By Ron Jones, Foundation Professor Emeritus, Eastern Kentucky University
With the assistance of Tara Littlefield, Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves.
We’re republishing this article because additions have been made.
This botanical timeline is a continuation of the series that appeared in The Lady Slipper in five installments from 2005 to 2008.
- 20(2)—prehistoric times up to 12,000 years ago
- 21(2)—12,000 years ago to 1900
- 22(3)—1900 to 1980
- 23 (1)—1980 to 1998
- 23(2)—1998 to mid-2008.
The goal is to highlight major events in the history of Kentucky botany, including new discoveries, important publications, changes in agricultural developments, major changes or upgrades of herbaria, developments or changes for the Kentucky Native Plant Society, and the retirements or deaths of people that made major contributions to Kentucky botany. Addition to the list are welcome; please send suggestions to ron.jones@eku.edu.
Events omitted from previous lists:
1980—Dr. Ernest O. Beal passed away in August 1980. (from his obituary): Dr. Beal was born on March 7, 1928 in Lancaster, Illinois. He received a BS from Northcentral College in Naperville, Illinois, before going on to attain his MS and PhD from the University of Iowa. He taught from 1954 to 1968 at North Carolina State University, where he received a distinguished teaching award from the Association of Southeastern Biologists in 1966. From 1965 to 1968 he served as Director of a National Science Foundation Academic Year Institute in Raleigh, North Carolina. From 1968 until his retirement in 1978, Dr. Beal was the head of the Biology Department at Western Kentucky University. Dr. Beal also led a full life outside of academia. He was an author of two books and numerous publications, a member of the First Christian Church in Bowling Green, husband, and father to three children. Most notably he was coauthor with John Thieret of Aquatic and Wetland Plants of Kentucky; Beal initiated the book and invited Thieret to join the project in 1977. After Beal’s death, Thieret completed the book with Beal as first author; it was published in 1986 by the Kentucky Nature Preserves Commission. Upon his death, the Ernest O. Beal Biology Scholarship Fund was established to honor the memory of Dr. Beal: Department Head, lover of Biology, author, and scholar. Through this fund his legacy lives on, helping other students cultivate a love for biology.
1986–KSNPC (Kentucky State Nature Preserves Commission) signed a limited Cooperative Agreement on Plants with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on January 8, 1986 to work cooperatively on rare and federally listed plants in Kentucky. Since then, KSNPC (currently OKNP) has led the states rare plant program that focuses on surveying, monitoring, managing and recovering federally listed and globally rare plants in Kentucky. The Rare plant program has been managed since 1986 by three successive botanists–Marc Evans, Deborah White and Tara Littlefield. Currently (2023) this program focuses on the recovery of around a dozen federally listed species and an additional 30 globally rare plants. This program also oversees the Kentucky’s Rare Plant List, which is updated every 4 years in accordance with the Kentucky Rare Plant Recognition Act of 1994.
1992-2012-Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Salato Center began a native plant propagation program led by Mary Carol Cooper. This program focused on propagating native forbs and grasses that were important pollinator plants and was instrumental in native plant and pollinator education for Kentucky.
1994-KSNPC creates the Natural Areas Inventory Program, led by Marc Evans, which focused on surveying and inventorying the remaining remnant natural areas that have a concentration of rare species and high quality natural communities in the state. The majority of Kentucky’s state nature preserves have been discovered through this program. Several ecologists/botanists have worked on this program since its inception including Tom Bloom, Martina Hines, Brian Yahn, Deborah White, Tara Littlefield and several other KSNPC biologists.
2005-Delisting of the federally endangered Eggerts Sunflower (Helianthus eggerti). This species was removed from the Federal endangered species list due to additional populations discovered during status surveys and inventories as well protection efforts and management of several populations in Kentucky.
2007–2012—NSF Grant for Herbarium improvement at Murray State University (MUR).
Murray State University Herbarium received a five-year grant of about $167K from the National Science Foundation. The goals of the grant were to improve the existing database, to make the data accessible over the Internet, and to acquire new herbarium cabinets to enlarge and improve storage facilities of the herbarium, under the direction of Dr. Dayle Saar. The herbarium contains an important collection of Kentucky flora, especially from the less studied western region of the state. .
