Inventory and Monitoring

Trained PATC volunteers conduct inventory and monitoring of rare plant populations and significant ecological areas in cooperation with the National Park Service (NPS) and the Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC).

Picture include

State imperiled Trillium cernuum (attached)

Ephemeral pond monitoring  (attached)

Landscape Restoration/Open Space Management

PATC, in cooperation with the Virginia Department of Forestry (VDOF), uses prescribed fire as part of its open space management program. The meadows near PATC’s Kohn and Mutton Hollow cabins provide excellent examples of biodiverse native grassland habitat.

Pictures include:

Prescribed burn of the Kohn meadow (attached)

Invasive Plant Management

In an increasingly connected world, invasive plants pose a serious threat to the native flora and fauna of our trail lands. PATC volunteers, working alongside many of our land management partners, spend thousands of hours mechanically removing invasive plant infestations near our trails. In addition, PATC’s Invasive Plant Management Team (IPMT)—the first and only Appalachian Trail club authorized to apply herbicides on lands managed by the National Park Service’s Appalachian National Scenic Trail unit (APPA)—spends numerous days each year controlling larger, high-priority infestations on both PATC lands and the lands of our partners.

Pictures include

PATC’s IPMT on the AT  (attached)

PATC’s IPMT in Mutton Hollow  (attached)

Garlic mustard pull along the AT  (attached)

Additional Resources

PATC Invasive Plant ID and Management Guide  (move the link to the Invasive guide from the Conservation and Land Management page to here)

Training video for volunteers interested in joining out Invasive Plant Management Team (IPMT)   (I'm attaching this video)

For more information

Interested in helping to protect the natural resources of our trail lands? Contact us at Natural_Resource@patc.net for more information about how you can get involved.