Hikin’ for Lichens
Events In & Around DeSoto State Park: www.alapark.com/parks/desoto-state-park/desoto-events
Hikin’ for Lichens
Explore the fascinating world of lichens! Lichens cover 6% of the earth’s surface and there are around 20,000 known species. They are capable of growing on any surface that is sufficiently stable and provides just the right microclimate for survival; they grow on rocks, tree bark, branches, on top of other lichens and mosses and also on the soil surface. Lichens are found on every continent on earth, including Antarctica.
Join Curtis Hansen & DeSoto State Park Naturalist Brittney Hughes to look for lichens around DeSoto State Park. Observe these wonderfully enigmatic organisms and learn basic identification skills of the major growth forms to be able to start identifying these interesting organisms on your own
There will be easy/moderate hiking including climbing on and over boulders. Bring your boots and we’ll go hikin’ for lichens. We will have hand lenses available, or you may bring your own.
Date: Saturday, June 19, 2021
Time: 1:00 pm-3:00 pm
Where: DeSoto State Park-Fort Payne, Alabama. Meet at Nature Center, next to DeSoto’s County Store & Information Center on County Road 89
Fee: Free, pre-registration is required so to know how many to expect. Hike is open to ages 6 to adult. We will be wearing masks at trailhead & social distancing on the trail as much as possible. Email Brittney.Hughes@dcnr.alabama.gov for more info or to pre-register.
Curtis Hansen is the Curator of Plants at the John D. Freeman Herbarium at Auburn University and has a great interest in native plants, both vascular and non-vascular, of Alabama and the southeast. For nearly 20 years he has been collecting, identifying and documenting the diverse lichen flora of Alabama.
