Free and open to the Public - the Northern Neck Chapters of the Virginia Native Plant Society (NNNPS) and the Master Naturalists (NNMN) will lead a field trip in Hickory Hollow Natural Area Preserve on January 1, 2019 meeting at 2:00 in the parking lot. Longtime and outstanding NNNPS member, Nick Ferrer and his wife Jackie, started this walk several years ago and offer it to the group and public to get us all outside and see in the New Year in nature.
A walk in the woods at Hickory Hollow is a delightfully way to welcome the New Year and what better place than in one of the four Natural Area Preserves in the Northern Neck. “This walk is held on New Year’s Day every year, in part so we can start the idea to get outside often and see more of the natural wonders we have in the Northern Neck”, said Ted Munns, President of NNNPS. Hickory Hollow is perfect for a walk in the woods because one of the earliest blooming plants, Skunk Cabbage, is often in bloom at this time. “This plant is one of the very few plants that can produce its own heat enabling it to rise above the cold earth or even snow-covered ground”, said Kevin Howe, Past President of NNNPS and NNMN. Please join members and the public to see and hear about this strange plant and other unique features of the Hickory Hollow Preserve.
The 254 acres at Hickory Hollow is one of the 63 state natural area preserves, all of which were created and are protected because they contain some of the rarest natural communities and unique species habitats in North America. Hickory Hollow fits that definition well as it contains one of the few globally rare natural community known as a "coastal plain basic seepage swamp” and supports a high level of biological diversity. It contains some plants found nowhere else in Virginia but our own Lancaster County. Come and learn from our members.
Hickory Hollow was established in 2000 and is owned by the Northern Neck Audubon Society but managed by the Virginia Dept of Conservation and Recreation.
As you may know, the Dept. of Recreation and Conservation also manages Virginia’s State Park including our own Belle Isle State Park. Belle Isle will be holding its own New Year’s Day walk earlier in the day from 11 am to noon and lead by one of the Park’s interpretive rangers. So, we encourage everyone to enjoy both hikes that day. Or at least one!!!
DRIVING DIRECTIONS to Hickory Hollow:
From Kilmarnock, follow VA 3 towards Lancaster. Just before you reach Lancaster, turn right onto Reginia Rd., VA 604. The preserve is on your left.
The last few years, New Year’s Day has been 60-70 degrees and wonderfull but, sorry, no guarantee for this year. The walk will occur though, rain or shine.