On Saturday, September 6, 2025, KNPS members and friends came together for a day of botanical education and exploration at the Natural Bridge State Resort Park & the Red River Gorge.
The day began in the Woodland Nature Center, located just beyond the state park lodge, with updates on the Society’s activities in 2025 and plans for 2026.
Dan and Judy Dourson shared personal experiences and read excerpts from their book Wildflowers and Ferns of Red River Gorge and the Greater Red River Basin. Afterwards, copies of the book were sold and the Doursons provided personalized messages and autographs. KNPS helped fund the 2025 reprint of Wildflowers and Ferns of RRG and GRRB and will have copies for sale at all future events while supplies last.
Following the updates the group enjoyed a talk by KNPS Vice-president and Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves Botanist, Kendall McDonald. She presented White Haired Goldenrod (Solidago albopilosa) and Sandstone Rockhouses of the Red River Gorge: Geology, Human History, Endemism and Conservation Success. Participants were also educated on the Adopt-A-Rockhouse Program, which is a program that utilitzes volunteers to monitor the previously federally listed White Haired Goldenrod (Solidago albopilosa, WHG). You can download the presentation by clicking on the image below.
After lunch, the group braved the rain and carpooled to the Red River Gorge at the D. Boone Hut trailhead for a field trip. Botanist Rachel Cook lead the hike to a sandstone rockhouse with White Haired Goldenrod to teach about its identification, habitat, and conservation. This species is endemic to Kentucky and is only found in a single river canyon, the Red River Gorge, in Menifee, Powell and Wolfe counties. There, the goldenrod is limited to sandstone rockhouses and surrounding rock edges, where it grows on sandy soil behind the drip line, out of direct sunlight.
The Red River Gorge canyon system features an abundance of high sandstone cliffs, rock houses, waterfalls, arches, boulder fields, limestone cliffs and caves. Due to its natural beauty and abundance of cliffs, the Red River Gorge has become a popular spot for outdoor recreation like hiking, climbing, kayaking and camping. While having the public love and utilize a place for outdoor recreation is fantastic, unfortunately the amount of outdoor recreation and tourism at the Gorge has caused some unfortunate effects on the flora and fauna. By 1988, the recreational impacts and habitat reduction threated the White Haired Goldenrod to the point of needing to be federally listed as threatened. Through multiple agencies and public efforts, the WHG was delisted in 2016 and now relies on volunteers for monitoring. Rachel showed the group several populations of WHG and educated about how they could volunteer to help monitor the species.
White Haired Goldenrod and the KNPS Fall Meeting 2025 hike at D. Boone Hut Trail. Photos by Alexandra Taylor.
The group finished the hike with a spontaneous trip to the actual D. Boone hut, which is a rockhouse where legend has it that Daniel Boone was there and carved his name into a sign. In reality, it is a historic saltpeter mine that employed the workers who likely carved “D. Boone” into a slab of wood.