2007—Dave Luzader becomes webmaster of KNPS website. Dave made great improvements in the KNPS website, and it became a focal point for announcements and organizing the activities of the KNPS.
2007— Major floristic study published on Hancock Biological Station: The Vascular Flora of the Hancock Biological Station, Murray State University, Calloway County, Kentucky, in J. Bot. Res. Inst. Texas 1: 609–630, by Ralph L. Thompson.
Hancock Biological Station (HBS), a 37.5-hectare tract of upland Oak-Hickory Forest adjacent to Kentucky Lake in the Jackson Purchase of western Kentucky, is the biological field station of Murray State University, Murray, Kentucky. A total of 573 taxa have been documented from ten habitats. HBS is a member of the Organization of Biological Field Stations, a consortium of 220 biological field stations in North America. HBS was founded in 1966 and since 1972, it has served as a year-round facility for aquatic and terrestrial biology research and service programs, and it has presented students with opportunities for field classes, independent research, and faculty-directed undergraduate and graduate research.
2008—The Lady-Slipper, Newsletter of the Kentucky Native Plant Society goes online.
In Fall 2008, the Lady-Slipper transitions to an all online newsletter with full color images. Since 1986 the KNPS newsletter had been mailed to its members, but with publishing costs becoming more expensive, and the advantages of online publishing more obvious, this important change was institution by the Board of Directors.
2008—Alan Nations becomes President of the KNPS, replacing Tom Barnes.
Tom Barnes, who was a Professor in the Department of Forestry at UK, had guided the KNPS since 2006; see notes below on the major contributions that Tom made through his books and other efforts to protect the natural communities of KY.
Alan Nations, a naturalist working mostly in the Louisville area, takes over the presidency of the KNPS at a critical time when to society is moving toward a more on-line presence and different kinds of workshops and courses for the members. Alan had a great deal of experience with restoration projects, utilizing holistic methods to restore natural communities and human environments.
2008—Transfer of Davies Herbarium (University of Louisville) to Western Kentucky University.
The U of L Herbarium, also known as the Davies Herbarium, was founded in the 1930s by H.B. Lovell and other faculty, but it was the involvement of Percy A. Davies that stimulated an upswing in activity from the 1940s till the early 1960s. The U of L herbarium was actually the focal point of floristic research in the state during these years. The unexpected death of P.A. Davies in 1961 slowed the growth, but the herbarium continued to be maintained and active with curators Arland Hotchkiss, William S. Davis, and Patricia D. Haragan into the 1990s. When these curators retired or departed, their positions were not replaced with like-minded individuals, there was little growth and little use of the collections. Included in the herbarium were several significant sets of specimens, including the flora of Carroll County, flora of Bernheim Forest, and collections from several wildlife sanctuaries. The large collection of Max Medley, including many state records and rare species, had previously been housed at the Davies Herbarium, but had been transferred to WKU a few years earlier. By the early 2000s, administrators at U of L had decided that the herbarium had to go. Various possibilities were investigated, and eventually WKU agreed to accept the specimens and this transfer occurred in 2008.
2008—Major floristic study published on Berea College Forest (BCF): The Vascular Plants of the Berea College Forest in Madison, Jackson, and Rockcastle Counties, Kentucky, was published in Castanea 73: 188–209, by Ralph L. Thompson.
BCF consists of 8,352 acres (3,380-ha) and is the oldest managed forest in Kentucky and one of the oldest managed forests in the eastern United States. A total of 1042 taxa have been documented including six state records and four state-listed species from six principal tracts of mixed oak-pine, oak-hickory, mixed mesophytic forest, as well as wetland and culturally-disturbed habitats.
2008-Inaturalist is created. From Wikipedia “iNaturalist is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit social network of naturalists, citizen scientists, and biologists built on the concept of mapping and sharing observations of biodiversity across the globe.[3][4] iNaturalist may be accessed via its website or from its mobile applications.[5][6] iNaturalist includes an automated species identification tool, and users further assist each other in identifying organisms from photographs. As of 17 June 2023, iNaturalist users had contributed approximately 161,278,660 observations of plants, animals, fungi, and other organisms worldwide, and around 350,000 users were active in the previous 30 days.[7] While not significant to Kentucky botany for another decade, the creation of this platform would transform Kentucky Botany in the coming years.
