Questions? Please contact Seth Oglesby, Kayla Rankin, or Catie Schaffer at 937-365-1935 or email arcpreserveinfo@gmail.com

Cancellation Policy. Sorry, there are no cancellations provided for this event. Please try to find someone to fill your place.

What background do I need to enjoy this field day? You don't need any background to attend this field day. Children 12 or older are also welcomed to attend if they come with a guardian and are motivated with a sincere interest to learn. The attention and seriousness required by the content is admittedly not perfect for most youths, but we totally trust your judgement in this matter and recognize this could be a life-changing experience for nature-oriented youths. 

How do I know if I am confirmed? We will do our best to keep the occupancy of all of our field trip offerings up to date online. If a field trip is filled, we will be noting that fact within 24 hours of its discovery. Once you register, we will get back to you in 1-2 weeks to confirm if one of your selected locations is open and available, and if your registration is thus confirmed. If you cannot attend any of the field trips you selected (you can make multiple selections in ranked order), then we will refund your registration.

Capacity: We are limiting each field trip to 12-16 people to give you customized curriculum and individual attention.

Physical Ability. If you have the capacity to hike up to 3 miles without injury or discomfort, you should have no trouble with this course, as most of our hikes will be covering less ground that that. Most of our hikes will be on narrow trails on that may be uneven, but our pace, by necessity, will be slow. Off-trail hiking will be an occasional component of the course. We may find ourselves crossing a few unimproved streams but we won't be wading up creeks.

Cell phone coverage and internet: Since we will be out in the field in usually rural locations, please don't count on cell coverage.

Meals: Be sure to pack your own lunch and water in a daypack. Your leader advise you at the trailhead if you need to carry your lunch with you or if you are returning to your cars at lunchtime. Prepare for the former with a daypack and bottled water - just in case. We always recommend that you pack a large plastic bag or vinyl sit-upon so you can rest in the woods without getting wet, dirty, and/or covered with chiggers and ticks! 

What to bring to this field day:

• Your personal copy of a field guide to trees of the temperate forest (possibilities described below).

• Binoculars that have a good range of focus, both close and at a distance. These are important because trees can be 100-150 feet above your head and binoculars are a great assist in ID.

• Your cell phone or camera. Photos to take home ar great for practicing what you learned.

• A Filled water bottle

• A small day pack for water, lunch, and field guide

• Rain gear if drizzle is in the forecast

• A notebook or clipboard, pen, pencils, and paper (for sketching and field notes).

• Optional: Sunscreen if you use it (there are also environmental reasons not to - check it out)

• Optional: A light-weight wide-brimmed hat for sun protection

• Optional: nsect repellent for ticks is recommended, see details above.

Choosing your Field Guide. A good field guide to the trees common to the eastern temperate forest is essential. Here are our recommendations which can be purchased on-line new or in the case of out-of-print editions, used.

• Native Trees of the Southeast, L. Katherine Kirkman, Claud L. Brown, and Donald J. Leopold. This is a fantastic book. Only a very few northern trees species are missing, and it includes all trees species from the Florida panhandle to Ohio. Good maps show most of the Eastern United States right next to the tree's description and thus gives good lessons in biogeography. Excellent photographs include leaves, fruit, buds, and bark. If they had include NE United States, this would be the ultimate tree book ever published. As it is, it picks up all of Ohio's trees, including the confusing oaks. This book makes a great traveling companion.

• Sibley's Book of Trees. If you are an avid tree student, and you enjoy a world perspective, this is an awesome book. It is too heavy to carry easily in the field, and maybe too comprehensive for the fresh beginner, but it is an excellent reference for someone who wants to study trees throughout his or her entire life. This book is a joy to own, especially if you do a lot of traveling across North America.

• 101 Trees of Indiana, A Field Guide; Marion T. Jackson, and Katherine Harrington. Another winning book. If you want a good Midwestern guide and don't want to be confused with all of the northern or southern species, this guide is about as good as it gets. Fabulous photography, good maps, and excellent descriptions. If you live in the Midwest, you can't go wrong with this guide. Even if you don't live in the Midwest, you'll find this book pretty impressive!

