MNPS Meeting: "The Natural History and Wildflowers of Sugarloaf Mountain"

Melanie Choukas-Bradley, MNPS Board member, contributor to the Washington Post and Audubon Naturalist News, and author of two books about Sugarloaf Mountain, Maryland, will give a slide-lecture on native wildflowers, shrubs, and trees of Sugarloaf, a monadnock 35 miles northwest of Washington. She will also share highlights of Sugarloaf's geology and history and show photos of the mountain through the seasons, including changes in Sugarloaf's flora observed during a ten-year research period and inroads made by invasives and the widespread loss of flowering dogwood and hemlock. In addition, she will describe Sugarloaf's 36-year research project on the American chestnut, a project recently revived by the new Maryland chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation. Learn about the legendary Gordon Strong and the unique non-profit corporation he established in 1946 to maintain the mountain as a privately owned park that is open to the public year-round.

Melanie will have books available for signing. (Please note Melanie’s field trip to Sugarloaf).

Location: White Oak Library - Large Meeting Room

Directions: Exit the Washington Beltway at New Hampshire Ave (exit 28). Go north about 2 miles. The library is the first building on the right, once you have passed under Route 29, just after the Sears store.

There will be refreshments and door prizes. Pot luck refreshments are always welcome.

The meeting is open to non-members.

Meetings take place on the last Tuesday of each month.