2009—Dr. Ross C. Clark retires from EKU. Ross Clark was a faculty member at EKU from 1992–2009. Ross had long been interested in Kentucky flora, and conducted a long term study of the flora of the Red River Gorge while at Morton Arboretum in Chicago from 1980 to 1992. He continued his research while at EKU, publishing a number of papers, and most significantly, the dot-map first atlas of woody plants, Annotated Catalog and Atlas of Kentucky Woody Plants, with co-author Timothy J. Weckman in 2008. His other major interest is bonsai, and in 2012 he published a 286-page book on the subject, Native North American Plants for Bonsai. Ross taught several different botany courses while at EKU, and also collected many specimens for the EKU herbarium and served as Associate Curator.
2009—Charlie Lapham passes away in October at age of 75.
Charles J. Lapham was a very important figure in the history of Kentucky botany. He spent most of his life in New York and New Jersey, and worked as electrical engineer. He lived in Glasgow, KY for his last 20 years, became interested in local botany and got involved in the Kentucky Native Plant Society in the mid 1990s. Charlie began taking classes in the KNPS Certification Program in Native Plant Studies, and research project for certification was setting up a database for the EKU herbarium collections. We called this system Index Kentuckiensis, and it was capable of storing all our label data, making maps, and making labels. This was one of the first herbarium databases in southeastern U.S. and soon a number of other institutions, including some in other states were using it. Charlie deserves much credit for his efforts to popularize the use of databases, and his was a precursor of those that came later, including the current SERNEC system. Charlie also served in a number of capacities for KNPS, and also was responsible for setting up the use of nearly 2000 images that were published in Plant Life of Kentucky (these images also used for the USDA Plants Database). Also see Memorials at knps.org
2010. Kentucky’s Natural Heritage, an illustrated guide to biodiversity. Edited by Greg Abernathy, Deborah White, Ellis L. Laudermilk, and Marc Evans.
This team of authors from the Kentucky State Nature Preserves Commission (Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves) presents a comprehensive argument for the conservation of the state’s biodiversity. After a review of the physical features of the state and a natural history timeline (back to the formation of the earth!), the authors review the effects of 12,000 years of human occupation in Kentucky, followed by an account of the major groups of organisms: fungi, lichens, bryophytes, vascular plants, invertebrates, and vertebrates. Also included are reviews of the major natural communities of the state, the major threats to these communities, and conservation issues related to the preservation of these communities and species.
2010—Marc Evans retires from the Kentucky State Nature Preserves Commission (Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves).
Marc was the long-time state botanist at the KSNPC. His contributions to Kentucky botany were many, including the discovery and documentation of many of our rarest species and most pristine communities. He is especially associated with Blanton Forest, having discovered the old growth site in 1992 and then initiating a campaign to purchase the property as a state nature preserve, which happened in 2001. He was also the coauthor of the 2008 book Rare Wildflowers of Kentucky, and the coeditor of the 2010 book Kentucky’s Natural Heritage. Marc has continued his conservation work as Board Chairman of Kentucky Natural Lands Trust.
2010—Vascular flora of Old Mulkey Meeting House State Historic Site, Monroe County, Kentucky, by Ralph Thompson and Ron Jones in J. Bot. Res. Inst. Texas 3: 391–409.
Old Mulkey Meeting House State Historic Site, a 20-acre (8.1 ha) park in Monroe County, Kentucky, represents the oldest wooden meeting house west of the Appalachian Mountains. The meeting house was initially built in 1797 and reconstructed in 1804 during the period of fervent religious revival. The Old Mulkey Church, originally called the Mill Creek Baptist Church, was established by a small band of pioneer Baptists from North and South Carolina and led by Philip Mulkey. One of the features is its adjacent pioneer cemetery where many Revolutionary War soldiers and pioneers are interred including Daniel Boone’s sister, Hannah. A total of 415 taxa have been documented from Mesophytic Forest, Oak-Hickory Forest, and culturally-disturbed areas. Old Mulkey was designated a Kentucky historic site in 1931.
2010—Dr. Ralph L. Thompson retires from Berea College.
