Wild Lupines Need our Help

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The Montgomery County based, nonprofit group, Chesapeake Natives Inc., is seeking volunteers to help protect and monitor wild lupine populations in several counties. Chesapeake Natives is working under a permit from the State of Maryland to find and protect the few remaining populations of lupines. Existing lupine populations have been verified in the following counties: Ann Arundel, Baltimore, Caroline, Carroll, Dorchester, and Worcester. Lupines are native to this area and are necessary to the ecosystem as there are insects which need these and other native plants in order to feed. Birds need these insect larvae to feed their young and the non native plants just don't appeal to these creatures.

The volunteers will be taken to their locations in the spring and trained in their task. No previous experience is necessary. It is imperative that the volunteers agree to certain ethical guidelines. They must protect the confidentiality of the locations, agree not to remove seed, and be committed to the task. Some locations will require the removal of invasives including small trees. The work will involve a few trips to the site in the spring to count the plants and the flowers and in the fall, the seed heads and seeds. Other trips would be to remove invasives or weed around the plants. Most populations are small and the work is usually fairly minimal.