ONAPA 7th ANNUAL MEMBER MEETING & SOCIAL
​
August 17, 2019
10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
​Doors open at 9:30 a.m.

REGISTER

If you prefer to register by mail, click HERE for a registration form you can print.

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Charles Goslin Nature Center at Alley Park
2805 Old Logan Road, SE, Lancaster, OH 43130
Saturday, August 17, 2019
10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Doors open for registration at 9:30 a.m.

Get directions HERE.

Registration closes Sunday, August 11 at midnight.

This location is conveniently located just off U.S. Route 33 south of Lancaster and will be easy access to a number of      excellent field trip locations in Ohio's Hocking Hills region during the afternoon.
There will be 2 morning speakers, a business meeting and lunch with a keynote speaker before the field trips. 
We hope you can join us for the day!

REGISTRATION:
$30   ($25 for students & children)
We welcome you to join ONAPA or renew your membership: ​https://www.onapa.org/join.html

Lunch includes choice of sandwiches (meat, vegetarian, or gluten-free vegetarian),
salads, fruit, dessert and beverage.

​SPEAKERS
John Watts, Columbus Metro Parks
Birds of Hocking County
 
Jennifer Windus, ONAPA Vice President
What's New with the ONAPA Stewardship Program
 
KEYNOTE:
Doug Wynn
Ohio's Timber Rattlesnake: What Have We Learned in 32 Years?

Doug Wynn is a retired high school ecology teacher.   As a result of his fourth grade teacher he has a special interest in snakes and has been studying them since his undergraduate years.  Doug is especially interested in Ohio’s endangered snakes and has received over 250 grants and contracts.  The Ohio Division of Parks presented Doug with their Naturalist Award in 1994.  The same year he and fellow teachers developed a research class that focused on implementing species survival plans for endangered Ohio snakes.  The students in that program worked with many of Doug’s projects and have made significant contributions to our knowledge of Ohio reptiles. 

The Ohio Division of Wildlife presented them with a special award in 2000.  In 2006 Doug and Scott Moody authored an “Ohio Turtle, Lizard, and Snake Atlas.”  In 2008 he received a Visiting Scholar appointment from The Ohio State University.  He also received the Ohio Biological Survey’s 2010 Naturalist Award and the Ohio Division of Wildlife’s 2011 Conservationist Award.  Doug is now presently co-authoring and editing a book on the turtles, lizards, and snakes of Ohio

Wynn with plains garter snake

which is being funded by the Ohio Division of Wildlife and will be published by the Ohio Biological Survey, Inc.  His work in the field continues to focus on Timber Rattlesnakes, Plains Garter snakes, and Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnakes. 

FIELD TRIPS:

Rockbridge State Nature Preserve - Led by Tim Snyder, ONAPA
Rockbridge, one of Ohio’s larger natural arches, extends 92 feet and rises 40 feet above the small stream below. It is a result of the stream falling over a cliff of Black Hand sandstone (the same unit forming most of the remarkable scenery of Hocking State Park) and eroding an alcove into the weak middle layer. A vertical joint through the resistant upper layer of sandstone behind the edge of the cliff allowed water to seep down into the alcove. Erosion eventually widened the joint enough that it captured the entire flow of the stream, resulting in the present waterfall and leaving the original cliff edge isolated as the natural bridge. Rockbridge is one of many natural bridges—a subset of natural arches—found in Ohio. Although not our largest natural arch (that honor goes to Rock House), it is our longest natural bridge. This will be a moderately strenuous hike involving a long, but gentle, uphill climb and a shorter, steeper downhill walk to the natural bridge (and the reverse coming back). Maximum 30 people.

Boch Hollow State Nature Preserve - Led by Levi Miller, DNAP
Located in northern Hocking County at the edge of the Hocking Hills Region, Boch Hollow provides an excellent opportunity to see a wide diversity of habitats ranging from riparian corridors, mature wooded hills, ridges, and old field remnants. The most notable botanical feature at Boch Hollow is the extensive population of the Federally Endangered Running Buffalo Clover – the largest such population in Ohio.  Unique among Ohio’s preserves is the mission of Boch Hollow to serve as an educational site for hands-on environmental education of Appalachian Ohio ecology.  Primarily geared toward local school children, the staff also provides programs to the general public as well as various civic and environmental organizations.  This hike will be moderate in difficulty.      Maximum: 25 people,

Clear Creek Metropark – Led by John Watts, Columbus Metroparks
The Clear Creek Valley is a special scientific, scenic and geologic area. Centuries of flooding by glacial meltwater have cut the present gorge area through Black Hand sandstone, leaving behind scenic cliffs and rugged formations overlooking Clear Creek.  As the largest dedicated state nature preserve, over 4,500 acres, this preserve honors former Columbus businessman, Allen F. Beck, who in the 1920s recognized the area's intrinsic values and began acquiring and nurturing these lands. Later, the lands were donated to the Columbus/Franklin County Metro Parks to become the nucleus of this large natural resource conservation area.  More than 800 vascular plant species have been recorded from the preserve including rhododendron, mountain laurel, trailing arbutus, creeping phlox and eastern hemlock, in a close relationship with the typical oak-hickory forest of this region. The black vulture reaches its northern limit in Ohio here and at least 18 species of warblers are reported to nest within Clear Creek Valley.  This field trip will be easy to moderate in difficulty. Maximum: 30 people.

Rhododendron Cove State Nature Preserve - Led by Jim Davidson
& Jeff Johnson, DNAP 
This 75-acre preserve is within the Sugar Grove Region of the Hocking Hills. A relatively strenuous hike to the top of the dry ridgeline affords a view of the Hocking River Valley to the east. This dry ridge forms a horseshoe shape, supporting a significant chestnut oak community with Virginia and pitch pine, sourwood and a well-developed heath layer of mountain laurel, blueberry, deerberry, and state-listed flame azalea (Rhododendron calendulaceum). The cooler north facing slopes below the cliff lines form an environment better suited to eastern hemlock, black birch and another state-listed member of the heath family – the great rhododendron (Rhododendron maximum). This is likely the home of the largest native population of this native rhododendron in Ohio. Peak blooming is typically during late June and early July.  This field trip will be moderate to strenuous in difficulty; we may divide into two groups. Maximum: 25 people.

AGENDA

Time	Activity
09:30 a.m.	Check-in, registration, & refreshments at Charles Goslin Nature Center
10:00 a.m.	Welcome: Guy Denny, ONAPA President
10:15 a.m.	Bird of the Hocking Hocking County - John Watts, Columbus Metro Parks
11:00 a.m.	What's New with the ONAPA Stewardship Program - Jennifer Windus, ONAPA Vice President
11:30 a.m.	Break
11:45 a.m.	ONAPA Business Meeting
12:15 p.m.	Lunch
1:00 p.m.	Keynote Speaker Doug Wynn Ohio's Timber Rattlesnake: What Have We Learned in 32 Years?
2:00 p.m.	Field trips: Choose one of four - Rockbridge SNP, Boch Hollow SNP, Clear Creek Metro Park or Rhododendron Cove SNP
5:00 p.m.	Field Trips conclude

Looking forward to seeing you there!

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