Ralph L. Thompson taught biology and botany courses and served as curator of the Berea College Herbarium (BEREA) from 1980 until his retirement in 2010. He continued to serve as herbarium curator during his retirement until 2017. The herbarium grew from 550 specimens in 1980 to over 28,000 specimens during his tenure. Among the 20 different courses he taught at Berea College, ten were botany classes, including Botany, Winter Botany, Plants and Society, Plant Geography, Field Botany, Dendrology and Forest Ecology. Ralph also taught botany courses at biological field stations in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee, and for 16 years taught summer Field Botany course at the Hancock Biological Station of Murray State University. A prolific plant collector and writer, Ralph has authored more than 70 botanical journal publications, with many coauthored by Berea College undergraduates; he continues to conduct research and publish papers in his retirement. Among his many honors, he received the Seabury Award for Excellence in Teaching in 1993, Distinguished University/College Teacher Award by the Kentucky Academy of Science in 2002, the Charles F. Kettering Endowed Chair in Science at Berea College in 2006, Paul C. Hager Excellence in Advising in 2008, Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society Professor in 2010, the Hancock Biological Station Teaching and Research Award in 2013, and the Distinguished University/College Scientist Award by the Kentucky Academy of Science in 2014. The Berea College Herbarium was named in his honor in 2016 by the President of Berea College, The Berea College, Ralph L. Thompson Herbarium was transferred to EKU in Fall, 2017, expanding the total collections to over 100,000.
2010—Hal Bryan passes away. Hal was a great supporter of the KNPS, writing many articles for the newsletter, leading field trips, and serving on the Board of Directors. He was a veteran, serving in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War. Through his wetland and rare species surveys, he became a well-known ecologist throughout the southeast, working extensively in Kentucky and Georgia. He founded Ecotech Consulting, which employed many Kentucky biology graduates over the years. He and his employees made numerous rare plant species discoveries during their surveys. He was survived by his wife, Joyce Bryan of Frankfort, Kentucky, and two daughters, Heather Bryan, Monroe, GA and Erin Bryan, Louisville.
2010—IKnew Database becomes available online.
A database of herbarium specimens housed at Eastern Kentucky University Herbarium was posted online by Robert Pace in May, 2010, based on his update and modification of the Index Kentuckiensis databased developed and maintained by Charlie Lapham and Ron Jones beginning in late 1990s; this online presence of the herbarium label data had been a major goal of the EKU herbarium for over a decade.
2010—Kentucky leads region in surface mining
According to a May 18 article by Andy Mead in the Lexington-Herald Leader, Kentucky has more surface-mined land than other Appalachian states, and more mountains that have been lowered by mountaintop-removal mining, based on recently released research. The research also found that very little of that flatter land is put to “beneficial” use. The research was conducted by Appalachian Voices and the Natural Resources Defense Council. The study said 293 of those 500 mountaintop removals, or 58 percent, are in Kentucky. The next highest number was West Virginia, with 136, followed by Virginia, with 64, and Tennessee, with 6. The research suggests that 574,000 acres have been surface-mined in Kentucky, followed by 352,000 acres in West Virginia, 156,000 acres in Virginia and 78,000 in Tennessee. This reports shows that mountaintop removal continues to be one of the most destructive practices threatening natural communities of the state.
2010-2014—Kentucky Native Plant Society organizes the Kentucky Native Plant Stewardship Program and successfully graduates over 100 participants that are trained in native plant identification, natural communities, habitat management, invasive species, native plant gardening, and rare plant management.
2011—Dr. Kenneth A. Nicely, passed away. Dr. Nicely, a native of Slab Fork, West Virginia, received his BS and MS degrees from West Virginia University and his PhD from North Carolina State University. He joined the Western Kentucky University faculty in 1966 and was a professor and long-time curator of the Western Kentucky University Herbarium. Ken was author of many papers on Kentucky botany; he passed away on the 28 December, 2011, at the age of 73 in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
2011—Dr. Jerry M. Baskin retires from the Department of Biology at the University of Kentucky.
Jerry Baskin’s career at UK spanned over 40 years. After receiving his PhD in 1967, Jerry did a year of postdoctoral work at the University of Florida. He then joined the UK faculty in 1968, and formed a research team with his wife, Dr. Carol C. Baskin, both PhDs from Vanderbilt University under Dr. Elsie Quarterman. They embarked on a research career that earned them both international acclaim and numerous awards. Jerry was promoted to Full Professor in 1981, and Carol joined the faculty in 1999. They focused their research and writing in the area of plant ecology, especially in seed biology, and they have been incredibly prolific in publishing journal articles, more than 500 to their credit.