• Trees of the Eastern Central United States and Canada. William Harlow. A small fat paperback with great pictures and helpful descriptions; organized by families which is a nice teaching tool in itself. It's been around for decades, and can still compete with the best. Being a small format book, it is easy to pack with you in the field.

• The Woody Plants of Ohio, (in print) E. Lucy Braun. Lucy is the matriarch of Ohio botany! This book is an Ohio botanical Bible. Each tree is carefully drawn in ink, described, and accompanied by a map showing which counties have recorded its existence. Originally issued 1961. It is now in print after many years of unavailability but is very expensive. Don't feel the need to buy this one if you are tight on funds. For Ohio residents, however, it is a compelling purchase.

• Ohio Trees, R.W. Dean, L.C. Chadwick, William F. Cowen. This is a lovely spiral bound book authored by three gentlemen, all of which were associated with the Ohio State University. It is still one of the best. Very user-friendly with much descriptive text, illustrations, and photographs. A good friend in the field and great for beginners. Can still be found among used books on the internet.

• The Tree Identification Book, George W.D. Symonds, A companion volume to the Shrub Identification Book. Both books are great additions to a tree library. It is not as user-friendly as the books above but much more thorough in illustration and overall pictorial detail—with individual chapters solely on photographic comparisons of bark, winter buds, flowers, and leaves. It is a wonderful book to go to when you are stumped but not your primary go-to. Virtually lacking in text, it fails to bring forward the “essence” of a tree that helps its name become memorable to students. Original copyright is 1958.

• Eastern Trees, George A. Petrides. Peterson Field Guides. This is a very fine book and has phenomenal range maps if you are attracted to plant distribution and geography. It has evolved over the years to be an excellent guide with great color illustrations — a good selection for someone who wants a one-book-does-all. Don't buy an older version, they had terrible illustrations.  Unfortunately, like most of the Peterson Guides, it is not the most user-friendly book—since the illustrations are separated from the text. It is probably more useful to someone with an introductory knowledge of the trees. It is not the best beginner guide. On the other hand, it contains many obscure tree species of the East that most books don't bother to include.

• The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Trees, Eastern Region. If you like photographs for identification, you will like this guide. If you aren’t sure you like photos, avoid this one. Most people learn more quickly from graphic drawings. Like the Petrides book above, the Audubon guide separates the pictures from the descriptive text, which is clumsy. This one is on the bottom of our recommended list.

Should I prepare for insects?  We experience very few to no mosquitoes and no black flies at most of our field trip locations.Exceptions will be noted. You may encounter ticks just about anywhere, and chiggers in tall grass, especially if you choose to wander off trail (which is a good reason not to), and a few deer flies in low moist areas. No exposure to at least some insects in southern Ohio is not a realistic expectation for outdoor fieldwork so come prepared. Since we DO have deer ticks in southern Ohio, please read below.

A Special Note on Ticks. During every field trip, you may encounter ticks. If you see them the size of dog ticks, they are not much of a problem. Just brush them off. It’s the smaller ones that are worth paying attention to. We encourage you to minimize exposure to ticks with any pre-cautionary method of choice. Here at the Arc, we fill a glass or metal spray bottle with 1 part geranium essential oil and 5-9 parts of alcohol and spray the mixture our lower legs, socks, and shoes before going out in high tick populations. It works great and is non-toxic, even when directly sprayed on your skin. We also recommend a good tick check at night before or after showering. If you have a partner, use him or her to do the ‘primate preening thing.” If you don’t, employ a mirror and don’t forget to check your hairline, all folds of your skin, and any place fabric is tightly pressed against your body. It may sound ironic, but bare legs can also deter ticks because you can see or feel them crawling up your legs and remove them immediately. We are not necessarily recommending shorts and sandals during the day, but if you enjoy wearing them, you just may fare better than your less scantily dressed colleagues. If you are wondering why we are seeing more ticks than in earlier decades, here's a great website for deeper information.

