. SO AGAIN, THE WATCHUNG. THE PRINCETON RIDGE, THE SOURLANDS. I DON'T THINK I CAN QUITE SPEAK FOR THE PALISADES, ALTHOUGH I WAS UP THERE RECENTLY, AND THERE'S SOME REALLY COOL HABITAT AT THESE REALLY COOL ROCK FORMATIONS. BUT IF WE'RE TALKING ABOUT THE NEW JERSEY PIEDMONT, THE SOURLANDS AND A COUPLE OF ITS GEOLOGICAL SIBLINGS ARE BASICALLY IT IN TERMS OF LARGE AREAS OF CONTIGUOUS PRIMARY FOREST, THAT'S THE POINT I'M TRYING TO MAKE IN ECOLOGICAL RESTORATION. WE HAVE THIS IDEA CALLED THE REFERENCE ECOSYSTEM. AND IT'S THIS IDEA THAT AS WE ENGAGE IN CARETAKING OF LAND, AS 
          [00:55:05]
WE TRY TO CREATE NEW AND DIVERSE HABITATS, AS WE ARE CARETAKERS OF EXISTING FORESTS AND MEADOWS, WE NEED TO LOOK TO PLACES WITHIN OUR GEOGRAPHICAL AND ECOLOGICAL AREA FOR SOURCES OF INSPIRATION. 
          WHAT IS THE POTENTIAL DIVERSITY OF THIS LAND? HOW DO FORESTS STRUCTURE THEMSELVES IN A MORE INTACT FOREST? WHAT WILDLIFE USES THE SHRUBS AS NESTING HABITATS? ALL THESE ARE QUESTIONS THAT WE CAN ANSWER BY GOING TO WHAT RESTORATION ECOLOGISTS WOULD CALL REFERENCE SITE OR REFERENCE ECOSYSTEM. AND WHAT I WOULD SUBMIT TO YOU ALL IS THAT WITHIN THE NEW JERSEY PIEDMONT, BECAUSE OF ITS LARGE REMNANT AREAS OF PRIMARY FOREST AND OTHER INTACT HABITATS AS WELL? THE SOURLANDS IS KIND OF IT. IT'S LIKE THE REFERENCE FOR THIS WHOLE LARGER PORTION OF NEW JERSEY THAT HAS LARGELY EITHER BEEN DEVELOPED OR AT VERY LEAST CONVERTED TO AGRICULTURE. OH MY. 
          THERE'S A WHOLE NOTHER LITTLE SECTION HERE. WELL, WE GOT A LITTLE BIT OF A LATE START. SO I'M JUST GOING TO GO QUICKLY THROUGH THIS, WHICH I THINK IT'LL LEND ITSELF TO. REMEMBER HOW I TALKED ABOUT. THANKS FOR ASKING. SO SHE ASKED WHAT IS THAT. WELL, REMEMBER WHEN I TALKED ABOUT, YOU KNOW, YOU'RE WALKING THROUGH THIS REALLY NICE OLD FOREST, ENJOYING YOURSELF IN THE SPRING, LOOKING AT ALL THE BEAUTIFUL SPRING WILDFLOWERS, AND THEN YOU WALK OVER YOUR TRAIL, GOES THROUGH AN OLD STONE WALL, AND ALL OF A SUDDEN IT'S LIKE, OH, NEW JERSEY IS SO DEPRESSING. IT'S ALL INVASIVE SPECIES. AND YOU THINK ABOUT STARTING TO CUT AND KILL STUFF AND YOU'RE LIKE, WAIT A MINUTE. TWO MINUTES AGO I WAS LIKE, OH, NATURE, BLAH BLAH BLAH, MAKING UP POETRY IN MY MIND, AND NOW I'M THINKING ABOUT MURDER. SO WHAT HAPPENED? I CROSSED THE STONEWALL. BIG DEAL. WELL, I WANT TO GIVE YOU A COUPLE MORE CLUES IN CASE THAT STONEWALL ISN'T THERE SO THAT YOU CAN INTERPRET LAND A LITTLE BIT. AND AS LAND STEWARDS, YOU CAN VIEW DIFFERENT PLACES, MAYBE THROUGH A NEW LENS, LIKE, OH, I UNDERSTAND WHY THIS PLACE IS SO BEAT UP, BECAUSE NOW I HAVE A SENSE FOR WHAT ITS LAND USE HISTORY MAY HAVE BEEN. SO WHAT IS THAT? THAT'S WHAT USED TO BE CALLED DISPARAGINGLY, A WOLF TREE, BECAUSE THERE WAS SOME IDEA THAT IT WAS HOGGING UP SOMETHING FROM SOMETHING ELSE. BUT WHAT THESE REALLY ARE ARE OLD PASTURE TREES. SO WHERE YOU HAD AREAS OF PASTURE, YOU WOULD HAVE LIVESTOCK AND THE FARMERS WOULD LEAVE AN OCCASIONAL, USUALLY LIKE AN OAK OR A HICKORY OR SOMETHING ELSE THAT WOULD BE NUT BEARING SO THAT THE LIVESTOCK WOULD HAVE SOME SHADE. AND THE TREES TOOK ON THIS WIDE, BRANCHING FORMATION BECAUSE THERE'S NO OTHER TREES AROUND THEM. INSTEAD OF HAVING TO GROW UP AS TALL AS THEY COULD, THEY JUST BRANCH OUT. BUT THEN LOOK WHAT'S HAPPENING NEXT TO THIS BIG OLD WHITE OAK OVER HERE. THERE'S ALL THESE YOUNG TEENAGER TREES COMING IN AROUND IT, AND IT'S WIDE. SPREADING BOUGHS ARE DYING THE LOWER ONES, AND YOU KIND OF SEE STUBS INSTEAD. BUT THIS IS A VERY CLEAR INDICATOR THAT NOT THAT LONG AGO THERE WAS JUST THIS TREE HERE. THIS MAY LOOK LIKE A FOREST TO US, BUT THIS WASN'T A FOREST. 30, 40 WHATEVER. YEARS AGO, THIS WAS AN OLD PASTURE THAT WAS ABANDONED. SO THESE WOLF TREES ARE SIGNS THAT YOU'RE IN AN OLD PASTURE. 
