Early last month in Clark County, volunteers helped state naturalists from the protect a federally endangered flower.
Ohio is home to a number of , including the rare . The flower likes native grassy meadows, but most of those in Ohio were turned into farm fields over a century ago. But here, in a tiny wet sedge meadow surrounded by farm fields in Clark County, the orchid is thriving.
Volunteers from around the state took a sunny weekday morning to root out trees like and that were threatening to shade out the little flower.
Jennifer Windus is on the board of the , which organized the event.
鈥淲e're going around the state all the time and we feel like every place we go, we're putting this little Band-Aid on a gaping wound." She said, "But every little bit that we do, we're making a difference to save natural areas in Ohio.鈥�
At the meadow, the volunteers cut the invasive plants back to the roots. Then, professional naturalists carefully painted the roots with an herbicide so the trees wouldn鈥檛 come back.
Environmental reporter Chris Welter is a corps member with , a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms.
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