Jerry was promoted to Full Professor in 1981 and retired from UK in June 2011. Almost all of his publications are co-authored with Carol. His total number of journal articles is about 520 plus 14 book chapters and 10 publications in symposium and conference proceedings. The first edition of “Seeds” was published in 1998 (666 pages) and the second edition in 2014 (1587 pages). The book on rock outcrops and barrens (co-edited with J. Fralish and R. Anderson) was published in 1999 (470 pages). About 100 of these papers have been published with Chinese colleagues, many on the ecology of plants native to the cold deserts of NW China; having been to China 15 times since 2005. Total number of citations is more than 12,600. Recent awards: 1) Weed Science Society of America Honorary Award for meritorious service to the field of weed science, 6 February 2012; 2) Tianshan Award from the Chairman (Governor) of Xinjiang Provincial Government (China) for contributions of foreign experts to the economic and social welfare of Xinjiang, July 2016; 3) Chinese Seed Science and Technology Society, Outstanding International Cooperation Award, May 2017 (i.e. helped many graduate students and faculty at several Chinese universities write and publish papers in English); and 3) Crop Science Society of America Seed Science Award, October 2017.
2012—Dr. Brad Ruhfel hired at EKU as assistant professor of biological sciences to teach botany courses and curate the EKY herbarium.
2013—Dr. William H. (Bill) Martin retires as Board Chairman of the Kentucky Heritage Land Conservation Fund (KHLCF).
Bill Martin served nearly 20 years as Board Chairman of the KHLCF (since its inception in 1994). In 2013 the fund surpassed the 80,000 acre mark in protected lands. Bill was also honored by the establishment of the William H. Martin State Natural Area in Pulaski County, a nearly 500 acre tract of mature woodland and waterways, purchased by the Kentucky Division of Waters Wild Rivers Program.
Bill’s contributions to Kentucky botany were numerous and highly influential. His academic career was spent at Eastern Kentucky University, where he was a Professor from 1969 to 2005, teaching plant ecology courses, directing graduate student projects, publishing journal articles, and serving as Director of Natural Areas. He was also a constant supporter of the EKU Herbarium, often providing funds to hire student workers. He was an acknowledged authority on old growth forest, and directed many research projects associated with Lily Cornett Woods. His most notable publishing accomplishment was as editor of the three-volume Biodiversity of the Southeastern United States. Bill took a leave of absence from EKU from 1992 to 1998 to serve as Commissioner of Natural Resources under Governors Brereton Jones and Paul Patton, a period in which he was in charge of the divisions of Conservation, Forestry and Energy. He was co-chair of the 1995 Kentucky Biodiversity Task Force and a lead member of the team that developed and successfully worked to pass the 1998 Kentucky Forest Conservation Act.. In 2006, Bill was presented the Biological Diversity Protection Award from the Kentucky State Nature Preserves Commission. This is annual award recognizes a person who has made a significant contribution to the discovery and protection of Kentucky’s biological diversity.
2013—Governor Beshear lets Kentucky hemp bill become law without his signature
An article by Beth Musgrave on April 6 in the Lexington Herald-Leader discussed the historic law that now allows hemp to be grown (with many restrictions) in Kentucky (in spite of the Governor’s reservations of how it would impact drug eradication efforts). Agriculture Commissioner James Comer, who had been leading the effort, along with U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, and others will urge the Drug Enforcement Administration to issue a waiver for Kentucky to start growing industrial hemp as soon as possible. Few waivers to grow industrial hemp have been granted in the United States. The University of Kentucky will also have a key role with research and development. Supporters of Senate Bill 50 say that hemp could provide much-needed jobs and cash for Kentucky farmers if a federal ban on the growing of hemp is lifted.
2012—A major state flora is published: Flora of Virginia, by A. Weakley, J. Christopher Ludwig, and John F. Townsend. Published by the Botanical Research Institute of Texas. 1,554 pages. This book describes approximately 3,200 taxa in 200 families and features 1,400 captioned, scaled, and botanically accurate illustrations. Introductory material includes essays on the natural history and vegetation of Virginia and a historical account of botanical exploration in the state, as well as a key to the vascular plant families represented in the Flora. A glossary, bibliography, and comprehensive index are also provided.