          SOMETIMES YOU'LL SEE DOUBLE TRUNK TREES. WHAT ARE DOUBLE TRUNK TREES? A SIGN OF, WELL, AGAIN, IN A FOREST. TREES. TRY TO. GENERALLY SPEAKING, MOST OF OUR CANOPY TREES WILL GROW AS ONE SINGLE STEM BECAUSE THEY'RE TRYING TO GET UP AS HIGH AS POSSIBLE, AS FAST AS POSSIBLE, TO MAKE SURE THAT THEY HAVE ACCESS TO SUNLIGHT. IT DOESN'T REALLY BENEFIT THEM TO HAVE MULTIPLE TRUNKS, BECAUSE THAT'S MORE ENERGY INVESTMENT INTO ALL THESE OTHER TRUNKS WHEN THEY COULD BE GROWING UP. AND SO THESE ARE SIGNS THAT THE TREE HAS BEEN CUT. AND WHEN A TREE GETS CUT, WHEN IT'S, YOU KNOW, PART OF A, YOU KNOW, A TIMBER HARVEST OR SOMETHING, IT DOESN'T NECESSARILY DIE. THE ROOT SYSTEM IS STILL THERE, BUT IT RESPROUTS FROM THAT STUMP. AND SO IF YOU SEE TWO OR 3 OR 4 TRUNKS ON A TREE, IT MEANS THAT THIS WAS ALREADY CUT ONCE. AND ESPECIALLY IF YOU SEE LIKE A BUNCH OF OAKS OR OTHER VALUABLE TIMBER TREES, ALL DOUBLE TRUNKED WITHIN A RELATIVELY SMALL AREA, IT'S A PRETTY GOOD SIGN THAT THIS WAS TIMBERED, AND YOU CAN MAKE SOME GUESSES BASED ON THE SIZE OF THOSE TRUNKS. HOW LONG AGO WAS THIS TIMBER? WAS THIS LAST LOGGED 30 YEARS AGO? 40 YEARS AGO? 20 YEARS AGO? WHAT HAVE YOU. YOU CAN USE THOSE MULTI-TRUNK SPECIES AS INDICATORS. SOME OTHER THINGS YOU MIGHT SEE IS YOU MIGHT SEE TRUNKS OF TREES WITH OLD BARBED WIRE IN THEM. ANOTHER INDICATOR OF PASTURE. SOMETIMES YOU'LL SEE STUMPS AND SOMETIMES HERE'S ANOTHER DOUBLE TRUNK TREE. I DON'T KNOW WHY I HAVE TWO SIDES OF THAT. HERE'S A PAGE FROM SOMETHING I FOUND IN THE RUTGERS LIBRARY AT SOME POINT THAT SHOWS ALL THE DIFFERENT SCARS ON TREES THAT YOU MIGHT ALSO HAVE AS A RESULT OF TIMBER HARVESTING, WHETHER IT'S JUST EQUIPMENT DAMAGING OR DRAGGING LOGS ALONG, HITTING ADJACENT TREES. OR AGAIN, YOU'RE KIND OF CLASSIC MULTIPLE MULTIPLE TRUNKS. THIS IMAGE OVER HERE ON THE LEFT WAS THIS REALLY INTERESTING? I WAS DOING FIELD WORK, AND I FOUND THIS RING OF MOSS. AND, YOU KNOW, PRETTY MUCH I WAS LIKE, WHAT IS THIS? AND I HAD KIND OF A HUNCH. AND I WENT UP CLOSE AND 
          [01:00:06]
I SAW BENEATH THE RING OF MOSS, I SAW A SOIL THAT LOOKED LIKE CHARCOAL. AND SO THIS MUST HAVE BEEN LIKE AN OLD, YOU KNOW, PLACE WHERE THEY PRODUCED CHARCOAL, LIKE IN THE FOREST. 
          THEY JUST CUT THE TREES AND PRODUCE THE CHARCOAL RIGHT THERE. AND YOU COULD STILL SEE, LIKE THE SIGNATURE OF IT IN A SEMICIRCLE OF MOSS IN THE LANDSCAPE. YOU'LL ALSO SEE OLD CORING EVIDENCE, WHETHER IT'S JUST HOLES IN ROCKS WHERE THERE'S BLASTING OR HERE IS ACTUALLY SEEING, LIKE, I GUESS, WHERE THEY'RE DRIVING IN SPIKES IN ORDER TO SPLIT THE ROCK FOR QUARRYING. SOMETIMES YOU'LL FIND SOME WEIRD GUY STANDING IN THE WOODS, AND YOU SHOULD WALK THE OTHER WAY AS FAST AS YOU CAN, OR GRATUITOUS ME PICTURE. BUT THE REASON I'M IN THERE IS TO SHOW HOW STEEP THE SLOPE IS, BECAUSE IF YOU FIND A REALLY ROCKY, STEEP SLOPE LIKE THAT, YOU CAN MAKE SOME CONJECTURES ABOUT WHAT DIDN'T HAPPEN. THERE PROBABLY WASN'T A CORNFIELD 50 YEARS AGO, SO THESE ARE ALSO IMPORTANT LANDSCAPE CLUES. THE ABSENCE OF OH, AND THEN THIS. SO IF YOU SEE A TOTAL DISASTER OF A WOODS HERE, THAT'S ALL LIKE VINES AND JAPANESE AND STILTGRASS AND SO ON, YOU CAN PROBABLY GUESS THAT THERE WAS SOME VERY SIGNIFICANT DISTURBANCE, MAYBE PRIOR LAND USE THERE BEFORE. AND IT'S AMAZING HOW SOMETIMES, LIKE THE DEGREE OF ABUSIVENESS OF THAT DISTURBANCE SEEMS REFLECTED DIRECTLY IN THE PLANT COMMUNITY OR GOING TO A SPOT WHERE, GOSH, THERE WAS A LARGE CORPORATION. I DON'T WANT TO GET IT WRONG AND, YOU KNOW, BE LIABLE IN A LARGE CORPORATION RIGHT NOW, IN OUR CURRENT ATMOSPHERE, A LARGE CORPORATION HAD DUMPED, YOU KNOW, LARGE AMOUNTS OF I THINK IT WAS AUTOMOTIVE PAINT, LIKE SOMEPLACE UP IN, IN, IN NORTH JERSEY. AND I REMEMBER GOING AND IT WAS JUST LIKE ACRES AND ACRES OF JAPANESE KNOTWEED AND OTHER STUFF. AND IT WAS JUST LIKE, THERE'S HARDLY ANYTHING GROWING THERE EXCEPT A HANDFUL OF INVASIVE PLANTS. AND IT'S LIKE SOMEBODY DID SOME REAL BADNESS HERE. AND THEN I CAME BACK HOME. 
