Earlier in the month I had the opportunity to join naturalist and conservationist Jim Goltz on a search for Furbish's Lousewort at the George M. Stirrett nature preserve near the village of Tilley. This preserve is a narrow parcel of land along the shore of the St. John River, and is one of five known sites where Furbish's Lousewort is known to exist. Jim wanted to do a census for the Nature Trust after hearing that the populations had recently diminished. Sure enough, we only found a total of four plants nestled closely in a single area of the preserve.
A concern to Jim is that we could not find the lousewort in areas of the shore where he would expect to find it in previous years. Also, as you can see in the last image above, there is evidence of four-wheelers having traveled through the preserve, including areas where the lousewort would be expected to grow.
This is the second time I've been on a nature walk led by Jim, and he has an amazing wealth of knowledge about the natural world that he is very eager to share. Many other interesting plants were pointed out to me as we searched the site.
This is the second time I've been on a nature walk led by Jim, and he has an amazing wealth of knowledge about the natural world that he is very eager to share. Many other interesting plants were pointed out to me as we searched the site.
After concluding our search at the Stirrett preserve, Jim took us to a couple of other locations near Aroostook in search of other interesting species. This included a visit to a second site known to contain Furbish's Lousewort where we only found two of the plants.
It was a true delight to spend a day in nature learning from Jim Goltz. I feel much more keenly aware of the delicate balance of nature when it comes to the survival of rare species such as Furbish's Lousewort.