Following my last hike and hunt for the rare species of plants located at the Buffalo Mountain Natural Area Preserve, I decided the best opportunity I might have to try and see some of the rare biodiversity up close and to speak with knowledgeable folks about how I might champion for safekeeping and protection of this area, was to contact "the management".
I started by e-mailing Mr. John Townsend who is the Senior Botanist for the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, Division of Natural Heritage. He is the one who put together the "NATURAL HERITAGE RESOURCES OF VIRGINIA: RARE PLANTS Published: March 2026". A link to the guide is here: https://www.dcr.virginia.gov/natural-heritage/document/plantlist-current.pdf
I sent the following message to Mr. Townsend: My name is Chris Tysor and I am a current graduate student at Virginia Tech in the Masters of Natural Resources and the Environment. This summer, I am working on a project based course that includes trying to photograph and identify rare plant species in my chosen natural area preserve. I chose Buffalo Mountain for it’s proximity to my location and since I have been hiking there the past 6 years. I have been reading up on the rare plant species that can be found at BMNAP. I have seen anywhere from 14-19 current species on the list. Last weekend, I hiked to the summit and photographed every plant I could along the route, staying within the bounds of the roped off trail. I have not been able to find or photograph any of the rare species mentioned. My questions are- do you personally go to all the state Natural area preserves to document the rare plant species? Have you been to BMNAP lately to perform this function? If not, are you planning to this summer? I am looking for advice on where I may be able to find and photograph these plants and if it is in areas where visitors are not typically allowed to hike, I was hoping to maybe go with someone from DCR while they are working.
Any thoughts or information you might be able to provide me so I can try and identify/photograph rare plant species at BMNAP would be extremely helpful. Thank you for your time and consideration.".
I really was hoping to be able to shadow an expert in the Natural Area Preserve so that they could point out the rare plant species and potentially allow me access to areas not generally accessible by the public. He responded within 1 business day to tell me I needed to reach out to Ryan Klopf and Jimmy Francis of the DCR stewardship section for this request as they manage the preserve in the region. Receiving a prompt reply was a breath of fresh air!
I then sent the same request to Ryan Klopf and James Francis on June 10th. I also sent a "ping" or reminder e-mail on June 15th. I am still awaiting a response as of this blog post.
Comments
Post a Comment