Field Trip to Inlands Barrens at the Albany Pine Bush and Montague Plains

The Sandplain Grassland Network (SGN) Steering Committee made a trip on June 3, 2022 to the Albany Pine Bush at a time when the sundial lupines (Lupinus perennis) were blooming and the Karner blue butterflies (Lycaeides melissa samuelis) were flying. Pine Bush Conservation Director Neil Gifford and his staff hosted the visit. Gifford explained the successes the team has had with using repeated fire to create and maintain a mosaic of barrens habitat from closed woodlands to very open mixed scrub oak (Quercus ilicifolia) and forb and graminoid dominated mixed shrub-grasslands. The day before, Mass Wildlife Habitat Program Manager Brian…

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