Join us at Earles Conservation Easement for a walk celebrating spring! This event is a unique opportunity for visitors to walk the trails and experience the beauty of these special woodlands. Patti Beedles, Conservation Coordinator, will discuss the ephemeral plants that emerge during the first warm days of spring. Patti will be joined by EJ Jamison, the Northeast District Forester with the Kansas Forest Service, and Reb Bryant, a PhD candidate in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at KU.
Earles is a 134-acre property near Douglas County State Lake that protects upland oak-hickory and several acres of post oak-black jack woodlands, the latter woodlands being rather rare for northeast Kansas. These wooded areas provide unique habitat for reindeer moss, white moss, and maiden-hair ferns. The Earles easement extends the protection of the Baldwin Woods, a historical stand of broad-leaf deciduous forest in southern Douglas County. The easement features many beautiful trails, several ponds, and a small acreage of brome and potential horticultural cropland.
A special thank you to Ralph Earles and his late wife, Roma, for sharing their land with us!
Directions:
The address for the Earles Woodlands is 1874 N. 300 Rd, Baldwin City. See the location on Google Maps. When you arrive at the gate, please continue down the hill where you can park in the meadow.
About our guides:
Patti Beedles (she/her) is the Conservation Coordinator with Kansas Land Trust. She helps to protect and manage KLT conservation easements, including land conservation and stewardship, due diligence, monitoring, and fostering healthy partner relationships. She has spent the greater part of her career working in conservation, botany, and ecology and is eager to share her enthusiasm for the unique plant communities at the Earles Easement.
EJ Jamison (she/her) is the Northeast District Forester with the Kansas Forest Service. She provides forestry assistance to landowners in 10 counties to improve forest health, wildlife habitat, ecosystem function, and timber value. During the Earles Easement walk, EJ will share knowledge of reading the forested landscape, tree identification, forest management, and gifts from trees to people and wildlife. When she’s not exploring the woods for work, EJ spends her time exploring the woods and prairie for fun, gravel/mountain biking, canoeing, playing frisbee, reading, and relaxing with her cat.
Reb Bryant (they/them) is a PhD candidate in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at KU and a board member of Grassland Heritage Foundation. They study how soil microbes like mycorrhizal fungi can promote diverse, resilient prairie restorations. They are also passionate about the power of communities and explore relationships between people and ecological restoration in their work. During the walk, they hope to share more about the importance of soils, identifying conservative prairie plant species, and the role of people in stewardship.