APCA Meeting Minutes   18 May 2012
Held at 5 Rivers Conference Center, Spanish Fort

Recorded by Kyle and Nate Paris

Attendees: 

Wayne Barger, Nick Bieser, Nancy Cobb, Richard Cobb, David Dyson, Dan Everson, Bobby Greene, Hunter Greer, Shannon Holbrook, Brian Holt, Howard Horn, Brian Keener, Nancy Lowenstein, John Manion, Jan Midgley, Fred Nation, Kyle Paris, Nathan Paris, Joan Reynolds, Fred Spicer, Dana Stone, Keith Tassin, Patrick Thompson, Scott Wiggers

Introduction by Patrick Thompson (Boyd out sick). This is meeting #8 of APCA. Patrick quickly reviewed the last meeting at Ruffner Mtn. Nature Center (held Nov. 18, 2011), including a recount of the Saturday Moss Rock Preserve Foray. Patrick also summarized events at the GPCA meeting (17 May 2012) that he attended, including information on the commercialization of imperiled plants. He also provided a brief AU Davis Arboretum update about projects there involving APCA plants.

Committee reports:

1) Quercus boyntonii -  (Patrick Thompson) Moss Rock Preserve sandstone outcrop display at the Arboretum. Moss Rock Preserve brought up as a site for invasive plant control.

2) Sarracenia alabamensis  – (Keith Tassin) Four viable populations from three counties(Elmore, Autauga, Chilton), collected seed from one site. Planted out at two sites (flowered this year and doing well). Also new germplasm was taken from a lady who rescued plants from the Pierce site, which is now extirpated. Seedlings were sent to Atlanta Botanical Gardens.

3) Matalea alabamensis - (Wayne Barger) only two known populations (Shorterville, Henry Co.; Whetstone Falls, Henry Co.) in Alabama, documented fruiting at 1 site for the first time. Two plants taken for Davis Arboretum (1 plant in flower brought for show and tell to meeting!). 

Information item: Jan Midgley brought a petition for stopping an oil lease involving fracking in the Talladega National Forest. 

Lunch Break at the Bluegill (it was delicious!)

After lunch, Wayne Barger brought up the Forever Wild vote coming up soon (Nov. 2012) and then talked more about some other rare/interesting AL plants:

1. Lilium iridollae. Proposed for federal listing. 6 populations in the Perdido Forever Wild tract. Wayne is making an effort to find more populations.
2. Clematis socialis. Logging operation is occurring around the Gadsden population. There is concern of invasives establishing on the cleared site, although the plants seemed unaffected so far. Plants from the water treatment site were being mowed so some plants were moved to the Davis Arboretum. Patrick will get info on propagation techniques from AU Horticulture. Potential AU Hort/Arboretum propagation could provide outplantings back at the Gadsden site. 
3. Phlox pulchra. Three plants were taken from a roadside scrape line for propagation.  Cuttings rooted by Davis Arboretum doubled number of plants in holding
4. Jamesianthus alabamensis. Wayne is visiting all known populations this year. Currently blooming (early).
5. Asplenium scolopendrium. There is only 1 remaining AL population (but it appears stable). A dozen sporophytes have been raised from the site by Wayne. 

Then reports on committee projects continued:

4) Helianthus verticillatus - (Wayne Barger) Plants are growing very well at the Davis Arboretum, seeds will be available for further propagation. There is only one known AL population on a roadside in Cherokee County. 

5) Asplenium tutwilerae - (John Manion/Wayne Barger/The Cobbs) Birmingham Botanical Gardens has a number of plants that look good. John Manion has contacted Reid Investment about the site, possibility for nominating site for purchase by Forever Wild. 

6) Xerophyllum asphodeloides - (Jan Midgley) Jan has found species challenging to grow from seed: seeds collected from Talladega NF population have been distributed to many sources. Georgia Tech (Jerry Pullman Lab) has germinated seeds by removing embryos and using cytokinins. The native site needs fire and there is a plan to harvest more seeds from the site. It was reported that Ron Determann has germinated thousands of seeds, so maybe propagation by seed is not always as difficult as it has appeared. 

7) Xyris spathifolia – (Kyle Paris) Atlanta Botanical Gardens is propagating plants. Boyd and Paris brothers visited Alligator Glades West (the only known occurrence) in Fall 2011 and no identifiable plants were found. They plan to revisit the site during the blooming season (late July/early August) in 2012 to look for plants in flower.

8) Symphyotrichum georgianum – Ryan Shurette was unable to come at the last minute, but sent the following electronic report.

Jenny Cruse Sanders (Atlanta Bot. Gard.) and Hilary Hart came down last Oct. and we did some tissue collection for the region-wide genetics study for the species. Asters were very vigorous in growth and blooming this past fall and we collected plenty of good fertile seed. Amy Wright and Judson LeCompt from AU Horticulture Dept. are currently propagating about 3500 asters this year for us to outplant back on the Talladega district. Habitat is looking good and we have put a formal documented plan into place with Alabama Power for the cooperative management of the powerline population to avoid accidental herbicide impacts. Current population is now around 2500 plants! 

9) Lindera melissifolia – (Dana Stone/ Patrick Thompson) Patrick collected 8 cuttings, 4 being held at Davis Arboretum and 4 at Atlanta Botanical Gardens. Two at the Davis Arboretum have been planted in the coastal pitcher plant bog area and are doing well. Laurel wilt disease is being monitored for spread because it has been reported to attack L. melissifolia. If true, then small populations in Covington County could be affected. 

10) Haine’s Island Park – (Fred Nation) There have been no more workdays since the last meeting in Nov. 2011. There is a plan to revisit the site to control kudzu. 

11) Safe guarding committee (Patrick Thompson, John Manion, Linda Sherk, Ron Determann) -Suggested careful records and a database for all APCA projects be maintained. Suggested a template for accessions of APCA projects be created or obtained. Patrick Thompson and committee will create a draft version of an accession template and present that at the next APCA meeting for review/comment/discussion.

There was some time devoted to discussion of new projects:

1) Hexastylis speciosa by Brian Keener. There are 6 populations in Autauga County, 2 in Chilton Co. Population surveys need to be done to see how rare it is. There is a report of a hybrid found between H. speciosa and H. arifolia. Brian will report back on this species at the next meeting.

2) Dan Everson talked about the list of plants that US Fish and Wildlife Service has been petitioned to be added to the Federal threatened and endangered list. USFWS has five years to look at each species in detail, so they need help in getting information on each species.

After the meeting, Scott Wiggers sent the following links that explain the petition (see Petition below) and the response of USFWS (see 90-day Findings below) to that petition, in case members want to get details on this issue.

Petition: http://www.fws.gov/cookeville/pdfs/SePetitionFinal.pdf 

90-day Findings: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2011-09-27/pdf/2011-24633.pdf andhttp://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2011-10-06/pdf/2011-25672.pdf 

Finally, there was some discussion of the next APCA meeting location. It was suggested that we meet at the north end of the state, possibly at Huntsville Botanical Gardens, in early November 2012 on a Friday. This could be followed by a Saturday foray in the North AL area.

There also was a suggestion of a February 2013 joint APCA/GPCA meeting as a way to build bridges and share knowledge and expertise between our groups.