There will be a free opportunity to see prairie goldenrod (Solidago ptarmicoides), naked-stem sunflower (Helianthus occidentalis), and Torrey’s mountain mint (Pycnanthemum torrei) at the Oak Ridge Cedar Barren on Saturday, August 20. This will be combined with a workday to remove invasive plants, a press release said.

Located next to Jefferson Middle School in Oak Ridge, this barren is a joint project of the City of Oak Ridge, the State Natural Areas Division, and Tennessee Citizens for Wilderness Planning, or TCWP. The area is one of just a few cedar barrens in East Tennessee, and it is subject to invasion by Chinese lespedeza, Japanese privet, autumn olive, mimosa, Nepal grass, multiflora rose, and woody plants that threaten the system’s prairie grasses. [Read more…]