Fern Natural History Walk and lecture at Weeks State Park

LANCASTER — There will be a Fern Natural History Walk led by Elizabeth Farnsworth of the New England Wild Flower Society on Thursday, July 6, at 1 p.m. at Mount Prospect. Also known as "Fernsworth," she will lead the walk up Mount Prospect, which is home to many ferns including unusual ferns associated with calcium-rich environments. Farnsworth is author of the Peterson Field Guide to Ferns. While this field trip is labeled as a fern walk, they will be looking at all kinds of natural history topics from ants to wildlife. Attendees are to meet at the summit parking lot at 1 p.m.

Later that day, Farnsworth will be giving a presentation on the "State of New England's Native Plants: Challenges and Opportunities for Conserving New Hampshire Habitats" at 7 p.m. The New England Wild Flower Society recently released a comprehensive, peer-reviewed report that, for the first time, gathers the most up-to-date data on the status of plants on the New England landscape. According to a press release submitted by Weeks State Park, using the data they can discern increases and declines in both rare and common species across all six states. The discussion will include: the importance of the plants in supporting other organisms, hotspots of rare plant diversity and how to foster that diversity, ecological threats to the plants, activities and initiatives, and how people can promote conservation.