2013—Woody Plants of Kentucky and Tennessee, the complete winter guide to their identification and use, by Ronald L. Jones and B. Eugene Wofford. 143 pages.
This volume is a guide to woody plants in Kentucky, Tennessee, and surrounding states during the winter season. Featuring color images of more than four hundred species (trees, shrubs, and woody vines), it provides keys to the genera and species, as well as descriptions of the genera. The species accounts include useful information on Latin meanings, common names, habitats and distributions, and notes on toxicity, nativity, rarity, and wetland status.
2013—Dr. Ronald L. Jones retires from full-time teaching after a 32-year career at EKU as a professor of biological sciences and curator of the EKY herbarium. (this entry contributed by Ralph Thompson): Ron served as faculty member from 1981–2013, regularly teaching General Botany and three field botany classes—Plant Systematics, Aquatic and Wetland Plants, and Dendrology. He also taught field biology summer classes in Tennessee, coastal Mississippi, and Ecuador. Eighteen students completed their MS theses under his guidance. He was involved in the publication of two books on the floras of Kentucky and Tennessee, and was instrumental in the founding of the Kentucky Native Plant Society in 1986, and served as its first President. He was named a Foundation Professor at EKU in 2006. He began teaching and doing research in the American tropics in 2000 (Costa Rica and Ecuador), and continued this research after his retirement.. The EKU Herbarium was formally named in his honor in 2015.
2013-Kentucky clover (Trifolium kentuckiense) is described as a new Kentucky endemic species from the inner Bluegrass Region of Kentucky. Dr. Michael Vincent from Miami University formally described the species and it was added to the states rare plant list as state endangered; Joe Lacefield (Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife) made the first discovery in 2009 and then Tara Littlefield (Kentucky State Nature Preserves Commission) found a second population in 2012. Conservation and research efforts continue to the present for this species.
2014—Deborah White retires from the Kentucky State Nature Preserves Commission.
Deborah served as a botanist and program manager for the Kentucky Nature Preserves Commission, a state agency, until her retirement in 2014. Her interest in conservation began as a kid during summers on her family’s farm, as well as growing up in Florida, where the land changed from wild areas to subdivisions very quickly. After completing a MS in plant systematics from the Botany Department of the University of Florida, she worked in Florida’s wetland regulatory program and then with The Nature Conservancy. Deborah served in plant and land conservation in Kentucky for over 20 years. Deborah is the author and editor of two recent books, Kentucky’s Natural Heritage and Rare Wildflowers of Kentucky, both published by the University Press of Kentucky. She served as a Board member for several years and has been Executive Director of “Woods, Water and Land Trust” since 2014.
2014—Second edition of the landmark book Seeds, Ecology, Biogeography, and Evolution of Dormancy and Germination by Carol and Jerry Baskin is published.
The first edition of this 666-page book was published in 1998, and represented the authors nearly 30 years of work on seed germination and ecology. It was hailed as a classic by reviewers and of great interest to a broad range of users, from plant ecologists to farmers to general gardeners. The second edition included much new material and over twice the number of pages, now at near 1600. The authors are internationally acclaimed ecologists and had a long-time association with the University of Kentucky, with Jerry as a professor from 1968 to his retirement in 2011, and Carol, first as research associate and later as a professor (from 1999 to the present). They have published hundreds of research papers and both Carol and Jerry are continuing their active research program.
2014—The Olmsted Parks of Louisville, a botanical field guide. By Patricia Dalton Haragan
(From UK Press): The Olmsted Parks of Louisville is the first authoritative manual on the 380 species of trees, herbaceous plants, shrubs, and vines populating the nearly 1,900 acres that comprise Cherokee, Seneca, Iroquois, Shawnee, and Chickasaw Parks. Designed for easy reference, this handy field guide includes detailed photos and maps as well as ecological and historical information about each park. Author Patricia Dalton Haragan also includes sections detailing the many species of invasive plants in the parks and discusses the native flora that they displaced. This guide provides readers with a key to Olmsted’s vision, revealing how various plant species were arranged to emphasize the beauty and grandeur of nature. It will serve as an essential resource for students, nature enthusiasts, and the more than ten thousand visitors who use the parks.