          I RESEARCHED IT, AND IT WAS LIKE IT WAS AN OLD, YOU KNOW, I DON'T KNOW IF IT'S A SUPERFUND SITE, BUT IT WAS BASICALLY LIKE A SPOT WHERE ALL THIS LIKE CHROMIUM LADEN AUTOMOTIVE PAINT AND OTHER STUFF HAD BEEN DUMPED FOR MANY YEARS. BUT THAT'S AN ASIDE. YOU MIGHT ALSO FIND BEAUTIFUL PLANT SPECIES THAT YOU DON'T FIND MUCH ELSEWHERE. AND THOSE ARE INDICATORS, AGAIN, ESPECIALLY IF YOU KNOW, THIS IS A PLANT THAT REALLY LIKES A SPECIFIC HABITAT TYPE. THIS IS A PLANT THAT ONLY GROWS IN LIKE SPHAGNUM MOSS, BOGS OR LIMESTONE WETLANDS, OR UP ON DIABASE RIDGELINES OR WHATEVER. THAT CAN GIVE YOU A CLUE THAT, WELL, GIVEN HOW UNCOMMON THIS PLANT IS, GIVEN HOW UNLIKELY IT IS THAT IT WOULD JUST DISPERSE TO ANY GIVEN SPOT IN THE LANDSCAPE. IF WE CAN SEE ONE OR MORE, PERHAPS THERE'S A HALF DOZEN OR MORE UNUSUAL OR RARE PLANT SPECIES, ALL GROUPED TOGETHER. TO ME, THAT GIVES AN INDICATION OF THE LONGEVITY OF THAT HABITAT, BECAUSE PROBABILISTICALLY, LIKE, HOW COULD THAT CONGREGATION OF UNUSUAL PLANT SPECIES ARISE IN A REALLY SHORT PERIOD OF TIME? DOES THAT MAKE SENSE? I ALWAYS STRUGGLE TO EXPRESS THAT THOUGHT. SO THIS LEADS US TO OUR FINAL QUERY OF THE NIGHT, WHICH I JUST WANT TO EXTEND TO ALL OF YOU WHO ARE INVOLVED IN LAND STEWARDSHIP AND CARETAKING OF WILD HABITATS, WHICH IS, FOR LACK OF A BETTER RHYME, TENDER MEND. WE HAVE HABITATS LIKE OUR PRIMARY FORESTS THAT MAY HAVE MUCH OF THEIR PLANT BIODIVERSITY AND THEIR ANIMAL DIVERSITY ALREADY PRESENT, AND THESE ARE NECESSARY PLACES TO HAVE RADICAL INTERVENTIONS, WITH A TON OF NEW PLANTINGS AND INTRODUCTIONS AND SO ON. THESE ARE PLACES THAT I THINK OF AS PLACES TO TEND TO, YOU KNOW, CAREFULLY PROTECT AGAINST CERTAIN TYPES OF DISTURBANCES, WHETHER THAT'S DEER BROWSE OR ATV TRAFFIC, MAYBE REINTRODUCED JUDICIOUSLY, DISTURBANCES THAT ARE MISSING LIKE FIRE OR OTHER KINDS OF HUMAN INVOLVEMENT, OR PERHAPS WILDLIFE SPECIES THAT ARE MISSING AND LET THEM FOLLOW THEIR OWN PATH THAT THEY HAVE ALREADY BEEN ON FOR MANY DECADES. OTHER PLACES WE HAVE, PERHAPS LESS APTLY NAMED MEND, LIKE THESE, ARE PLACES WHERE WE NEED TO GET IN AND OUT OF THE GROUND FLOOR. WE MIGHT NEED TO RETURN THEM TO MORE OR LESS A BLANK SLATE, BECAUSE THEY'VE REWELDED UNSUCCESSFULLY IN THE POST-AGRICULTURAL HIGHLY DEVELOPED, YOU KNOW, INVADED CENTRAL NEW JERSEY LANDSCAPE. AND THEY ARE A VERY SPECIES POOR. THEY'RE VERY DOMINATED BY A COUPLE OF DEER RESISTANT EXOTIC PLANTS. AND WE NEED TO START FROM SCRATCH HERE. WE NEED TO THINK LIKE, WHAT'S THE BEST FUTURE FOR THIS? THE OLD FOREST, THE BEST FUTURE FOR IT IS PROBABLY OLD FOREST, BUT A REALLY WEEDY FOREST THAT'S, YOU KNOW, 80% DEAD ASH TREES WITH A 
          [01:05:01]
BUNCH OF MULTIFLORA ROSE UNDERNEATH AND SOME JAPANESE STILTGRASS. MAYBE THAT'S BETTER OFF BEING A MEADOW. IT'S EASIER TO MAINTAIN, AND IT WILL RETURN A LOT MORE IN TERMS OF POLLINATOR SUPPORT THAN TRYING TO CREATE AN OLD GROWTH FOREST THERE, WHICH NONE OF US ARE GOING TO SEE IN OUR LIFETIME. SO I THINK WE NEED TO BE PRAGMATIC ABOUT THESE REALLY DAMAGED LANDSCAPES. THEY DON'T ALL NEED TO BE FOR US. THEY MAY BE A LOT EASIER TO MAINTAIN WITH, YOU KNOW, ONCE EVERY COUPLE OF YEARS BRUSH HOGGING, THEN THE KIND OF METICULOUS CARE THAT WOULD THAT WOULD CREATE A DIVERSE HERBACEOUS LAYER, A NATIVE SHRUB UNDERSTORY, A