Tick Diseases. The key to addressing the rare possibility of catching Lyme’s disease, one of several illnesses potentially transmitted by ticks, is to be aware of symptoms and  demanding proper diagnostic tests if you suspect the disease. You may know more than your doctor, so being informed and to be empowered. On the other hand, here at the Arc, staff members pull ticks off us all the time and none of us have gotten any diseases yet (though some of our friends and neighbors have), so please don't think pulling a tick off of you necessarily will result in getting a disease.  Please note that Lyme’s is treatable if detected in a reasonable time, but because deer ticks have not been in Ohio for very long and the disease is not super common, many doctors are slow to recognize the symptoms. Here are some symptoms to remember in order to be pro-active, which tend to be flu-like:

• Pain areas: in the joints or muscles

• Whole body: fatigue, fever, or malaise

• Joints: stiffness or swelling

• Also common: appearance of large red blotches, sometimes with bulls-eye pattern,

• Headache

• Palsy

A Special Note on Chiggers. Chigger bites are very annoying if numerous. The bites are sometimes slow to heal, and are itchy -  but they are not dangerous. The best way to minimize chigger exposure is to stay on the trail when traveling through grasslands and brushy areas and protect yourself from them as you would from ticks. Perhaps ironically, we have confirmed that open-toed sandals attract less chiggers than socks and shoes. Chiggers love to bury into tight places between skin and clothing. We put this to the test once with amazing results on one of our high chigger populations preserves (no, this is not one of our Tree People sites.). The open toed hiker got 30 chiggers, and the hiker with pants in his socks ended up in the emergency room with hundreds of chigger bites on his ankles. (Both were off-trail performing a botanical study and unprotected by sprays.)

Poison Ivy. Your leader will minimize or eliminate your exposure to poison ivy. If you do touch the leaves, scrubbing vigorously with soap within an hour avoids reactivity in most people, and the scrubbing is at least as effective as soap. Doing both, and learning poison ivy ID, are the best preventatives.

Mark Hoberecht’s love and wonder for nature began as a child. He is fascinated by all aspects of the eastern Forest, and especially its ferns. He first became familiar with the Arc when attending a fern course in the summer of 2014. It was during this and other courses, along with the Wildflower Pilgrimage, that Mark developed a lasting bond with the Arc of Appalachia “family.”

Mark is from northeast Ohio, and has recently retired after a nearly 40-year career at NASA working on fuel cell and other energy storage technologies. He holds a B.S. in chemical engineering, and M.S. degrees in engineering science and sustainable systems. Mark also founded a small business, HarvestBuild Associates, that specialized in various natural building techniques, including straw-bale and cob construction.

John Jaeger is a field naturalist and outdoor educator and has been a consultant in wetland preservation conducting bird and flora surveys. His interests include the flora, fauna and natural history of Ohio, as well as the preservation of natural areas. John is a Certified Parks and Recreation Professional through the National Recreation and Parks Association. He retired as Director of Natural Resources for the Metropolitan Park District of the Toledo Area in June 2008. During his career he served as a Park Manager, Ranger and Naturalist. His duties included land acquisition and land stewardship as well as the development of land management plans for the Metroparks and Fallen Timbers Ft. Miamis National Park. He directed a land management crew which conducted stewardship projects in the Metroparks, and was a State of Ohio Certified Fire Manager.

Judy Semroc is a conservation specialist, field biologist and naturalist. Judy has 25+ years of experience offering hands-on exploration based learning programs. As a former Petroleum Geologist and science teacher, Judy loves to learn about and share her passion for the natural world through hikes, interpretive programs, and photography.

Judy is the founder of Chrysalis in Time‚ the first Ohio chapter of the North American Butterfly Association (NABA). Judy also serves on the board of the Ohio Bluebird Society & Ohio Ornithological Society (Conservation Committee). She has co-authored two natural history guides, “Dragonflies & Damselflies of Northeast Ohio” in 2008, and “Goldenrods of Northeast Ohio: A Field Guide to Identification & Natural History” in 2017.

