Words and photos by Bert Harris

There are more than 400 species of lichen found in our area. They are varied and beautiful, and they serve as important habitat for myriad creatures. But they don’t receive much attention from naturalists compared to other groups. The lichens of the Blue Ridge to our west and the Delmarva Peninsula to our east have received recent study, but we still have a lot to learn about lichen communities in the Virginia Piedmont.

In September, we co-hosted the 33rd Tuckerman Lichen Workshop with James Lendemer from the New York State Museum. The goals of the workshop were to study lichens in northern Virginia and to help amateur lichenologists and graduate students hone their skills. The workshop is named after Edward Tuckerman, the father of North American lichenology.

The Oak Spring Garden Foundation (OSGF) generously put up 14 lichenologists and lent microscopes and space for them to set up a lichen identification lab. The group spent five days exploring sites with varied geologies and habitats: the Bull Run Mountains, Riverside Preserve, Wildcat Mountain, Calmes Neck, and the OSGF. The group braved wet conditions and a highlight was a rainy ride in the back of a pickup truck to access some distant lichens.

We are still identifying specimens but it seems that we found at least two undescribed species(!) and a handful of new state records. Other highlights included quartzite specialists in the Bull Run Mountains, three species of cyanolichens at Wildcat Mountain and Riverside Preserve, rarities such as Heterodermia granulifera in the forest at Oak Spring, and a diverse community limestone specialists at Calmes Neck. Overall, the experts were pleasantly surprised by how many species we found. Check out this link for photos from the workshop.

The workshop was part of a broader National Science Foundation award to James Lendemer to study Appalachian lichens. We are so grateful to all the lichenologists who attended, from as far away as Ottawa and Seattle. We also extend our thanks to the Oak Spring Garden Foundation for being such generous hosts. Many thanks also to private landowners, the Virginia Outdoors Foundation, the Department of Conservation and Recreation, and the Fauquier County Department of Parks and Recreation for allowing property access.