DIVERSE CANOPY. I MEAN, I'D LOVE TO SAY THAT WE CAN ASSEMBLE HABITATS LIKE THIS, BUT THERE'S A CERTAIN LEVEL OF QUALITY THAT I THINK WE CAN ONLY ASPIRE TO RIGHT NOW AS RESTORATION PRACTITIONERS. SO AS WE GO INTO LANDSCAPES AND WE SEE DAMAGED LANDSCAPES OR WE SEE BEAUTIFUL LANDSCAPES, WE CAN THINK ABOUT THESE IN TERMS OF WHAT LEVEL OF INTERVENTION IS APPROPRIATE AND HOW MUCH DO WE WANT TO SUPERIMPOSE OUR SORT OF SENSE OF WHAT THIS PLACE COULD BE, AND HOW MUCH DO WE WANT TO JUST BE GOOD LISTENERS AND OBSERVERS OF WHAT IS ALREADY THERE? OKAY, SO JUST WRAPPING UP, WHY ARE RARE PLANTS IMPORTANT? WHY ARE THEY IMPORTANT TO ME? I DON'T THINK IT'S JUST BECAUSE THEY'RE DIMINISHING. I DON'T THINK IT'S JUST TO LIKE SORT OF FETISHIZE SCARCITY OR TO MAKE A LIST OUT OF ALL THE COOL THINGS THAT I FOUND THAT OTHER PEOPLE HAVEN'T FOUND. RARE PLANTS ARE IMPORTANT BECAUSE I THINK ALL OF US HAVE SOME SORT OF SENSE OF WHAT, LIKE A WILD HABITAT CAN LOOK LIKE. WE MAY ALL HAVE A SENSE OF WHAT A FOREST CAN LOOK LIKE. MANY PEOPLE HAVE A SENSE THAT A FOREST IS COMPOSED OF TREES. THEY MAY HAVE ADDITIONAL NUANCE TO THAT SENSE, OR THEY MAY THINK OF FORESTS AS BASICALLY A PLACE WHERE THERE'S A LOT OF TREES. 
          AND WHAT RARE PLANTS DO IS THEY FURTHER NUANCE OUR SENSE OF WHAT KIND OF WILD HABITATS OUR AREA CAN SUPPORT. BECAUSE WHEN YOU FIND A RARE PLANT THAT IN FACT, LIKE SOME EXPOSED DIABASE LEDGES, OR WHEN YOU FIND A RARE PLANT THAT IS VERY DEPENDENT ON FIRE FOR ITS GERMINATION OR PERSISTENCE, OR YOU FIND A RARE PLANT SPECIES THAT IS DISPERSED BY A PARTICULAR WILDLIFE SPECIES, OR YOU FIND A RARE PLANT THAT ONLY THRIVES IN THE MINERAL RICH SEEPAGE WATERS COMING OUT OF DIABASE OR LIMESTONE OR MARBLE. GEOLOGY IN HEADWATERS WETLANDS. ALL OF A SUDDEN, I THINK WE HAVE A RICHER SENSE OF THE FOREST. WE HAVE A MORE NUANCED SENSE OF WHAT FOREST REALLY IS, AND WE HAVE A MORE NUANCED SENSE OF THIS PLACE THAT WE LIVE, WHICH IS NOT JUST A BUNCH OF TREES WITH GREEN STUFF, BUT IN FACT VERY COMPLEX WITH THESE RARE SPECIES, PLANT SPECIES, PERHAPS AS EVEN ADDITIONAL INDICATORS TO US OF THE POTENTIAL COMPLEXITY AND DIVERSITY OF OUR LANDSCAPE. AND MANY OF US THINK OF CONSERVATION AND ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES AS BEING GLOBAL. AS MAYOR SINGH MENTIONED EARLIER, AND THEY ARE IN FACT GLOBAL. AND AT THE SAME TIME, WHERE CONSERVATION HAPPENS IS ON THE LOCAL LEVEL, THE ONLY WAY WE CONSERVE THE WORLD'S BIODIVERSITY IS BY CONSERVING IT WITHIN LOCAL PLACES, PLACES LIKE THE SOURLANDS THAT ARE IN MANY WAYS THE TEMPLATE OR THE REFERENCE ECOSYSTEM. OR I'D LIKE TO THINK, THE INSPIRATION FOR WHAT A REWILDING, DIVERSE CENTRAL NEW JERSEY WITH HUMAN BEINGS AS AN IMPORTANT COMPONENT OF ITS HABITAT CAN LOOK LIKE. THANK YOU VERY MUCH. FOR YOUR TOUCH. DON'T BE SHY. I LIKE TALKING ABOUT PLANTS. YOU CAN FIND A BLOG AND OUR NATIVE PLANT NURSERY AND SO ON AT WILD RICH PLANTS. COM AND IF THERE'S TIME OUTSIDE AND PEOPLE ARE STILL AROUND, I'VE GOT SOME OF MY BOOKS ABOUT NATIVE PLANTS. I'LL SET UP A LITTLE TABLE OUT THERE AND YOU'RE WELCOME TO COME AND HOBNOB OR TAKE A LOOK AT THE BOOKS. AND THANKS SO MUCH TO ALL THE ORGANIZATIONS, TO MONTGOMERY TOWNSHIP, TO BIG LIST OF PEOPLE THAT I'M NOT GOING TO ATTEMPT TO ALL THANK NOW, BECAUSE YOU'VE LISTENED TO ME LONG ENOUGH. AND THANKS, EVERYBODY, FOR COMING OUT ON A COLD WINTER NIGHT WHERE THERE'S NO WAY I WOULD HAVE LEFT MY HOUSE IF I HADN'T HAD TO COME SPEAK HERE. SO. I'M GOING TO MAKE SURE THAT THIS IS WORKING. YOU CAN HEAR ME. SO I TOLD YOU IT WAS A GOOD PRESENTATION THAT YOU WERE THAT WAS COMING AT YOU. SO THANK YOU. JARED, YOU HAVE A FEW MINUTES FOR A FEW QUESTIONS FROM THE CROWD. IF THERE ARE ANY, I WILL GET MY STEPS IN. IF THERE IS ANYONE THAT HAS A 
