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Free and Open to the Public! A Matryoshka of Rarity: The Lake Wales Ridge State Forest as a Hotspot for Threatened and Endangered Plant Species
The Lake Wales Ridge State Forest is an ecologically unique place, supporting populations of sixteen species of federally listed plants and even more state listed species, many of which are endemic to the Lake Wales Ridge. Scrub and southern ridge sandhill communities exist within a mosaic throughout the property, where rare plant concentration is at its highest. Learn about the interesting life histories of some of these different plant species, what recent monitoring at the state forest has uncovered, and how ongoing management may help to restore the delicate habitats these species depend on for survival. Conservation concerns, challenges, and future possibilities will all be addressed in this talk.
Our guest speaker, Hanna Rosner-Katz is the Plant Conservation Program Biologist at the Lake Wales Ridge State Forest with the Florida Forest Service. Originally hailing from New York state, she has participated in plant surveys and ecological studies across the continent from Virginia to California to Ontario. Hanna has her Bachelor’s degree in Plant Science and her Master’s in Landscape Ecology. For her thesis, Hanna developed distribution models to help predict the best locations to search for undiscovered locations of regionally rare plant species. Aside from her passion for rare plant conservation and recovery, Hanna’s interests include wildlife viewing, hiking, knitting, and visiting cat cafes
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Harry P. Leu Gardens, 1920 N Forest Ave, Orlando, United States