Sat, Jul 26 2008
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Published May 01, 2008 11:30 pm - Name that wildflower Ashtabula County Botany Challenge introduces high school students to diversity of local flora By CARL E. FEATHER - Lifestyle Editor - cfeather@starbeacon.com Star Beacon “We got one! It’s a wild geranium, dude, I’m pretty positive,” shouted Chris Ward to his Geneva High peers Sarah Poling, Kayla Sloan, Matt Freeman and Courtney Boals.
The Geneva team was working the Western Reserve Greenway Trail Tuesday morning in search of numbered white flags that mark the location of native wildflowers. The students counted petals, defined leaf structures and noted habitat, then consulted a wildflower guide to help them arrive at the correct identity. Seven of these teams from county high schools and Grand River Academy participated in the eighth annual Ashtabula County Botany Challenge Monday through Thursday. Each team had 21⁄2 hours to locate and identify more than two dozen specimens. Barrie Bottorf, one of the adult volunteers with the challenge, says the program is open to high school students with an interest in botany. Most of the students learned about the competition through their biology teacher. “We got the highest grades in biology class,” said Sara Blank, a freshman at Ss. John & Paul High School of their team. “I have always liked flowers and my mother’s a biology teacher,” said Emily Jeppensen, a member of the Jefferson team. Jefferson was the team to beat – it won the 2007 and 2006 challenges. “It’s going to be a dog fight,” predicted Chris Ward as he and his teammates looked for the next flag. The challenge started eight years ago as a way to introduce high school students to the diversity of local flora, particularly in the Ashtabula River Gulf. “The gulf was the primary reason to start this, to stimulate interest in the gulf and the resources the gulf has to offer,” says Bruce Loomis, one of the challenge’s organizers. The event could not be held there this year, however, because of bridge construction at State Road, an area that offers great density and diversity of wildflowers. One year the organizers identified and marked 29 flowers in that area. “The variety of wildflowers there is as good as you can find,” says Bottorf. “I just hope the bridge hasn’t destroyed too many of them.” While the Greenway Trail offers a slightly smaller diversity, the organizers were still able to come up with 25 flowers, including several potted ones, for the competition. Most of the flowers were within a few feet of the trail, although some of them required a short excursion into a wetland. “I don’t think people have a real appreciation of what they have along this trail,” says Loomis, who considers the section between mile markers 16 and 12.5 to offer the best wildflower hunting. While trail users may notice the showy wildflowers as they bike or hike, most don’t take the time to stop and study them. Bottorf says that’s one of the reasons they hold the Botany Challenge, to force the students to slow down and see. “I always tell people that people look at things all the time but they don’t see,” Bottorf says. “These kids are learning to see what they look at.” 
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