          [01:10:06]
QUESTION FOR JARED, RAISE YOUR HAND AND I WILL MAKE MY WAY TO YOU. I FEEL LIKE I GOT YOU. I'LL START HERE. AFTER I TOOK A PICTURE OF THE HOUSE IN THE MUSEUM. SO? SO THIS IS WHERE IT ALL YOU KNOW. SO WHAT YOU'RE ASKING IS, TO A CERTAIN EXTENT, LIKE IN AREAS WHERE LAND STEWARDSHIP IS HAPPENING, IS IT A PART OF LAND STEWARDSHIP PRACTICE TO ACTUALLY KIND OF FOREFRONT THOSE MINERAL AVAILABILITY? AND WHAT I WOULD SAY IS, WHILE IT'S NOT SOMETHING THAT IS ALWAYS TALKED ABOUT IN LAND RESTORATION, WHEN YOU SEE A PROJECT LIKE WHAT PHOBOS HAS BEEN DOING OVER AT BALDPATE WITH THE GREEN VIOLET AND OTHER RARE PLANT SPECIES, IN A WAY, WHAT THEY'RE DOING BY TAKING ALL THE THATCH AND SORT OF LIKE ORGANIC MATTER OFF OF THOSE ROCKS, IS ACTUALLY EXPOSING THAT GEOLOGICAL SUBSTRATE, SO THAT ONLY PLANTS THAT ARE REALLY WELL ADAPTED TO LIVING IN THOSE MINERAL SOILS OR LIVING IN CRACKS IN THAT ROCK CAN ACTUALLY PERSIST. AND THAT GIVES NATIVE PLANTS BACK TO THEIR NICHE THERE. BUT YEAH, I'VE THOUGHT ABOUT LIKE TAKING ROCK DUST FROM THE QUARRY AND SPREADING IT AROUND AND, YOU KNOW, LITERALLY ELEVATING THE DIABASE, YOU KNOW, KIND OF POTENTIAL OF SOILS AND STUFF. AND THAT'S THERE'S A MILLION CRACKPOT SCHEMES. SO YEAH, IT'S FOR ASKING THOUGH, ANOTHER QUESTION. HEY, JARED, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR COMING. PUTTING INTO WORDS A LOT OF THINGS THAT HAVE BEEN GOING ON IN MY MIND FOR A LONG TIME, LIKE HOW TO TELL IF A FOREST IS REALLY, TRULY OLDER OR NEWER, AND WHY ARE THERE SO MANY INVASIVE PLANTS IN CERTAIN AREAS. SO THANK YOU. AND THANK YOU ALSO FOR MAKING ME PROUD TO HAVE GROWN UP IN THIS AREA. SO THANKS AND LIVE HERE. THANKS. 
          ONE QUESTION I HAVE IS THAT I'M AN AVID HIKER AND I FOUND SOME REALLY COOL PLANTS, ONLY PRETTY MUCH LIKE ONCE OR TWICE IN THIS WHOLE AREA. AND I'M JUST WONDERING IF YOU HAVE ANY RECOMMENDATIONS FOR A REALLY GOOD HIKE. AND ALSO STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN VIA THE POCHUCK VALLEY AND VIA THE APPALACHIAN TRAIL? IT'S A LITTLE NORTH, YOU KNOW, IT'S TOWARD RINGWOOD, BUT I'VE SEEN ACTUAL, YOU KNOW, TRILLIUM, LITTLE GROVES AND, YOU KNOW, YEAH, A LOT OF COOL THINGS OVER THERE. SO IF YOU HAVE ANY OTHER IDEAS. THAT IS A BEAUTIFUL PART OF THE STATE. YEAH. YOU KNOW, I MEAN, THERE'S SO MANY GOOD HIKES IN THE SOURLANDS AND WHAT I WOULD TEND TO GRAVITATE TOWARDS ARE AREAS THAT ARE REALLY BOULDERY OR REALLY STEEP OR AREAS THAT ARE REALLY WET, BECAUSE AGAIN, THOSE ARE THE TYPES OF AREAS THAT HAVE PREEMPTED THE MOST HUMAN MUCKING AROUND, AND THEY TEND TO BE REFUGES. SO THERE ARE TRAILS ALONG BOULDER FIELDS AND ON STEEP SLOPES AND OF COURSE, YOU CAN'T GO WRONG HIKING ALONG STREAMS. YOU KNOW, THERE'S SO MUCH THERE IN TERMS OF DISPERSAL AND GOOD HABITAT AND SOMETIMES SOME SATELLITE AVAILABILITY. 
