MOSS AND LICHEN WALK ALONG THE LAUREL RIVER TRAIL
MAY 1, 2024.
Leader: Sue Studlar
We will explore the rich bryophyte and lichen communities along the Laurel River Trail, which is an old (1920’s) logging railroad bed along the cascading Big Laurel Creek/Laurel River. The walk is easy with some rocky sections and an optional stop among the streamside boulders. We start at the Laurel River Trailhead parking lot and walk down the gravel road to the trail, an easy trail with some rocky sections. We will do only about the first half-mile of the trail (one-mile round trip) entirely within private property. (Pisgah NF and the rest of the 3.6-mile-long trail is one mile from the start, too distant for our microscale adventures!) There is a limitation of 12 attendees at this event.
Our emphasis is on the luxuriant colonies on or near the steep cliffs in the first half-mile of the trail. We will discuss distinguishing features, ecology, and uses of a variety of mosses and liverworts, as well as crustose, foliose, and fruticose lichens. We will consider why they are essential to the functioning of the global ecosystems that sustain us. Bring a handlens if you have one.
Sue Studlar is a botanist specializing in bryophytes and lichens, who taught “Bryophytes and Lichens of the Southern Appalachians” at UNCA in 2020 for the Environmental Studies program. For 23 years at West Virginia University Sue taught plant diversity, plant geography, and plant anatomy. She has also taught botany, ecology, and biology classes at Centre College (Kentucky), Mountain Lake Biological Station (Virginia), Oklahoma State University, and Wellesley College (Massachusetts). Her publications focus on Appalachian bryophyte diversity, ecology, and geography. She has a B.A. from Carleton College (Minnesota) and a Ph.D. in Botany from the University of Tennessee (Knoxville). An Asheville resident, she enjoys leading field trips and workshops, as well identifying bryophytes for parks and national forests. In May and June of 2024, Sue will teach a five-day Bryophytes course and a one-day Lichen Workshop at Highlands Biological Station in WNC.
