The Lost River Cave BioBlitz event is another step in the restoration of a unique meadow ecosystem! At the Wild Ones/LRC BioBlitz meeting Thursday August 11, Wild Ones Member and LRC Volunteer Kathee gave an introduction on the history of the meadow restoration efforts at Lost River Cave. Kathee personally grew hundreds of plants from seed that were transplanted into the meadow over the last few years. Native seeds were sewn and bare roots were purchased and planted in the meadow as well.
Lost River Cave biologist Delaney gave a presentation about the diverse ecosystems at LRC including the unique karst features at the site.
Saturday, August 13th, volunteers met at the meadow to conduct a presence/absence survey of specific native plant species. Volunteers were given a table listing the plants to look for and a plant identification guide that provided information and pictures of each plant species. If you found the plant in your designated grid then you checked “present” on the table of plants. If you did not find that plant in your grid then you checked “absent.” This information will help Lost River Cave going forward with the meadow restoration project. At a future Wild Ones SoKY meeting we will get an update from Lost River Cave about the information we collected and how we can help with the meadow restoration going forward!