          ALSO. COOL. THANKS FOR ASKING. OH, WHAT'S THAT? JARED. YES. SO I THINK I WILL I WILL SPEAK FOR MANY OF US THAT WE UNDERSTAND THE IMPORTANCE OF PRESERVING THE PRIMARY FORESTS, AND MANY OF US ARE MEMBERS OF VOLUNTEER WITH THE NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS. BUT AS A HOMEOWNER WHO LIVES THREE MILES FROM SOURLANDS. YES. BUT MY DEVELOPMENT, OF COURSE, WAS BUILT ON A FORMER FARMLAND. DOES IT MAKE ANY CHANGE IF I DO BUY SEEDS AND THEY ARE AVAILABLE ONLINE FOR INDIAN PAINTBRUSH AND YELLOW HYSSOP, LIKE, CAN WE HELP MAKE THE RARE PLANTS LESS RARE? AND DOES IT MAKE ANY SENSE IF THEY ARE NOT IN THEIR REAL HABITAT? THAT'S A REALLY INTERESTING QUESTION THAT RAMIFIES IN SO MANY DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS, AND I'LL TRY TO KEEP MY ANSWER TO IT REALLY BRIEF, BUT THERE'S A COUPLE OF ISSUES AROUND RARE PLANTS, AND ONE OF THEM HAS TO DO WITH THEIR GENETICS. AND OFTENTIMES WHAT WE'RE PRESERVING IS NOT JUST A POPULATION, BUT THE UNIQUE GENETICS OF A RARE PLANT POPULATION THAT MAY BE DIFFERENT BECAUSE OF BECAUSE OF ISOLATION FROM GENETICS, OF OTHER INSTANCES OF THAT RARE PLANT. AND SO SOMETIMES OFTEN WITHIN CONSERVATION, IT'S ACTUALLY FROWNED UPON OR DISCOURAGED TO PURCHASE SEEDS OF RARE PLANT SPECIES WHEN THE SEEDS MAY BE COMING FROM POPULATIONS THAT ARE FROM THE MIDWEST AND SO ON, BECAUSE THEY MAY ACTUALLY, IF THEY DO COME INTO GENETIC CONTACT WITH LOCAL POPULATIONS, THEY MAY ACTUALLY WATER DOWN, SO TO SPEAK, THE UNIQUE GENETICS OF PLANT SPECIES HERE. AND SO WHAT I WOULD PROPOSE, ALTHOUGH I DON'T THINK THAT THERE'S VERY MANY WAYS OF DOING THIS RIGHT 
          [01:15:05]
NOW, IS THAT IF YOU ARE GOING TO GROW RARE PLANT SPECIES, YOU SHOULD SOURCE THEM FROM LOCAL SEED OR LOCAL PLANT NURSERIES OR WHAT HAVE YOU THAT YOU KNOW ARE COLLECTING WITHIN OUR GEOGRAPHICAL AREA BECAUSE IT DOES MORE TO BENEFIT NOT JUST THE SPECIES WRIT LARGE, BUT THE NEW JERSEY OR THE SOURLANDS VERSION OF THAT SPECIES THAT IS REALLY LIKE AT THE ROOT OF THE GENETIC DIVERSITY THAT WE'RE TRYING TO PRESERVE. YES, YOU MENTIONED THE LOSS OF. 
          PERSPECTIVE ON SOIL. YEAH. YOU DID NOT MENTION. THE LOSS OF FUNGUS. YEAH. AND WHAT DEGREE IS THAT? TRIBUTE TO THE NECESSITY OR THE DESIRABILITY OF MAINTAINING PRIMARY FARMS? AND ON THE FLIP SIDE, THE DIFFICULTY OR FUTILITY OF REGENERATING FOREST AND PUT BACK. YEAH. SO THAT'S A REALLY APT QUESTION AND COMMENT AS WELL. AND FOR ANYBODY WHO DIDN'T HEAR IT, THE QUESTION HAS TO DO WITH NOT JUST CARBON SEQUESTRATION OR LACK THEREOF IN POST-AGRICULTURAL FOREST SOILS, BUT ALSO THE ABSENCE OF MYCORRHIZAL FUNGI AND SO ON IN POST-AGRICULTURAL FORESTS. AND WHAT I WOULD SAY IS THAT. THOSE ARE ALL CONNECTED. SO IN THE PROCESS OF AGRICULTURAL DESTRUCTION OF SOILS, WE DESTROY THE EXISTING SOIL BIOME, WHETHER THAT'S FUNGAL SPECIES, BACTERIAL SPECIES, YOU KNOW. MICRO INVERTEBRATES AND SO ON. AND ALL THOSE HAVE A ROLE TO PLAY IN THE RETENTION OF CARBON IN SOILS, THE STRUCTURING OF SOILS TO ALLOW FOR SUCCESSFUL PLANT ROOTING AND SO ON. AND ULTIMATELY. IT'S UNKNOWN THAT THE DEGREE TO WHICH INDIVIDUAL PLANT SPECIES RELY ON INDIVIDUAL FUNGAL SPECIES. BUT IT'S BECOME QUITE CLEAR THAT MANY TO MOST NATIVE PLANT SPECIES, ESPECIALLY THOSE THAT ARE NOT WEEDS, BUT THOSE THAT ARE, YOU KNOW, PERENNIAL AND MEADOW AND FOREST HABITATS ARE REALLY DEPENDENT ON, ON THEIR SOIL BIOME, INCLUDING FUNGAL SPECIES. SO IF YOU THINK ABOUT IT, WE SORT OF HAVE BEAR WITH ME WHAT WE KIND OF HAVE OUR SOIL INSIDE OF US. WE GO THROUGH OUR DIGESTIVE PROCESS WITH THE AID OF A MICROBIOME THAT RESIDES IN OUR BODY. BUT PLANTS DON'T HAVE STOMACHS IN THEIR BODY PER SE. 
