Canaan will lead us through this amazing corner of our Preserve explaining the adaptions plants needed to make to live in this shallow prairie soil.
Canaan will discuss adaptions of the plants that live on our own wonderful example of a limestone prairie, which you can see at 1787 Holford on the Limestone Loop Trail.
On this special corner of our prairie, limestone lays only inches under the rich soil and creates its own ecosystem that is entirely different from other parts of our prairie. You may note white chalk limestone outcrops throughout the area. The grasses, trees, and shrubs growing there have adapted to flourish in these soil conditions. Note that Spring Creek itself flows over a bed of solid limestone.
Canaan is a botanist for the southern plains region of the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON). In his time with NEON he has conducted forest structure research for the NASA jet propulsion laboratory, plant diversity and phenology surveys at the LBJ grasslands and rolling red plains in western Oklahoma, and curates the herbarium for the domain.
He graduated from East Texas A&M University where he conducted graduate research on prairie restoration methods. As a private consultant he is currently working with the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission on describing Composite species in the Ouachita mountains and monitors urban populations and re-introductions of the imperiled Hall’s prairie clover (Dalea hallii).
He also served as the past president of the Blackland Chapter of the Native Prairies Association of Texas (NPAT), from 2022-2024.
