Fern Walk in 2020?

Looking to August for a possible fern walk

Large Cinnamon Ferns

Hello all,

Hope you are all well. We are really missing seeing you all and enjoying ferns together. I hope that you are still going out and looking at ferns on your own. We have been. Recently we visited a wonderful Black Gum Swamp and saw the common ferns and also a fair amount of Marsh and Massachusetts ferns. It was lovely. I attach here a photo of Randy next to one of many very tall Cinnamon Ferns. The fern books describe Cinnamon as a large fern, but did you know it grew in the wild over 6 ft tall? This photo is proof. Thanks Karen for showing us this wonderful area!

We are hoping to organize a fern walk in the month of August, unless the virus gets worse again here in MA. If we as a state are doing okay and in Phase 3 or 4, we would like to have a fern walk in a place where the trail is very wide. We will require face masks, social distancing, and will also limit the number of people who can come by asking people to register with us, and we will then give them details on where to meet. It will probably be in Sunderland, but we will see...

In the meantime if you feel the need to have an incentive to go out and look for ferns, I suggest you use our older fern walk lists for sites you have been on (so you know the place we start and general route), and see if you can find the ferns listed yourselves. Like a scavenger hunt for ferns. The lists are on the website under "Files and Presentations/Fern Lists from Walks". If you have not been on a particular walk but would like to try it, email us and we can give you details on where it is, where we start and general route. If you have questions about identification, check the photo gallery on our website (all labeled) and/or send us an email with some photos of the whole fern, and closeups of the stem and frond (and sori if present), and we will try to give you an answer.

Happy Ferning!

Janice (& Randy)