          THEIR DIGESTIVE PROCESS, AS IT WERE. THE PROCESS THAT BREAKS ORGANIC MATTER DOWN INTO PLANT AVAILABLE NUTRIENTS HAPPENS IN THE SOIL AROUND THEM, AND IT'S LARGELY FACILITATED BY FUNGAL AND BACTERIAL SPECIES. SO IF PLANTS DON'T HAVE FUNGAL AND BACTERIAL SPECIES IN THEIR ROOT ZONE, WHICH MANY TIMES THEY WILL DO A LOT OF THINGS TO ACTIVELY ABET THOSE SPECIES. BUT IF THOSE SPECIES ARE ABSENT, PLANTS IN A WAY LIKE ARE DEPRIVED OF THEIR DIGESTIVE PROCESS, THEY'RE DEPRIVED OF THE MECHANISM BY WHICH ESSENTIAL SOIL NUTRIENTS WILL ACTUALLY BECOME BIOAVAILABLE TO THEIR ROOTS. SO IT'S ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL. AND ONE OF THE THINGS ABOUT POST-AGRICULTURAL FOREST IS IN THE DESTRUCTION OF NATIVE SOILS. WE MAY HAVE DESTROYED THE POTENTIAL FOR CERTAIN PLANT SPECIES TO THRIVE THERE, BECAUSE THE SOIL BIOME AND THE SOIL STRUCTURE IS SHOT. WE HEAR A LOT ABOUT THE CATIONS, THE MAGNESIUM AND CALCIUM. YEAH. IS THERE ANY EVIDENCE THAT ANIONS LIKE CHLORIDE ARE LIMITING IN SOILS FOR RARE PLANTS? THAT'S A GOOD QUESTION. AND IT'S ONE THAT AS A NON-CHEMIST AND NOT REALLY PARTICULARLY WELL SUITED TO ANSWER. BUT WHAT I CAN SAY IS THAT THERE ARE NUTRIENTS, OR RATHER, THERE ARE CHEMICAL CONSTITUENTS OF SOILS THAT ARE DERIVED FROM SPECIFIC GEOLOGIES, LIKE YOUR MAGNESIUM OR YOUR CALCIUM. BUT IT COULD BE ANYTHING ELSE. IT COULD BE ALUMINUM. IT COULD, YOU KNOW, IT COULD BE MANY THINGS. AND TO DIFFERENT PLANTS THAT ARE ADAPTED TO DIFFERENT HABITAT TYPES, THOSE WILL EITHER REPRESENT RESOURCES OR TOXINS. SO THERE ARE PLANTS THAT LOVE THE HIGHLY ACIDIC VERY IRON AVAILABLE. LOW CALCIUM, LOW NITROGEN AND SO ON SOILS OF THE PINE BARRENS. AND YOU MIGHT NOT SEE THEM IN THE SOURLANDS WHERE THE SOILS ARE REALLY RICH AND HIGH IN CALCIUM AND MAGNESIUM AND VICE VERSA. SO YES, THE AVAILABILITY OF DIFFERENT MINERALS, DIFFERENT CONSTITUENTS IN THE SOILS SEEMS TO HAVE A REALLY PROFOUND EFFECT ON PLANT DISTRIBUTION. AND WE CAN SEE CLUES TO THAT IN WHAT RARE PLANT SPECIES LIVE, WHERE OR EVEN COMMON PLANT SPECIES. BUT WE, AND ESPECIALLY I DON'T NECESSARILY KNOW THE MECHANISM FOR EACH INDIVIDUAL PLANT SPECIES. WHO ELSE? I HAVE THE MICROPHONE. OKAY. SO THANK YOU 
          [01:20:09]
SO MUCH FOR YOUR PRESENTATION HERE. THIS WAS AWESOME. SO I ALSO HAVE A QUESTION ABOUT THE SOIL. SO YOU TALKED A UNIQUE ROT BEING THE BASE OF KIND OF THE WHOLE ECOSYSTEM HERE. AND YOU ALSO AT THE BEGINNING KIND OF MENTIONED THE GREAT HISTORY OF HOW THOSE ROCKS FORMED. I WAS WONDERING IF YOU HAVE ANY UNDERSTANDING OR INDICATION IN, YOU KNOW, YOUR, YOUR EXPERIENCE WHETHER LIKE THE AMOUNT OF TIME THE SOIL TAKES TO FORM FROM THOSE ROCKS, WOULD THAT BE KIND OF AN INDICATOR OF LIKE HOW UNIQUE THE ECOSYSTEM IS, LIKE, YOU KNOW, IS IT REALLY HARD ROCK THAT DOESN'T BREAK DOWN VERY QUICKLY? I'M NOT EXACTLY SURE WHAT MY QUESTION IS, BUT YEAH, I HAVE ONLY AN INDIRECT COMMENT ON YOUR QUESTION. I DON'T REALLY HAVE AN ANSWER FOR YOU, WHICH IS WE HAVE PLACES THAT WERE GLACIATED FARTHER NORTH IN NEW JERSEY, WHERE THE RIDGELINES ACTUALLY HAD LIKE BASICALLY THE TOPS OF RIDGELINES WERE JUST SHAVED OFF BY GLACIATION AND THOSE ARE STILL EXPOSED, EXPOSED BEDROCK, YOU KNOW, TEN OR MORE THOUSAND YEARS LATER. SO SOMETIMES SOIL FORMATION, ESPECIALLY IN HARSH, EXPOSED ENVIRONMENTS, CAN BE VERY SLOW. 
          AND YOU HAVE VERY DISTINCTIVE PLANT COMMUNITIES ON THOSE GLACIALLY SCOURED RIDGELINES WHERE THE SOILS ARE VERY THIN OR NONEXISTENT. SO IT'S NOT AN EXACT ANSWER TO YOUR QUESTION, BUT THE SORT OF WEATHERING OF SOILS, THE LEACHING OF NUTRIENTS OUT OF THEM OVER EXTENDED TIME SCALES DEFINITELY HAS AN EFFECT ON WHAT KIND OF PLANT COMMUNITIES CAN GROW THERE. I CAN'T GIVE YOU A MORE DIRECT ANSWER THAN THAT. YEAH. YOU'VE GOT THE MICROPHONE IN THE BACK. 