Brent Charette was trained in forest resource management at Hocking Technical College. His first career was with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, working as a state-wide naturalist for the Division of Parks and Recreation. He eventually went on to serve as Park Manager at Malabar Farm State Park. Brent now works for the Arc of Appalachia. As Nancy’s partner, the two of them enjoy hosting natural history events and courses at the Highlands Nature Sanctuary and, in their personal time, caring for one of the Sanctuary’s tracts of land known as Ridgeview Restoration Farm. Brent’s greatest passions include nature interpretation, permaculture & forest gardening, native tree propagation, and subsistence gardening. He loves anything to do with trees, including growing edible mushrooms, carpentry, studying mycorrhizal associations, and teaching others how to learn and appreciate our native trees.

Nancy Stranahan is the Director of the Arc of Appalachia Preserve System, and was one of the non-profit’s founders back in 1995. Since that time, Nancy has organized the Arc’s expansion from zero acres to over 7000, founding over 20 new preserve regions in southern Ohio. Nancy previously worked for ODNR for ten years with Ohio State Parks as Chief Naturalist, and twenty years running a bakery, a soup & cafe, and international gift store in downtown Columbus known as Benevolence, promoting healthy and intentional food choices. Nancy not only loves preserving land, she has a passion for habitat restoration, and native plant propagation and re-introduction. Nancy LOVES teaching, learning, networking, and she has been teaching the Arc’s tree courses for over a decade.

Dave Keunher is a long-time friend of the Arc and a well-known Ohio naturalist. He is an outstanding nature photographer, documenting some of the rarest and most interesting plant and animal species in the state, which he generously shares on the Arc’s Facebook.

Teri Gilligan is a lifelong nature enthusiast and she enjoys participating in group learning activities. She is excited to join you in developing a greater appreciation and understanding of the trees of the Eastern Forest.

Tim Pohlar is a Project Lead for the Land Stewardship team and resides at Blackgum Woods with his wife Miriam and two daughters Rose and Quinn.  Tim has been with the Arc since 2004, where he started as an intern, learning his trees and nature studies from the many great naturalists before him. He has a passion for sharing the beauty of nature with others and stewarding our natural lands.

Ethan King is the Assistant Manager of Land Stewardship at the Arc of Appalachia. He is a native of Cincinnati and has developed a passion for the outdoors, which stemmed from his Grandmother who is an outstanding naturalist herself. He is an only child so he is very close with his parents, family, and friends that he has stayed in touch with after graduating from High school. Ethan graduated from Hocking College with a degree in Wildlife Management. He worked for Wayne National Forest where he used topographic maps to locate Tree of Heaven infestations and schedule them for removal.  While looking to get his foot in the door after graduation he found a job in Colorado where he engaged in ecological field studies for a company called NEON (National Ecological Observatory Network). Shortly after that position had come to an end he knew his roots were in Ohio and wanted to look for work in his home state.

Elijah Crabtree is the On-site Land Manager for the Arc of Appalachia at Tremper Mound Preserve in Scioto County. Elijah was born and raised in Ross County - the epicenter of Hopewell architecture - where he developed a passion for local cultural history, natural sciences and conservation work. He has a special interest in connecting people to the natural world and promoting historically significant sites as protected public domains for education and inspiration.

Ann Geise is a Cincinnati based artist, who has been drawing and studying nature her entire life. Her artistry leans toward the ecological - how local plants, animals, geology are all deeply inter-connected. After working in pharmaceutical research for several years, Ann's love of both nature and art converged and blossomed into full expression when she took a job at the Cincinnati Nature Center as Artist & Exhibits Manager. She stayed for 19 years - producing what is now Ann's signature art.

Bob & Beth Staggenborg were both teachers and have experience leading nature hikes with kids in the woods. We love to help all ages connect to the natural world. We are passionate about having native diversity on our property and have planted a number of native trees. Bob is the host and producer of Nature Guys Podcast.

