Welcome to the Buckhannon Nature Park and Learning Trail
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Our Floodplain Forest

Welcome to the Buckhannon Nature Park and Learning Trail, also, Our Floodplain Forest. . , (Panel 1): , Envisioned in 2009, this project began in July 2011 with the removal of a massive understory of privet, an exotic shrub that was choking out much of the native flora. We purchased and planted 180 shrubs, trees, and vines from a native plant nursery in fall of 2012 and spring of 2013., Appreciation for the vision, development and continued maintenance of this park and learning trail goes to the following persons: Jerry Arnold, Buckhannon's Director of Public Works, Robert Barbor, former city horticulturist, Barry Pritts, former Vice President for Finance at Wesleyan, Katharine Gregg, Professor Emerita of Biology at Wesleyan, Brett Miller, Wesleyan's Library Director, and City and College crews and college students who have done much of the hard, physical labor. For an internship in ethnobotany, Laura Price, a 2014 graduate of Wesleyan, designed and wrote text for the first 35 interpretive signs that truly established this as an educational venture. The Nature Park and Learning Trail was dedicated in 2014 for the enjoyment of the Buckhannon community., For the line drawings, we acknowledge Strausbaugh and Core's Flora of West Virginia, 2nd edition (1977), Seneca Books, Grantsville, WV. Information about the plant species came from numerous sources but primarily from Illinois Wildflowers, Missouri Botanical Garden, Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, Native American Ethnobotany (Dearborn Herbarium, University of Michigan), Natural Resources Conservation Center (United States Department of Agriculture), and Plants for a Future., Important Disclaimer. Much of the information about the medicinal and food uses of plants on our signs is folklore and not necessarily factual. Plants are a very important source of food in our diets, and many of today's medicines come from plants or plant products. However, chemical contents of plants vary and are sometimes highly toxic, and some individuals may have severe allergies to certain plants. If you are interested in trying out some wild plants in your diet, consult only highly respected cookbooks. For medical needs, consult your physician!, (Panel 2): , Our Floodplain Forest. , You are about to enter a small remnant of a Central Appalachian silver maple floodplain forest. Look up: in the canopy you'll see silver maples, wild black cherry, box elder, sycamores, some American ash, and here and there, American and slippery elms. Understory trees and shrubs are dogwoods, spicebushes, elderberry, wild hydrangeas, and arrowwoods, some original to the park, some planted. We have added native redbuds, silverbells, pawpaws, fringe trees, hazelnuts, and persimmon. The most common native herbs are violets, trout lilies, jewelweeds, blackberries, virgin's bower, yellow ironweed, Joe-Pye weed, asters, and sunflower relatives, each blooming in its season. Poison ivy, a native vine, is common; watch for it and don't touch!, Along the edges of the park you'll see a number of non-native trees like white mulberry, Norway maple, and tree-of-heaven. Removal of a thick tangle of exotic, invasive privet was a first step in restoring this floodplain forest. Much appreciated volunteers regularly help remove others, like multiflora rose, Japanese stilt grass, Japanese knotweed, sweet autumn clematis, and garlic mustard. We also remove many tree saplings to allow the flowering herbs to flourish., Floodplain forests like this one depend on periodic flooding. Here in Buckhannon the park floods every 1-2 years, when you may see water covering some of the trails. This is a natural and important event that leaves behind nutrients from the Buckhannon River that nourish the plant and animal inhabitants., Walk quietly and listen. If you're lucky, you'll spot songbirds, hawks, squirrels, groundhogs, maybe a garter snake, even beaver, or their tell-tale marks! Butterflies, moths and their caterpillars are here for you to discover, along with many kinds of colorful fungi.