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Fossil Hill
October 12 @ 8:30 am - 1:30 pm
Fossil Hill
Bowie, Montague Co.
Sat., Oct. 12th
8:30am – 1:30pm
Register here
https://www.tickettailor.com/events/npatfortworthchapter/1307225
When registering, please consider donating to NPAT. Your donation will help NPAT conserve, restore, & manage prairies while educating the public about the important role of prairies. The deadline to sign up is Oct 7th.
We will meet at 8:30am at the TXDOT rest stop northwest of Decatur on Highway 287. It is 3 miles past the intersection of Loop 380 and Highway 287. We will caravan from the rest stop to Fossil Hill, which is a 30-minute drive.
Fossil Hill is privately owned by Wayne and Jeanne Erickson, with one of the best examples of a preserved Western Cross Timbers ancient forest. Consisting of Post Oak/Blackjack Oak hilltop woods with pocket prairies, outcrops of Pennsylvanian Sandstone covered in mosses and ferns, with various species of plants. There are 10 species of ferns known here, thanks to the moss-covered micro habitats supporting them.
Here’s a small list of species we might expect to see: Devil’s Beggarticks (Bidens frondosa), Plains Kuhnia (Brickellia eupatorioides), Narrow-Leaf Gayfeather (Liatris mucronata=punctata var mucronata), Fragrant Cudweed (Pseudognaphalium obtusifolium), Shiny Goldenrod (Solidago nitida), Spreading Aster (Symphyotrichum patens), Autumn/Blue Sage (Salvia azurea), Prairie Agalinis (Agalinis heterophylla), Violet Woodsorrel (Oxalis violacea), Common Woodsia (Woodsia obtusa), Star Scaled Cloak Fern (Astrolepis integerrima), Wooly Lip Fern (Myriopteris tomentosa=Cheilanthes), Purple Cliff-Brake (Pellaea atropurpurea), Big Bluestem (Andropogon gerardii), Splitbeard Bluestem (Andropogon ternarius), Purple Threeawn (Aristida purpurea), Sideoats Grama (Bouteloua curtipendula), Red Lovegrass (Eragrostis secundiflora), Texas Lovegrass (Eriochloa sericea), Seep Muhly (Muhlenbergia reverchonii), Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) and Indiangrass (Sorghastrum nutans).
Bring lunch or snacks with you. We will end about 12:30pm – 1pm and eat inside her screened porch.