Jacob Bartley is a Restoration Ecologist that has worked in the wetland and stream restoration/enhancement industry for 20 years. He is the owner of an ecological consulting firm known as Plum Hill Ecological Services, based out of Northern Kentucky. His expertise includes wetlands restoration and many other habitat enhancement projects.  He serves as the project director of the Red Stone Farm Wetland Mitigation Bank, where just a portion of their construction and restoration activities have included hand-planting 27,000 native trees and hand seeding over 500 lbs of native perennial wetland seeds. The goal of this effort is to restore some of the historic forested wetland ecosystem known as the Beech Flats that once dominated this region of southern Ohio and to conserve it for perpetuity.

Andrea Jaeger & Brit Wood Brit Wood is the Arc’s Facility Manager, overseeing the maintenance and upkeep of the Arc’s multiple overnight lodges and educational buildings. Andrea Jaeger is the Arc’s Director of Land Acquisition & Visitor Services. Their careers with the Arc began in August 2016 after moving back to Ohio from Chattanooga, TN. Since then, the Arc has become more than a job, but a way of life. In addition to their regular work responsibilities, they serve as caretakers of the Tobacco Barn Hollow Preserve region. They fervently enjoy spending as much time in the forest as they can get, and love having the opportunity to share their passion for this truly remarkable preserve with others.

Paul & Cathy Knoop Paul is retired from the National Audubon Society, where he served as the Aullwood Audubon Center and Farm Education Director for 35 years. He is presently involved in several land preservation efforts and serves as a Board Advisor for the Arc of Appalachia. Cathy is a retired environmental science teacher and worked as the development director for Camp Oty’Okwa. As a team, they teach graduate Natural History classes for Ashland University but have always had a devotion to teaching and inspiring children to love the natural world, using the outdoors as their classroom.  The Knoops are patient, kind, and supportive educators who have inspired burgeoning naturalists for generations. In 2016, they were the recipients of the Ohio Environmental Council’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

Bob Scott Placier retired in 2015, after teaching in the School of Natural Resources at Hocking College for over 30 years. He mostly taught Dendrology and Ornithology toward the end, but also classes in Field Biology and Forest Ecology. Presently he devotes most of his time to bird banding at his Vinton County home, and serves as president of the Ohio Bird Banding Association.

Bob and Marilyn Welker has served on the Arc board for the past 5 1/2 years, was a long-time activist in Columbus, and co-founded and directed Simply Living for many years. Living in the "cornfields of Champaign County" for the past 14 years, she has been "learning by doing," transforming two+ acres of disturbed land (former quarry) to create biodiversity by building the soils and planting native trees, bushes, flowers, and edible plants.

Vicki Solomon has loved the forests and wildlands of Ohio as long as she can remember, She was that kid hanging around naturalists whenever and wherever she could.  With a degree in Environmental Interpretation from the Ohio State University, Vicki has helped people discover their own love of nature working for the US Forest Service, Ohio State Park, Cleveland and Lake Metroparks.  Vicki trains and works oxen, mentoring others in the US and Africa.   She manages her acreage at the headwaters of the Cuyahoga River as a small farm and nature sanctuary.  She and her husband, Mark, operate a seasonal local foods concession, and argue about which areas of the property Mark is allowed to mow.

Jeff Dickinson has been involved in organic, sustainable, regenerative agriculture over the last 50 years, with forests and nature being a part of his vocation and avocations throughout this period.  In addition to his BS and MS in Horticulture, he has received his PhD in Entomology at OSU in pursuit of applied ecology in agroecosystems, including agroforestry. In addition to working at OSU as the Project Manager in Sustainable Agriculture, and the Agricultural Director at Meadowcreek Project in Arkansas, Jeff has spent the last 30 years as the Executive Director, Farmer, Educator, and Researcher at the Stratford Ecological Center.

Brian Lokai is a veterinarian in Dayton, Ohio, and has been a long time supporter and friend of the Arc. He enjoys hiking and has attended many Arc education programs in the past. We are delighted that he is now willing to take the lead and share his knowledge with others!