2014—Landon McKinney passes away in June.
Landon was a two-time president of the Kentucky Native Plant Society, an avid collector of plants, and a specialist in two of the toughest genera to master—Carex and Viola. He also worked at the Kentucky Nature Preserves Commission, and was a consultant on my environmental and rare species projects. The seminal publication of his career occurred in 1992 with a book on the stemless blue violets—A Taxonomic Revision of the Acaulescent Blue Violets (Viola) of North America, published by the Botanical Research Institute of Texas. This work was very highly regarded and had a great influence on subsequent studies of this group of violets, with other experts often citing Landon’s work and comparing it to their interpretations. Landon was 65 years old. For more on Landon’s life see the Lady-Slipper Newsletter 29(2) in 2014 and see Memorials at knps.org.
2014—Dr. Thomas G. Barnes passes away in October.
Tom Barnes was a well-known nature photographer and former president of the KNPS. Tom was a wildlife extension professor at the University of Kentucky, but was heavily involved in Kentucky botany throughout his career, especially through his published books featuring photographs of Kentucky wildflowers and the natural environs of the state. He was also a past president of the KNPS, and was the coauthor with Wilson Francis of The Wildflowers and Ferns of Kentucky, published in 2004. For more on Tom’s life see the Lady-Slipper 29(3), in 2014, and see Memorials at knps.org.
2014—Globe Bladderpod (Physaria globosa), a globally rare species known from the inner Bluegrass Region in Kentucky and the Nashville basin in Tennessee is added to the federal endangered species list.
2014—KNPS begins organizing the annual Kentucky Botanical Symposium in an effort to bring together professionals, academics, land managers and community scientists to discuss current Kentucky botany focused projects.
2014—The Atlas of Vascular Plants in Kentucky. By Julian Campbell & Max Medley and collaborators. Available at http://www.bluegrasswoodland.com/. And more info at http://carexmisera.com/KyPlantAtlas/About.jsp
This website provides county maps and notes for all Kentucky vascular plants, and is continually updates with announcements and new information.
2014—Zeb Weese becomes President of the KNPS, replacing Alan Nations, and a review of past presidents of KNPS. Zeb Weese, takes over the presidency of the KNPS, and also serves double-duty by being in charge of The Lady Slipper newsletter. More info is given on Zeb below (see 2016, when Zeb becomes Director of the Kentucky State Nature Preserves Commission).
A list of past KNPS Presidents
- Ron Jones 1986—1990
- Julian Campbell 1990—1992
- Landon McKinney 1992—1995
- Wilson Francis, Interim President 1995—1996
- David Eakin 1996—2000
- Wilson Francis 2000—2002
- Landon McKinney 2002—2006
- Thomas Barnes 2006––2008
- Alan Nations 2008—2014
- Zeb Weese 2014—2016
- Tara Littlefield 2016—2022
- Jeff Nelson 2022—2024
All of the above are mentioned elsewhere in this document, and their contributions to Kentucky botany are discussed, except Wilson Francis. Wilson was the long-time park naturalist at Natural Bridge Resort State Park, and was instrumental in establishing an arrangement so that KNPS could become a co-host of the annual Wildflower Weekend at the park beginning in the mid-1980s. This annual weekend proved hugely successful for KNPS, especially in the early years, and was one of the principle means by which KNPS gained new members. In later years Wilson served KNPS in a number of ways, writing articles for the newsletter, as board member, and as an officer (he served two different terms as president). Wilson was also an authority on the white-haired goldenrod (Solidago albopilosa) and associated plants, having completed a PhD dissertation at UK on the plants communities of sandstone rockhouses in 1998. In addition, Wilson was co-author with Tom Barnes of the 2005 book Wildflowers and Ferns of Kentucky, the long-awaited successor to Mary Wharton’s classic book. After his retirement in 2005, he took a position at Hazard Community and Technical College as a biology professor, and continues currently in that position.
2014–2015—Reports on the current status of forests in Kentucky.
