2007 VNPS Annual Meeting/Conference: "Where the Water Meets the Land," Sept. 14-16

Registration Form at bottom, updated Sept. 6 with current field trip availability.
Presentations Friday and Saturday still available.

The 2007 VNPS Annual Meeting/Conference is being co-hosted by the John Clayton Chapter and the College of William and Mary's Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) and will take place at the VIMS campus in Gloucester Point.

Teta Kain will lead daily paddle trips down Dragon Run, a unique river in Eastern Virginia. Lined with massive bald cypress trees and deep swamps, it is one of the most pristine waterways to be found anywhere in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Forming the boundary lines of four counties of the Middle Peninsula, it stretches 35 to 40 miles from King & Queen and Essex counties to the Piankatank River. The entire length of the river is privately owned and only a few roads cross the river making it almost completely inaccessible to canoe and kayak enthusiasts. Friends of Dragon Run owns several parcels of property along the middle reaches of the river, and it is from this area that the kayak trips will be conducted for the purpose of showing people first-hand how unique this waterway is and why the Friends of Dragon Run organization is dedicated to preserving it in its unspoiled state. For more information about Dragon paddle trips, including what to bring, wear and expect, visit the John Clayton web site at www.claytonvnps.org and click on "2007 State Conference" and then click on "Dragon Run Info."

To help celebrate the 400th Anniversary of Jamestown, a trip to Jamestown Island has been scheduled on Friday afternoon. Botanist Donna Ware will lead a walk to Black Point, where unusual oak species, as well as swamp plants and coastal grasses will be identified, including cherrybark oak (Quercus pagoda), will be identified. A Jamestown interpreter will also tell about the use of native plants by the colonists.

Friday afternoon will also feature three presentations given by speakers from VIMS: “Living Shorelines,” “Current Phragmites Research,” and “Wetlands Research at VIMS.” In addition, Wesley Greene, Colonial Interpreter and Garden Historian with the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, will give a talk titled “John Custis and the Transatlantic Plant Trade.” At 7:30 pm on Friday evening Keynote Speaker Dr. Jim Perry will present “Using Native Plants of the Mid-Atlantic States for Shoreline Planting and Stabilization.”

Saturday morning will begin with walking tours of VIMS Teaching Marsh, Coastal Forest Walkway, and Shoreline Management Structures. The Teaching Marsh is a small freshwater and tidal saltmarsh demonstration wetland constructed for water quality and educational purposes. The Coastal Forest Walkway is a short boardwalk through the plant community surrounding a small freshwater pond. The tour will also include a look at a living shoreline treatment of the boat basin entrance canal.

Rebecca Wilson, the Chesapeake Bay Region Steward for the Department of Conservation and Recreation, will lead a trip to the Grafton Ponds Natural Area Preserve on Saturday morning. Grafton Ponds represents Virginia’s best remaining example of a coastal plain pond complex. The many ponds here were formed by dissolution of the underlying calcareous marine deposits of the Yorktown Formation. This wetland complex supports several rare plants and animals for Virginia including Harper's fimbristylis, pond spice, Cuthbert turtlehead, Mabee's salamander and barking treefrog. The site is owned by the City of Newport News.

Also on Saturday, a tour and chance to buy plants at Sassafras Farm native plant nursery and trips to Mary Berg’s properties in Gloucester County will be offered. Mary’s morning tour on her homestead “Summerfield” will feature many native plants; this conservation habitat is an upland mixed hardwood forest with sandy soil. The afternoon trip to “Tripetala” features a mountain disjunct species, Magnolia tripetala. The 14-acre site is a ridge leading more than 30 feet in elevation down a calcareous ravine to a seep area with a slow moving stream. Fossil shells from the Yorktown Formation are exposed in this ravine. Expect to see a wide variety of native plants, including shadow witch orchid (Pontheiva racemosa), which is expected to be in bloom.

Saturday afternoon will include a trip to both the water-wise garden at the Human Services Building and to the Ellipse Garden, a demonstration garden of the Williamsburg Botanical Garden, both in James City County. A canoe trip to the Catlett Islands Reserve will be led by marine science field educators from the Chesapeake Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve in Virginia. The Catlett Islands encompass 690 acres of salt marshes, shrub wetlands, forested high ground, tidal creeks, and beaches on north side of York River in Gloucester County. In Donna Ware’s words, "the trip is a great opportunity to see a hard-to-get-to place!"

Informative talks will be presented on Saturday, concurrently with fieldtrips and tours. These include the following topics: “Coastal Plain Wildflowers” featuring slides by Hal Horwitz (Pat Baldwin), “Promoting Native Plants through Conservation Landscaping” (Carol Heiser, Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, and Susan Voigt, VA Cooperative Extension Master Gardener), “Distribution of Mountain Plants in the Coastal Plain” (Donna Ware), “The Archaeological Quest For John Clayton” (Bob and Lisa Harper), “Native Ornamental Grasses in the Home Landscape” (Helen Hamilton), “Native Trees for the Landscape” (Linda Johnson).

A party on Saturday evening will celebrate the 25th anniversary of the VNPS at the Freight Shed, on the York River waterfront. The evening will begin with a self-guided plant walk along the Riverwalk and a self-guided tour of historic Yorktown, and continue with a buffet dinner, the VNPS annual meeting, and a silent auction of native plant related items.

The conference will close on Sunday with the VNPS board meeting in the morning, and more great fieldtrips, including a native plant and bird walk at Beaverdam Park in Gloucester County with another chance to see shadow witch orchid, another trip down the Dragon, a native tree and shrub walk at Colonial Williamsburg and another tour of Sassafras Farm.

For a Detailed Schedule of the Conference visit http://www.claytonvnps.org/ and click on "2007 State Conference" and then click on "Detailed Schedule."

For questions about conference contact Jan Newton at jnewton110@cox.net or (757)566-3646 or Helen Hamilton at helen44@earthlink.net (757)564-4494. For registration questions call Karen York at VNPS at vnpsofc@shentel.net or (540)837-1600.

Registration Form (Registration opens to General Public on September 1.):


UpdatedRegistForm.pdf