Short's Goldenrod, very rare species

When we were over at Blue Licks Battlefield State Resort Park in Mt. Olivet, Ky. this past December picked up brochure on a very rare Goldenrod. This is the first plant in Kentucky to be listed as an endangered spicies by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. It can only be found within a 2 mile radius of Blue Licks Battlefield State Park. This extraordinary plant is Short's Goldenroad which is named for Charles W. Short, a medical doctor and avid amateur botanist in the mid-19th Century.

Short's Goldenrod looks like most other goldenrods at first glance, but is known to exist today along the remains of the ancient buffalo trace in Northern Kentucky, within a corridor 3.35 miles long by .3 miles wide. Botanists speculate there may be a connection between the bison and the goldenrod. The bison who were attracted to the salt springs in large numbers at Blue Licks, reduced competition from other plants by contantly trampling the ground. This would benefit the goldenrod since it is intolerant of shade. The shaggy coat of the bison was instrumental in dispersing the seeds of the goldenrod.

Whatever the connection may be, Short's Goldenrod has never been found anywhere but along the ancient paths followed by the bison. Since the herds pf bison are gone and the old paths have almost been eradicated, Short's Goldenrod has disappeared, except for Blue Lick.

The Kentucky State Park System has established a 15 acre nature preserve within Blue Licks Battlefield State Park for the protection of Short's Goldenrod. We hope to return to the Park when the goldenrod will be in bloom.

This was very interesting to us, as when we lived in Indiana our home was on the buffalo trace. This was same trace as one here at Blue Licks. This trace winds through Kentucky and crosses the Ohio River into Indiana and heads West. We had goldenrod growing in the wooded part of our backyard. Now I wonder could it have been Short's Goldenrod. Will never know.

Great post Donna. the more we learn about the Bison, the more it is evident just how important that animal is/was in the grand scheme of things. Here in Illinois, there has been an ongoing project to restore the prarrie grasses that once dominated the landscape . It seems that the Bison was instrumental in the health of the prarrie as it was their hooves that planted the seed for the next generation and the dung that provided just the proper nutirents for plant growth. Interestingly enough, it is necessary to burn off prairie grasses on a regular basis, jsut like the wildfires of old that we read about.

I'm of two minds on the subject of Short's Goldenrod. I generally like to see a species preserved from extinction, we don't know what medicines or other uses might be found for it in generations to come. But since I'm very allergic to all goldenrod, I usually consider it a pest have no compuctions about getting rid of it wherever possible.

As for the buffalo, their contribution to the fertility of the Great Plains is difficult to under-state.

I've been in a discussion group with a number of other folks about some issues not usually talked about, and the subject of the prarie grasses has come up. Sod-busters considered it a nuisance as it took quite a lot of effort to get down to the rich topsoil underneath. But over the past hundred years or so, we've lost hundreds of years worth of topsoil (a conservative estimate) now that it's exposed to wind and erosion. Without roaming buffalo heards, and cycles of grass growth and fires, that top soil isn't going to regenerate itself any time soon. The question is whether the Great Plains can adopt methods to preserve the topsoil and continue to be the breadbasket of the world in the years to come, and what (if anything) can be done to preserve the topsoil to last well into the next century.

Another subject is the Ogallalla Aquifer, which stores water in an area from South Dakota to northern Texas. Wells tap that water to provide irrigation through much of that region, which constitutes almost a quarter of our nation's agricultural output. But water is being drawn out much faster than it is being replenished - geologists have estimated that the slowly reginerating aquifer may take thousands of years to be completely replenished from the withdrawals we have made over the past 75 years. Due to the slow rate of re-charge, the water being pumped out now is basically water left over from the last ice age. There are also estimates that large portions of the Ogallala Aquifer will dry up completely within the next 25 years, forcing much of the land above it to become fallow.

Any attempts to address these problems are frought with political and economic mindfields - no politician wants to tell his constituents that they have to use more expensive farming techniques, cut their irrigation by 80%, and some cities can't allow residents with green lawns and trees for landscaping. That's a sure presecription for a current politician to become a former politician, fast. Addressing those issues will make our current disputes over finding alternative energy sources look like child's play, in comparison.

I am allergic to Goldenrod and many, many things. I just get my allergy shots and take medicine and go on with life. I still want to enjoy things. This is my decision. Life is too short not to appreciate all around us.

The name Kentucky has many meanings. One from the Iroquois tribe is meadow lands. Many tribes hunted in Kentucky for game, including the bison. The Iroquois hunted here and at that time Central Kentucky was covered in grasslands, a great prairie. The bison came for the grass and the salt licks. They, the bison forged many trails or traces.

So were many areas of the southeast. I used to believe Indians adapted their lifestyle to fit their environment and left a minimal footprint. Nah! They weren't the dumb, noble savage as often portrayed. They shaped and manipulated the environment to fit them. They had a powerful technology, fire. They burned vast areas in two to three year cycles, to enhance the habitat for their favored game species. It also eased travel. In the process, they probably destroyed untold numbers of plant and animal species. This burning often caused soil erosion that some experts think caused the rapid decrease in freshwater mollusks several thousand years ago.

Indian advancement across North America was followed by open grasslands and prairies, European advancement was followed by forests. A good example is the once thought natural, black belt prairie of Alabama, that reverted to forest in the 20th century.