A 2014 resource update, based on an inventory conducted by the U.S. Forest Service, Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program at the Southern Research Station, estimated a total of 12.4 million acres of forest land in Kentucky, meaning that 48% of Kentucky is occupied by forest land. A 2012 estimate from the Kentucky State Nature Preserves Commission found that there was only 7,338 acres of old growth forest remaining in Kentucky, and two-thirds of this total was found in the Appalachian regions. The number of live trees with a diameter at breast height (DBH.) 1 inch or larger on Kentucky’s forest land in 2014 was estimated at 7.4 billion, as in 2013. Net timberland volume remained stable at 25.0 billion cubic feet. The net growth to removals ratio on timberland in Kentucky was 2.2, with net growth averaging 546.1 million cubic feet annually and removals averaging 249.4 million cubic feet annually.
The 2015 Kentucky Forestry Economic Impact Report, by Jeff Stringer, Billy Thomas, Bobby Ammerman, Alison Davis, of the UK College of Agriculture, estimated the economic impact of forest utilization in the state. Analysis of Kentucky’s forest and wood industries in 2015 indicated an estimated direct economic impact of $9.1 billion (up 9 percent from 2014). These industries employed over 28,000 individuals. Total economic impacts in 2015 were estimated above $14 billion for the first time ($14.6 billion) with a total employment of 62,445. This increase in both direct and total impacts has been on-going since 2012 with a $2.7 billion increase over this period as the wood industry has continued to recover from the recent recession. The economic impact was generated from forests located in all 120 counties of the Commonwealth providing resources harvested by over 1,200 logging firms and processed at 713 facilities located in 109 counties. These industries include sawmills, pulp and paper mills, and a wide variety of secondary producers such as cabinet, barrel, and flooring manufacturers. The 2015 saw log production estimate of 762 million board feet indicates that Kentucky remains one of the leading producers of hardwood forest products in the U.S. Analysis shows that each acre of woodland harvested in 2015 was responsible for producing $23,965 in direct revenues and a total economic contribution of $39,743. This report highlights the importance of the economic contribution of the forestry sector to both rural and urban Kentucky in 2015 (author’s note—and also highlights the tremendous impact that logging continues to have on the natural communities of the state).
2014—Dr. David Eakin retires from EKU retires after 21 ½ years teaching at EKU. David was one of only two botanists in the state that focused their research on bryophytes (the other being Allen Risk of Morehead State University). David also was President of the KNPS from 1996–2000, and taught botany courses in the KNPS certification program for native plant studies.
2014—EKU Herbarium database transferred to SERNEC portal in August, 2014, by Brad Ruhfel and Robert Pace, the database first developed as Index Kentuckiensis, an Access-based database by Charlie Lapham and Ron Jones in early 2000s, then as IKnew, as a MySQL database in the year 2010 by Robert Pace, and then as a subset of the SERNEC a database portal system that includes data from multiple herbaria in the southeastern U.S., now searchable online at http://sernecportal.org/portal/. At this time, the EKY database was one of the largest and most complete data systems (label data and images) in the southeastern U.S.
2014—2018. NSF grant of about $771K awarded to SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern U.S. herbaria, including the Kentucky herbaria at Berea College, Eastern Kentucky University, Morehead State University, and Northern Kentucky University. Kentucky curators who participated in the grant were Ralph Thompson (BEREA), Brad Ruhfel (EKU), Maggie Whitson (KNK), and Allen Risk (MDKY). SERNEC (SouthEast Regional Network of Expertise and Collections), is a large regional network of botanical experts and collections. The current project will allow the SERNEC group to make data available for over three million specimens using the latest photography and information capture tools and to engage citizen scientists and students to assist in transcribing and georeferencing this large dataset. The research generated through this project can help regional planners, land managers and communities to manage their natural resources in our ever-changing environment. The primary goal of this project was to image herbarium specimens, and, as the fall of 2021, all or nearly all mounted and filed KY specimens at BEREA, EKY, KNK, and MDKY have been imaged.
Dr. Jones is a native of Nashville, TN, with degrees from David Lipscomb College and Vanderbilt University. He was a professor of Biological Sciences for over 30 years at EKU and curator of the EKU Herbarium and is now retired. His research and teaching interest was in field botany, conducting studies in southeastern U.S., Costa Rica, and Ecuador, and he is author or coauthor of two books on the floras of Kentucky and Tennessee.