Botany Blitz 2026 & Kick Off Hikes – Call for Hike Leaders

Leading up to Wildflower Weekend 2026, at Natural Bridge SRP, KNPS will be holding our 6th annual Botany Blitz 2026, which will run from Saturday, April 11th, through Sunday, April 19th. The spring Botany Blitz is a group effort to document as many plant species as possible within Kentucky during the week preceding Wildflower Weekend, and will again be hosted on the community science platform iNaturalist. Participants can use the iNaturalist mobile app in the field (or use the website if your preferred camera is not a smartphone!) to document their observations of Kentucky’s flora.

As in previous years, Botany Blitz 2026 will commence with a series of Kick Off Hikes on Saturday, April 11th and Sunday, April 12th, in parks and natural areas across the Commonwealth. These easygoing wildflower walks are led by local botanizers and naturalists who are familiar with the native flora that hikers will encounter. As the Kick Off Hikes are meant to start the Botany Blitz, we are hoping that folks who plan to participate will sign up for an iNaturalist account (if they don’t already have one) and join the Botany Blitz 2026 project, although you do not need to be an iNaturalist user to enjoy these hikes.

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KNPS Needs You! 🌿

KNPS volunteers removing invasive bush honeysuckle in Franklin County.

The Kentucky Native Plant Society (KNPS) is dedicated to serving as a medium of fellowship and information exchange among botanists, both amateur and professional, to promote conservation of native plants and natural plant communities of Kentucky, promote public education in botanical science, and encourage botanical research in Kentucky.

The Society has always depended on volunteers and the contributions of members and friends to accomplish our goals. Over its 40 years, hundreds of people have volunteered thousands of hours to make KNPS the outstanding organization it is.

Volunteering can be the best part of KNPS membership—you will meet the most interesting people and feel a sense of accomplishment as you join others to support the Society and the native plants and plant communities of Kentucky. We have volunteer activities to suit every interest and energy level that are compatible with all lifestyles, with volunteer work ranging from 2-hour shifts to 2-year officer terms. Simply put, we cannot do this without the generous donations of time by people like you!

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President’s Message: An Introduction and a Botanical 2025

Hello all native plant and nature lovers!

As we enter 2026, KNPS has transitioned into a new term with new officers. As your new KNPS President, I would like to introduce myself to all of you!

My name is Kendall McDonald, and I am a lifelong Kentuckian from the rural central bluegrass. My love for nature started early, as I explored the tributaries of Elkhorn Creek and the Kentucky River with my family. As I grew older, my love for nature was mostly expressed through painting, photography and continuing to play in the creek. I attended Morehead State University, where I focused on botany and lichens in my coursework and research. As a research student I conducted a lichen inventory of the Eagle Lake watershed.

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Register for the 5th Annual, Virtual, Kentucky Botanical Symposium

Wednesday, January 14th, 2026, 9:00AM-12:00PM EST, Virtual and Free

“Coming Together to Discuss Current Botany Projects, Conservation, and Collaboration in Kentucky and Beyond“

White Haired Goldenrod (Solidago albopilosa) – Photo courtesy of John MacGregor

The Kentucky Native Plant Society (KNPS) and the Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves (OKNP) is co-hosting the 5th annual Virtual Kentucky Botanical Symposium on Wednesday, January 14th, from 9:00AM-12:00PM EST. For ten years, KNPS has organized a botanical symposium with a goal of bringing together professionals, community scientists, academics, researchers, gardeners, and students to learn about what is going on in the world of Kentucky botany and beyond.

This year, speakers and facilitators include Kendall McDonald, President of KNPS facilitating the meeting and speaking about OKNP’s Kentucky Forest Biodiversity Assessment Program, Jeff Nelson, Immediate Past President of KNPS providing a KNPS update, Tara Littlefield, of the Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves on the state of Kentucky plant conservation, Tony Romano of OKNP speaking about the Kentucky Roadside Conservation Program, Joey Shaw of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga providing an update on the Tennessee-Kentucky Plant Atlas, and our keynote speaker Dr. Wesley Knapp, CEO of the Center for Plant Conservation.

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KNPS Director Heidi Braunreiter Receives National Award

2025 Rising Leader Award Recipient

The Natural Areas Association (NAA) has named Heidi Braunreiter, Prescribed Fire Program Coordinator for the Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves (OKNP), as recipient of the 2025 Rising Leader Award for her advancements toward ecological health in Kentucky.

Braunreiter currently serves on the KNPS Executive Board as a Director and is Treasurer for the Kentucky Prescribed Fire Council. She has been with KNPS since 2017, previously as Secretary and Vice-President. Additionally, she is a certified Burn Boss: an expert in the science of controlled fire.

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Calling all Artists & Graphic Designers! Enter the Wildflower Weekend 2026 Logo Design Contest

If you are an artist or graphic designer, we would love for you to consider entering the Wildflower Weekend 2026 Logo Design Contest. This is an open design contest to come up with a logo for Wildflower Weekend 2026 (April 17-18 at Natural Bridge SRP). The logo will be used on t-shirts, hoodies, and coffee cups, as well as on all publicity about the event. The submitted designs will be presented to the KNPS membership for voting and the winner will be awarded $200 and be recognized on the KNPS website.

In June of 2022, a KNPS member posted the image on the right on the KNPS Facebook group page of a t-shirt she had found in a thrift store. Asking among several longtime members, it turns out that in the 1990s, and into the early 2000’s, KNPS produced t-shirts for each Wildflower Weekend. The KNPS Board decided to bring back this great tradition for Wildflower Weekend 2023.

The Board asked KNPS vice-president Kendall MacDonald to design a logo for the 2023 Wildflower Weekend. The beautiful image she created featured the yellow trout lily (Erythronium americanum) with Cumberland Falls as the background. The image was used in all publicity for the event and was also featured on an adult t-shirt, a coffee mug, a kid’s t-shirt, and an adult hoodie that were available for sale in our KNPS Gear Shop.

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Editor’s Note – December 2025

Dear readers,

I’m so excited to join KNPS as Managing Editor! Kentucky soil is chock-full of some of the most fascinating species, and I can’t wait to talk about them together.

First, I want to give a huge thanks to Susan Harkins, the previous Managing Editor, for her care of this great newsletter. I’m glad she’ll be sticking with us as an Associate Editor!

To introduce myself, I thought I’d share some of my favorite plant-finding moments in Kentucky over the last several years.

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