Dave Nolin grew up in Fairborn, Ohio in Greene County. He attended Wright State University and graduated with a BS in biology in 1980 and received his Master’s Degree in biology in 1984. Dave worked for the Fiver Rivers MetroParks for 30 years, retiring from the parks in 2015. Dave volunteers his time with several conservation entities and is currently the Vice President of the Beaver Creek Wetlands Association. He has been married to his wife for 42 years and they have one son, Jacob.

Tim Norman spent his childhood hiking and camping around southwest Ohio. His parents and grandparents taught him about many plants that were used for food and medicine in the mountains of Kentucky. He has loved the outdoors ever since. He worked for the Columbus Metro Parks for a time slaughtering honeysuckle whenever possible. He has a Bachelor’s degree in Biology from the University of Cincinnati but spends his days working on computer networks. He has been involved in Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts in Clinton County, Ohio, for the past 10 years and teaches outdoor skills and tree identification to anyone that will listen. He has never met a genus and species of a tree that he didn’t like.

Dave and Kim Baker David, David worked 44 years in Verizon telecommunications, serving in various management roles and in financial analysis. David and wife Kim have been OSU 4-H leaders for the past 15 years and love working with kids and believe the fate of our planet depends on how much we invest in them. For years David and Kim nurtured a dream to save the back-forty of their farm dissected by a deep limestone gorge. This desire led them into partnership with the Arc, and today Quiverheart Gorge Preserve is a reality.

Rick Perkins recently retired from the role of Director of Camp Oty’Okwa, a year-round Big Brother Big Sisters of Central Ohio children’s camp in Hocking County. Earlier, he served a full career with the National Park Service, where he worked as Chief Ranger for Hopewell Culture National Historical Park in Ohio, and Park Ranger at Isle Royale National Park and Glacier Bay National Park. Because the Arc protectes several ancient earthworks, Rick’s experience in protecting indigenous legacies is invaluable.

Rebecca Wood is a retired professor of Natural Resource Management from Hocking College where she taught Dendrology, Field Ecology, Wetland Management, Herbal Studies, Soils and many other field based courses. She currently owns and operates Hopewood Holistic Health & Holistic Journeys providing education and assessment in holistic wellness strategies and offers International Eco-wellness journeys to explore other's Backyards and Beyond, unique cultures and incredible Nature. She was honored recently as one of Ohio's 7 Herbal Elders by United Plant Savers (https://unitedplantsavers.org/ohio-herbal-elder-rebecca-wood/) and loves storytelling and igniting the 'green spark' in others to ensure, understanding, appreciation and sustainable use of Nature's diverse gifts. You can learn more about Rebecca at www.hopewoodholistichealth.com.

John Howard possesses the best of all the qualities associated with “naturalist.” He has an insatiable curiosity and a perennial sense of wonder. Studying the backroads of Adams County his entire life, he knows nearly all -if not all- of the dragonflies, butterflies, vascular plants, birds, amphibians and reptiles, and is working on a good understanding of everything else. Taking a nature walk with John is a rare privilege for even his close friends, who don’t think twice about driving half-way across the state for an opportunity to watch fireflies, catch salamanders heading for the vernal pools, photograph the first spring flowers in bloom even if they are only 1/2 inch tall and tomorrow’s forecast calls for snow, or look for a new-to-science moth or caterpillar on an obscure plant.

Dave Todt is a retired professor of natural science at Shawnee State University. He served in various capacities at Shawnee since 1975, including seven years as the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at SSU. Dave’s love of the natural environment started at an early age with family camping trips around Ohio and summers in the mountains of western North Carolina. At Shawnee State he taught courses including Ohio’s Natural Heritage, Field Ornithology, Ecology, and numerous other science and recreation courses. Dave was involved in the preparation of science teachers and environmental educators while at Shawnee. He also worked for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources as a manager of the Youth Conservation Corps program. Dave served two terms on the Division of Natural Areas and Preserves Natural Areas Council and is currently active with the Ohio Natural Areas and Preserves Association. He proudly serves on the Arc of Appalachia Board.