Natural Range

In this issue: Check in on AI and its capacity to provide accurate and specific advice. Register for the spring session of our "The Woods in Your Backyard" course. Learn about a new national refuge in southern Maryland and about one couple's work on their natural areas. Read about Sugar Maple in our "Native Trees of Maryland" feature and about incised fumewort in our "Invasives in Your Woodland" feature. And more!

In December 2024, US Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland announced the creation of Southern Maryland Woodlands National Wildlife Refuge. The first donation of 31 acres from The Nature Conservancy is one of several planned over the coming months of more than 300 acres. USFWS officials  will continue to work to secure voluntary conservation of up to 40,000 acres of important wildlife habitat within four watershed-based focus areas in Maryland.

Sugar maples provide delicious maple syrup and quality hardwood used for everything from furniture to bowling alleys. The trees prefer to grow on noncompacted, fertile, moderately moist, well drained, slightly acid soils and is a common sight in the Appalachian Mountains to those in New England and Canada.

American holly, Ilex opaca, is a real show stopper of a tree especially during the winter holidays. Among other benefits, it is extremely valuable to wildlife, particularly, birds and migratory birds overwintering in the region.

In this issue: Read about the how new and old can make a positive mix, and the importance of conserving existing forest buffers. Our two popular online courses return for the fall. Our "Native Trees of Maryland" looks at the red maple, and "Invasives in Your Woodlands" looks at Japanese hop. And don't forget the events calendar and the Brain Tickler challenge.

In this issue: Read about the renewal of spring, and the prospect of bringing an iconic species back to Appalachia. There's news about a tree planting grant program and about a record year for fighting invasives. Our "Native Trees of Maryland" looks at the tuliptree, and "Invasives in Your Woodlands" looks at the non-native sawtooth oak. And don't forget the events calendar and the Brain Tickler challenge.

Read about the efforts of Shepherd University's Center for Appalachian Studies and Communities and the American Chestnut Foundation to bring back this iconic species to the eastern panhandle of West Virginia.

How is a native plant defined? Native plants occur naturally in their ecoregion where they have adapted to physical conditions and co-evolved with other species in the system.

This publication has a dual role of being a non­technical, fully illustrated guide for use by the pub­lic, while still being useful to experts in the field. It describes and illustrates the 100 most frequently grown or encountered potentially poisonous plants found in Maryland.