          YOU MIGHT HAVE TO ASK FOR THE MICROPHONE. WAIT. HOLD ON. HE'S GOT A MIC BEHIND YOU, SO I'M GOING TO DEFER TO HIM. OKAY. I JUST WANTED TO ASK IF YOU KNEW ANYTHING ABOUT THE PEACH TREES AND PEACH ORCHARDS THAT EXISTED ON SOURLAND MOUNTAIN BACK IN THE 19TH CENTURY, AND WERE WIPED OUT BY A BLIGHT AROUND THE TURN OF THE CENTURY, YOU BASICALLY JUST ENCAPSULATED EVERYTHING THAT I KNOW ABOUT IT IN YOUR QUESTION. I KNOW IT'S NOT EASY TO GROW PEACHES ON THE SOURLANDS ANYMORE. HI JARED, THANKS AGAIN FOR ALL YOU'VE BROUGHT WITH YOU TONIGHT AND SHARED WITH US REGARDING THE MYCORRHIZAL FUNGI. YES. CAN PRODUCTS LIKE BIOTONE AND ROOT TONE AND THOSE PRODUCTS RESTORE THAT? NO, NOT AT ALL. NOT REALLY. THE SHORT ANSWER IS NO. THE LONGER ANSWER IS THAT MOST NATIVE FUNGAL SPECIES DO NOT PERSIST IN DRY, POWDERED FORM. AND SO ALL THOSE INOCULANTS ARE LIKE, I THINK IT'S ONLY ONE GENUS OF FUNGAL SPECIES. I DON'T REMEMBER WHAT IT IS, BUT IT'S NOT LIKE A IT'S NOT A NATIVE FUNGAL SPECIES. IT MAY HELP YOUR GARDEN VEGETABLES, WHICH ARE ALSO NOT NATIVE, BUT IT'S NOT A REPLACEMENT FOR, YOU KNOW, DIVERSITY OF FUNGAL SPECIES. THERE'S SOMEBODY DOING REALLY INTERESTING WORK ON THIS OUT IN THE PRAIRIE STATES. SHE'S OUT IN KANSAS. OH GOSH. WHAT'S HER COMPANY CALLED? I DON'T KNOW, I DID A PODCAST INTERVIEW WITH HER ON THE WILD PLANT CULTURE PODCAST A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO, AND SHE'S ACTUALLY CULTURING NATIVE FUNGAL SPECIES OF OLD GROWTH PRAIRIES IN KANSAS AND USING THEM IN RESTORATION EFFORTS. AND HER EARLY DATA IS SHOWING REMARKABLE INFLUENCE ON RESTORATION PROJECTS OF THE REINTRODUCTION OF THESE FUNGAL SPECIES. AND I'VE BEEN HANKERING FOR SOMEBODY TO DO SOMETHING LIKE THIS OUT EAST, RIGHT, TO FIGURE OUT A WAY TO CULTURE AND MAKE AVAILABLE SORT OF FRESH FUNGAL SPORES OR BLASTED UP FUNGAL BODIES OR WHATEVER THE HECK SHE'S DOING. WHAT'S HER COMPANY CALLED? MYCO SOMETHING. BUT THAT'S OBVIOUS. IT WILL COME TO ME. BUT ANYWAY, AS FAR AS I KNOW, THERE'S NOT ANY COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE NATIVE FUNGAL INOCULANT FOR THIS AREA, AND YOUR BEST BET IS PROBABLY TO PUT A PILE OF LEAVES IN THE WOODS SOMEWHERE, PUT A LITTLE THING ON IT SO IT STAYS PACKED DOWN, AND THEN COME BACK A YEAR LATER AND JUST HARVEST IT AND TRANSPLANT IT TO YOUR RESTORATION SITE. BECAUSE WHILE YOU WON'T NECESSARILY GET A FULL CONTINGENT OF MYCORRHIZAL FUNGAL SPECIES, YOU WILL GET NATIVE DECOMPOSERS AND SO ON, AND THEY CAN HELP JUMPSTART THE BIOLOGY OR POTENTIALLY JUMPSTART THE BIOLOGY OF YOUR RESTORATION SITE. AND IT MAY BE TRUE THAT COMPOST, TEAS AND SO ON ARE EFFECTIVE IN THAT MANNER ALSO, AND IT'S SOMETHING I'M CURIOUS ABOUT, BUT I DON'T FEEL LIKE I HAVE CERTAINTY OR, YOU KNOW, ANY 
          [01:25:02]
SPECIAL KNOWLEDGE TO BRING TO YOU ABOUT THAT INTERESTING QUESTION. I THINK MAYBE WE HAVE TIME FOR ONE MORE QUESTION, AND THEN WE'RE OVERDUE FOR LETTING YOU GUYS GO. SO ANYBODY WHO HASN'T ASKED ANYTHING. ALL RIGHT. YOU'RE ON. DO YOU HAVE ANY RECOMMENDATIONS FOR PLACES THAT SELL LOCAL PLANTS AND SEEDS? WELL, TO GET THE OBVIOUS OUT OF THE WAY, MY FAMILY BUSINESS, WALTER RIDGE PLANTS. IN FACT, MANY OF THE PLANTS THAT WE SELL WERE ORIGINALLY SEED COLLECTED IN THE SOURLANDS BECAUSE WE LIVED IN THE SOURLANDS, WE STARTED OUR NURSERY IN THE SALONS. SO IF YOU WANT REAL LOCAL ECOTYPE SOURLANDS MATERIAL AND MATERIAL FROM THIS PORTION OF CENTRAL AND, YOU KNOW, TO SOME DEGREE NORTHWESTERN NEW JERSEY, YOU CAN CHECK US OUT. BUT THERE ARE MANY FINE NATIVE PLANT NURSERIES. NOW, I WOULD SAY THAT IF YOU'RE RESTORING ON THE COASTAL PLAIN OR IN THE PINE BARRENS, PINELANDS NURSERY HAS BEEN DOING PROPAGATION FOR MANY, MANY YEARS AND HAS A REALLY EXCELLENT SELECTION. AND THEN, YOU KNOW, THE LIST GOES ON. BUT YEAH, THANKS FOR SETTING ME UP FOR THAT. AND ALL OF OUR PLANTS ARE NOW UP FOR SALE FOR SPRING PREORDERS, TOO. WHILE I'M TALKING ABOUT PLANTS, WE WILL HAVE THE. RESOURCES, AND THE NATIVE PLANT TABLE HAS A LIST OF RESOURCES FROM THE NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY OF NEW JERSEY. THANK YOU SO MUCH.
* This transcript was compiled from uncorrected Closed Captioning.